Letter to the Editor

Dear Weather Vane Editors,

The other day I was doing morning exercises in front of the window of my Parkwoods apartment, which faces Park Woods, when suddenly a huge bird flew into view and landed on a tree on the other side of the parking lot. The bird was beautiful, with a red-crested head and white markings on its face and wings. It began to peck ferociously at the tree bark. I ran to get my apartment-mate; he identified it as a pileated woodpecker, the largest type of woodpecker in North America! I couldn't take my eyes off of the majestic site.

Several weeks ago I passed a guy as I was walking down from an intramural game. He was looking up into the sky. I followed his gaze to the moon, which had a large glowing ring of light circling it. I stared in awe. Then I ran to tell people about it. I wanted the whole campus to see it. My friend and I looked it up on the internet: it's called a moon halo, and it happens when tiny ice crystals in the clouds all deflect light at an angle of 22 degrees.

Our world can seem hopeless. Yet signs of God's presence are everywhere, whether seen in a woodpecker, a moon halo, a smile from a classmate, a new concept that we learn in class, or while we clean the kitchen floor (which is what I was doing – not with the most positive attitude – when the idea came to me to write this article). We should watch for them everyday, everywhere, because "God is in all and through all and above all."

I would love to have been in Simeon's position when he saw the baby Jesus and exclaimed, "Master, you are now dismissing your servant in peace, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples" (Luke 2:29-31).

And yet, that salvation is visible two thousand years later. I agree with my brother Paul when he writes, "We walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Cor. 5:7). It is a faith that allows us to see reasons to hope in a world suffering from hunger, violence, arrogance, and faithlessness.

John, disciple of Jesus, writes, "No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us" (1 John 4:12). And Paul writes to the Philippians that Jesus has the power to put everything under his control and "will transform our lowly bodies to become like his glorious body" (see 3:20-21). That is good news!

Almost paradoxically, a college education that teaches us about God's world can lead to lack of hope as we are exposed to a broad array of issues, problems, questions, and frustrating realities. I am thankful for this education – for allowing me to see the sweetness and audacity of God's promise to forgive us and love us, and to use us to serve the world!

We must challenge ourselves and share with each other the salvation that Jesus Christ brings to a broken world. As long as God is working in and through us to reveal a refreshing life-filled kingdom/society, as long as our brothers and sisters are working tirelessly around the world to enrich and protect the lives of others, as long as the home of God is among humans, as long as we look forward to a city in which death and mourning and crying and pain will be no more (see Revelation 21:3-4), we have no choice but to have hope.

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit!" (Romans 15:13).

Timothy Holsinger Shenk