Wednesday of the Seventh Week of Easter
On Mother’s Day weekend, I took time to empty my compost bins and put the rich decomposed elements of last year’s garden and assorted food scraps in my garden to nourish this year’s annual vegetables and flowers. Still rather empty, my vegetable garden and places where annual flowers will soon bloom felt full of possibility. This, even as my perennial mid-spring purple salvia, light pink dianthus, and fuchsia rugosa roses are at their peak and will soon fade. Already, I begin to anticipate the loss of these abundant flower favorites at my front door. These natural rhythms come to mind this week as we find ourselves between Ascension and Pentecost.
Paul is letting go of his way of being in relationship with a community he loves. He knows he will not return. He blesses them and entrusts them to God. Paul reminds them to remain rooted in the Word of God. As ways of being in relationship with one another change, God’s Word grounds us in our call here and now, in this season of our lives. Like the changing seasons of a garden, God's Word nourishes what is now and stretches to what soon will be!
In today’s gospel, Jesus is also letting go of how he has been in relationship with the disciples. He knows that this will be challenging for them, but that it also opens new ways of flourishing, nourishing, and blooming in the Holy Spirit - for the community and the world. Christ does not ask God to take the community out of this world. Instead, Christ commends us to God’s care, and in that prayer calls to mind the importance of being grounded in God’s Word. As we anticipate and celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit who breathes new life in us from age to age and season to season, let us rejoice in possibility, remain grounded in God’s Word, and open to what new flowering and nourishment we may experience when we trust God and let go of last season’s gifts.
—Kelly Adamson