As we enter November, much of the area around us is experiencing significant drought conditions. It has been very dry, with some areas nearby receiving virtually no rain since mid-August. Many plants are struggling and farms are certainly concerned about their usual preparations for the late harvest and winter cover crops. At the same time, we have some of the most beautiful and sustained fall foliage I can remember. Every day on my drive to church I have several moments of being astounded by the beauty of the many colored leaves. It is a gorgeous time, and it is a dangerously dry time. Both things are true.
Having faith that God is in the midst of the world and at work in it is to trust that reality has many layers. These layers may seem contradictory, but several different things can be true at once. God is present and yet the world is imperfect. God is one and at the same time loves the diversity of the world. We are sinners and we are saints. To see God at work in the world is to see multiple stories as simultaneously true reflections of a reality that is both a wonderful blessing and broken by sin. This is one of the truths that we are reminded of on All Saints Day on Nov. 1: all of us in Christ are saints because through him God makes us holy, while at the same time all of us are sinners who have brokenness in our lives. We are simultaneously saint and sinner. Both are true.
Early in November we will have an election. I have no idea what will come from it or what the results might end up being. One thing about the way American elections are run and politics are covered by the media is that there is a tendency to reduce things to a single story. The idea of two quite different aspects of reality both being true gets lost too easily. What I know as we head into this election is that the United States is a large and diverse country with many different stories and layers of reality. Some of them might seem conflicting but are simultaneously true. There is beauty and there are dangerously dry aspects that co-exist in the same spaces at the same time. Being aware of these layers can help us connect with one another more effectively and be more empathetic with one another, no matter what the single story we hear might be. Whatever happens, there are dangerous tendencies within our world AND God is at work bringing love and creative resolution. Both of these things are true. The world is God’s good creation and it is broken. We are saints and we are sinners. Human society is beautiful and inflicts suffering. In faith, we can recognize in all of this that God is actively present and empowering us to work to witness to the many ways that divine love brings creative transformation to the world in its multiple stories, bringing life out of death and hope out of despair.