Wednesday October 28, 2020
Good afternoon,
” The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of God will stand forever.”Isaiah 40:8
The passage from Isaiah is part of a larger section on the comfort of God. The passage might have been written when the people of God had been ousted from Jerusalem, and taken by force to Babylon ( present day Iraq ). To them ( and us ) God seems to have forgotten God’s people.
In the Fall season, the grass withers and goes into hibernation. The flowers fade away. The annuals never to be seen again, and the perennials will be resurrected in the spring. Fall is about dying, but knowing that life will begin once again for the grass and flowers in the new seasons of 2021.
I love the leaves of the Fall season. This year the colours are spectacular, and seem to be staying a lot longer. But the leaves are beginning to fall in bunches, the reds, the oranges, the yellows and browns. It is a rainbow of colours piling up all over town. For me, the leaves are a signal of the gifts of the Spirit in the church. All the colours are together, mixed up on my lawn. Our gifts are not the same. We have different kinds of colour and different kinds of shapes. There are maples, beeches, cedars. oaks and others. Some of us cook, others preach, others are encouragers , others are prophets. Rake up the leaves in your yard, and then run into them, and leaves ( and gifts ) go everywhere. We cannot control the gifts of the Spirit we have been given. ” The Spirit/Wind blows where it chooses ” Jesus in John 3.
Prayer
Colours of the Resurrection,
cannot be controlled or manipulated, O God.
You are in all the colours of the leaves.
The bright reds
The mellow yellows
The harsh browns
The smooth oranges.
You are all,and in all things.
Thank you for the Fall season.
We await your next move, ah yes,The Winter.
A new Resurrection.
Keep us safe and warm, and faithful.
AMEN
Fred
Tread on bold new paths!
Fireflies flash the direction
Hope springs eternal ! Monica Pieper Landoni 20201