By the Way: We are not alone in the work of change

By Rev. Kristy Reimers-Loader on May 8, 2021.

Spring on the prairies comes suddenly, with budding trees and newborn bees.

Creation awakens from winter’s slumber and all manner of life quickens around us as we emerge into lengthened days of light and warmth. This time of rapid change is undeniably lovely, but can also be unsettling. It makes us restless and antsy, reaching for our rakes and plunging our hands into the still-cold earth, turning it up to receive the sun and the seedlings we’ve nurtured in windows for weeks past. Wisdom tells us there is a time and a purpose for everything under heaven; this is indeed the time for new growth on God’s good earth. Humanity is stretching, straining to grow as we work through deep questions with historically troublesome roots. Confronting our painful past and discarding thorny old attitudes and biases around race, gender, and what it means to be responsible for and to each other is a difficult process, even as so many of us who’ve lived under the shadow of the past are rejoicing in the light that’s dawning. It’s a sad fact that thorns and thistles make good hedges for those who fear a future in which power is evenly distributed. It’s good to remember Jesus advocating for broad societal change, asking, “Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles?” Today, a new light is dawning and the landscape of our society is steadily being revealed in all its awesome, terrible beauty. Lest we be overwhelmed at the scope and scale of work still to be done, let us be reassured as that self-same Jesus reminds us, “I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” We are not alone in the work of change.

Rev Kristy Reimers-Loader is Chaplain at Medicine Hat Ecumenical Campus Ministry

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