CityView Magazine

faith The Thing About I BY DAN ALGER t is spring. The sweet young daughter of the sea- sons has come to rescue us from the bleak, cold winter. She glides in with warmth and gentleness and brings with her all of her glorious colors, bud- ding flowers, buzzing bees ... and allergies, with snotty noses and coats of yellow pollen all over my car and those darn barn swallows that spit mud over my doorframe to make their dirty little saliva nest. Yep, it is Spring in all her beauty and with all her annoyances. As I look at the daffodils and dog- woods, two thoughts come to mind: First, spring is a time of hope. Historically, when winter was a time of death and the cold stole the lives of many, spring came to bring life and new hope for the future. The warming rays of the sun brought relief to bones stiffened by the cold. The chickens laid eggs, the plants began to grow, animals began to stir, the time of scarcity was ending. Today, most Spring of us begin to look forward to family times outside, summer sports, vacations and days at the beach. It is a time for enjoy- ing the moment and looking ahead with hope. Second, spring is not perfect. My dripping nose and run- ning eyes show that Creation is still a bit out of whack. There is some disharmony in the world. There are fire ants to bite my toes and leave those nasty white pustules. There are mos- quitoes to give us those itchy red lumps. My cat has shed a carpet and thrown up a hairball the size of a hamster. Things are not perfect by any stretch. For Christians, this time of year should hold a special meaning for us as the seasons reflect the work of Christ in the world. Christian theology states that we are all in a place of coldness and death until the work of Christ frees us from the 18 | April • 2012 winter of our souls. When we look around with this perspec- tive, the buds on barren trees remind us of the new life that came from the empty tomb on Easter morning. The greening grass reminds us that things are changing and the bleakness of today is giving way to a glorious tomorrow, when Christ promises to make all things new. I pray that this spring you will experience the trajectory of the Gospel. What I mean is that the good news of Jesus is taking you somewhere, moving you from death to life, old to new, like the changing of the seasons. I pray that you will see in the new life sprouting around you the possibility of new life in your own soul. I pray that you will see that God is re- deeming his world and that there is hope in the midst of the difficult days we live in. No, things are not perfect now — our swollen sinuses, insect bites, wars, hunger, oppression, and greed attest to that — but it is certain that there is hope for the The greening grass reminds us that things are changing and the bleakness of today is giving way to a glorious tomorrow, when Christ promises to make all things new. future for you and for this world. This spring as we see the blossoms of the dogwoods may we have hope. Hope for our own souls. Hope for our own lives. Hope for the transformation of our city and the redemption of our world. And may we long for the day when spring is perfect, when we will sit surrounded by the glorious colors of a new creation without wiping our noses, itching our bites, or fighting our wars. May we long for the day when Christ's work is complete and the world is made new. Until then, may we never lose hope, and may we be reminded by the changing of the seasons that God is on the move and one day winter will be over forever. CV Dan is the former Pastor of The Church of the Apostles and can be reached at algerunc@gmail.com.

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