The Mercy of Time

But the mercy of the world is time. Time does not stop for love, but it does not stop for death and grief, either. After death and grief that (it seems) ought to have stopped the world, the world goes on. More things happen. And some of the things that happen are good.
Wendell Berry, Jayber Crow, 296

I turned 53 today. Thanks to all those who sent kind wishes by way of Facebook, and to the congregation at First UMC who surprised me with a singing of “Happy Birthday” during worship.
A few years ago, my daughter Sarah asked me, “What’s so great about growing up?” I recall blogging about that then, and my response was something about the richness of memory. Reading Wendell Berry’s Jayber Crow, I can add to my former response. Growing older, the richness of one’s memories are deepened, and growing older one can come to know the truth that the mercy of the world is time. The world goes on, things happen, and some of the things that happen are good. When I served as a youth pastor in Dallas from 1987-1994 (Ridgewood Park UMC), one of the things that struck me was that I needed to help the youth understand that no matter how difficult a time they were going through, the sun would come up the next day and they had more inner strength than they might imagine, including strength from the grace of God.
When I read the words of Wendell Berry’s protagonist, Jayber Crow, they made deep sense to me. In recent months I have worked with two families whose infant children died. Today, Chester Park United Methodist Church joined with First United Methodist Church in a new merged congregation. There is a great deal of excitement about this merger, but I also know there is heartbreak among Chester Park people whose beloved church has ceased to exist as before. This past week in Duluth, flash floods ripped through streets and gushed into homes, turning the lives of many upside down.
The mercy of the world is time. Time does not stop. Things happen, and some of them are good.
Theologically, I understand the good things that happen to be rooted in the grace of God.

With Faith and With Feathers,

David