A pandemic leads us to ask: Is nature, God’s creation, our enemy? The poem about nature reflects on nature’s repetitiveness. There has been and will be global pandemics. Will anything new or hopeful come out of nature or our relationship to it? For many, nature is a source of awe and wonder and maybe their only spiritual source. Yet even nature disappoints or harms, and we become dull toward it. Along with the endless cycles of nature, the generations of humanity don’t seem to change. The “Book of Nature” declares the fall, and God’s glory — the wise can read both. Peter says skeptics point to the repetitiveness of nature to claim God is uninvolved. Paul tells us nature, too, groans for redemption from futility. Jesus’ incarnation is a break in this repetitive cycle, redeeming and glorifying nature. Word made flesh.
Lent season is upon us! Use this time to reflect on what Jesus has done for us.
