Fall -- that time of Mixed Messages

We who live in this part of the country -- the part that experiences fall and the changing of the leaves -- have a lot to think about.

Mixed messages.  The message of beauty beyond all telling when the leaves are red, orange, brown and yellow, at their peak of color.  The whole countryside screams, "Look at me.  Aren't I lovely?  Aren't I gorgeous?"

The second message is not so much fun.  The message is that before long all of the beautiful leaves will be down and curled into paper-thin brownness while the branches that bore them are plain and bare.  And then, of course, the message is that winter is coming soon.  "Prepare yourself.  Get ready for it.  Don't get caught unawares."

If winter were but a few weeks, the whole thing wouldn't be that big of a deal, but winter goes on and on and on.  We've got at least five months of solid cold weather most years.  And by that time, Ohioans are searching for any sign that it is coming to an end.

Jesus' life was kind of like fall in a sense.  His public time saw more and more people coming to him, knowing that he was a worker of miracles, and all about him was color and joy for the people, especially for his apostles.  And then the other period of time started, when Jesus was taken from the Garden of Olives and put on trial for his life.  And the trees were plain and bare.  All of the joy had been sucked out of his apostles who were terribly afraid.

Jesus' rising from the dead is like the joy of spring.  Everything is coming to life.  Everything is stretching toward the warming sun.  The colors are coming back.  The earth is full of life.  The apostles receive the Holy Spirit in the tongues of fire.  They are on fire with their mission.

So we know that winter is coming.  We wouldn't be able to avoid it if we wanted to -- the snow shovel display, the hand warmers, the winter coats and gloves, the snow blowers -- they are in all of the stores. 

But we know that we will get through winter and there will be another brilliant, fresh, glorious spring.  Let us pray with Jesus this winter and ask him to deepen our faith, ask him to help us help others.