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I’ve just returned from Good Friday service to an empty house; circumstances have conspired to give me an afternoon alone. I plan to use the time for reflection and quiet study in preparation for an exam I have to write for my Character and Ethics class, Monday evening.
But the reflections have already begun. The service this morning prompted deep emotions to surface, and I came home feeling somewhat solemn. As I made myself a sandwich I pondered how “Good Friday” was – in every sense – completely awful; for it was a day of betrayal, suffering, and the death of an innocent. The reason Christians call it “Good,” is we believe death wasn’t the end of the story. Indeed, it was the death of that innocent, Jesus, which made possible the hope of redemption.
But 2,000 years ago, the first Good Friday launched a wretched “in between time” for Jesus’ disillusioned followers who didn’t realize it was an “in between time” at all. They were devastated. Scattered. Scared. Everything they’d pinned their hopes on had been destroyed. They didn’t know that Easter – and resurrection – was coming.
Parsley sprouting
Then I looked out my kitchen window to our wee backyard. The yard was bathed in sunlight. Some little glimpses of green caught my eye, sparking new thoughts, and sending me running for my camera in order that I might share them with you.
You see, it’s an “in-between time” in our backyard. There’s still abundant evidence out there of the dregs of winter. There’s much tending, grooming, cultivating and planting that needs to be accomplished before things look pretty again. The ground is hard. Fall’s debris lingers.
Clematis reaching for the sun
And yet, there are signs everywhere – even in the midst of all the dreariness - that resurrection and beauty are coming.
And as I snapped photos of those glimpses of green – sprouting amidst all the death and decay – it occurred to me that God has built evidence for resurrection into all of nature. And I thought, ”This is why I believe!”
Chives growing
“Scientific explanations exist for all that I see and hear outside my window. And explanations can be proposed for why humans enjoy nature so much. But faith in God is not about explanations. We do not believe in God because we need to explain this or that feature of the world. That is what science is for. We believe in God because we see something deeper in the world, something that transcends the scientific explanations.”
- Karl Giberson
