The picture your see accompanying my article this week is one of the beautiful Gingko trees from the front of the church. Two trees, located on either side of our church sign, anchor our church building. While we always notice them, the bright yellow color found during fall seems to bring a beauty to them that is unmatched.
What is it about the colors of fall that call out to us? Each year millions of people take pilgrimages to view the fall colors. Have you ever wondered what it is that draws us to these colors and these trees? These words below are a description from SALT – an online commentary series.
“Many leaves contain yellow and orange pigments all year round, but in the spring and summer they’re masked by the vivid greens of chlorophyll, the pigment responsible for the absorption of light to provide energy for photosynthesis. But as the days shorten and the temperature falls, the chlorophyll breaks down and drains away - and those yellows and oranges begin to shine through. They were there all along, quiet and unnoticed, but now they emerge as the green curtain fades. If God is a painter of autumn trees, what we see is an art not of addition but of subtraction. It’s an art of revelation, of revealing the hidden beauty of what was always already there.”
This week, the sermon is based on Isaiah 65:17-25 and will focus on how we can take our faith public. Just like God does with the leaves, we can reveal the beauty of our faith – a faith that is not hidden, but visible. A faith that is already there. Remember, those oranges and golds arrive by way of revelation, disclosing what’s been there all along. A sermon in pigment and light, shimmering for all who have eyes to see.
Pastor Jane