The Treasure That Surrounds Us
(Posted August 10, 2019)
"Believe in a love that is being stored up for you like an inheritance,
and have faith that in this love there is a strength and a blessing so large
that you can travel as far as you wish without having to step outside it."
--Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet, 20th century
It was truly a gift, yesterday that I trusted the right moment had arrived. For months now I’ve looked across the road from us where there is a small farm -- Three Feathers Farm -- and have watched the corn growing. Now, there is something special about food that grows from the same soil where we live, and which gathers in the same rain and sunshine. But it seemed to be taking so long this year. When my own tiny garden yielded the first three little cherry tomatoes this week I took a chance and called over to the farmer. “Why yes…. if you want, I will go into the field and pick some ears of corn.” So he took his tractor into the field and picked me a dozen. He handed them to me and said, “these are the very first harvest - even I haven’t had any this year.” So with this special gift I made a feast last night of vegetables and I swore I could taste the sunshine.
The poet Rainer Maria Wilke quoted above was always seeking the ineffable presence of God in his poetry. A good part of the reward of the harvest is the faith of waiting for all elements to come together into a blessing we can perceive in our own lives. Especially in these turbulent times, it can feel like we’re going to wait forever for good to prevail over evil. But we need to have faith that we really ARE surrounded by a “cloud” of God’s love that envelops us, that will protect us and, eventually lead us to the place where peace will surround us, and we will taste the sunshine. This Sunday we will explore the treasure that surrounds us all the time, but we frequently fail to see in all the chaos. -- Pastor Pat Kriss