Lord of heaven and earth

You have made heaven, the earth and everything on it, the seas and all that is in them, and You preserve them all. Nehemiah 9:6

The Israelites of Scripture had a personal, visceral, spiritual connectivity to the land of Israel, believing that God would have them thrive on their “own soil.” When Babylon took Israel into Exile in 587-86 BC, the Israelites were “cut off” from the land and, for them, separated from the covenant of God and the promise God had made to be with them.

I am, most likely like you, feeling more than a little cut off these days. I know that many, many people have it much worse than my family and most of the people that I know. There are folks who are sick, folks who have lost jobs and may lose businesses, livelihoods, and the ability to care for themselves and/or their families. Some are dying. We are in a time of incredible anxiety and uncertainty; fear swirls around me, as it does you, I am certain. Yet, I was reminded on a recent walk through the Meadows, down by the Farmington River with my daughter, that God’s creation actually has the power to heal us. The Creation that God has made and Christ redeemed is still out there. And, though we are not to walk in groups and should keep our distance when we go out at all, there may be a call to take a walk, if we are able. We might try, once in a while, to listen closely to the rain; God’s whisper of love and comfort, perhaps, is being carried through it. “In His hand are the deep places of the earth; the heights of the hills are His also. The sea is His, for He made it; and His hands formed the dry land” (Psalm 95:4–5). We are stuck at home and all of us are changed by a significantly altered reality (huge understatement, I know). But God is still present and the Spirit of Christ moves through the created world. Get outside as you are able. Breath in the breath of God on the wind and in the creek that, maybe, runs near your house? And, if you want to talk about what you have seen, call a friend, a neighbor, a family member who might need to hear about your experience of the Divine in this troubled time, especially in they cannot get out themselves. And, if you feel you have no one to call, please call me, and I will listen, and will be blessed by you.