An Illustration from Nature

August 19, 2014

Dear St. Paul’s Family,

Sunday before worship, our Lay Leader Linda Appleby told me about the recent trip that she and her husband Dave took to Estes Park, Colorado last week.  She told me briefly about a walk that they took together along the Cub Lake Trail in the Rocky Mountain National Park.

“I want to tell you about something we saw on the trail, because we thought you might be able to make a sermon illustration out of it.”

Challenge accepted.

She said that in 2012, the national park was ravaged by a massive wildfire that consumed 3500 acres, the largest fire in the national park’s history.  And then the following year, in 2013, overwhelming flood waters devastated that same general area in the park, causing further damage to an area still in recovery.

The Applebys walked the trail last week and were surprised by what they saw.  While there were still signs of devastation all around them - scorched earth, blackened trees, brush and debris littered randomly along the landscape - there was also evidence of new life:  robust grasses and ferns, beautiful flowers in full bloom, and lush, verdant trees so green and mature that it is astonishing to imagine that they somehow survived the fire and flooding.

My first response when Linda described the scenes, and again when she showed me the pictures was captured in one word:  “Resurrection.” I said.  “There is always new life after death.” 

I was reminded then of something that my pastoral theology professor, Dr. Carolyn Bohler, once said to her students.  “If, tragically, this planet were to suffer a nuclear winter, then in the aftermath – even the following day – we can believe there will be flowers growing in the fields again.”

Her point was simple:  just like nature finds a way to endure and flourish through trauma, so it is that we can find hope and promise in the wake of every trying time.  All of this points to the reality of the resurrection, first evidenced by the empty tomb, but apparent in a myriad of ways all around us, every day. 

I hope that if you are going through the fire or treading water through the floods of your life today, you will remember this:  God doesn’t give up, and won’t give up on you.  There is still resurrection available for you today.   Believe in it.  Claim it.  Then live it.

It’s interesting that a few hours after Linda told me her story on Sunday, my iTunes music file was playing randomly through my song catalog.  And this song, by one of my favorite Christian artists, Steven Curtis Chapman, started playing:

His Strength is Perfect

I can do all things

Through Christ who gives me strength

But sometimes I wonder what He can do through me

No great success to show

No glory on my own

Yet in my weakness He is there to let me know

Refrain: 

His strength is perfect when our strength is gone

He'll carry us when we can't carry on

Raised in His power, the weak become strong

His strength is perfect, His strength is perfect

We can only know

The power that He holds

When we truly see how deep our weakness goes

His strength in us begins

Where ours comes to an end

He hears our humble cry and proves again

There’s good news, friends.  God’s strength, and God’s ability to resurrect new life from the dead, is indeed perfect.  And it is working in and through you, even right now.

Grace and Peace,

Magrey 

The Rev. Magrey R. deVega

St. Paul's United Methodist Church

531 W. Main St.

Cherokee, IA  51012

Ph:  712-225-3955

Email:  mdevega@sp-umc.org

To view past editions of the Mid-Week Message, visit  http://mdevega.blogspot.com. 

To unsubscribe from this e-mail distribution list, please reply to this e-mail and write "UNSUBSCRIBE" in the subject line.

Visit us on Facebook at facebook.com/cherokeespumc.