Eastertide

April 16, 2020

Scripture Reading: 1 Peter 1:3-9
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Today we lay fallow as we shelter at home protecting ourselves and others from the COVID 19 virus. I learned the word “fallow” as a child. The neighbor, who owned the farm just north of ours, practiced the ancient farming technic of letting land lay fallow. It is bibilical. Exodus 23.1, But the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, so that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the wild animals may eat. You shall do the same with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard. He divided his farm into several large plots. Each year nothing was planted in one of those plots, and it was not tilled, which allowed the earth to restore its nutrients. My dad did something called crop rotation. By changing what he planted in the various plots of land, he was able to sustain its nutritional value while using all the ground each year. I have no idea which type of farming is best.

I will confess I have gotten a little stir crazy at times in my shelterings, but I have also read some books, I had not had the time to read, and completed a couple of online Bible studies, I purchased some months ago that I had moved to the back burner of my time. I think this unplanned downtime provided nurture for my soul.

The real question is, what good are we going to harvests from this calamity? The Prophet Hosea spoke to fallow farming too:

Hosea 10.12:
Sow for yourselves righteousness;
   reap steadfast love;
   break up your fallow ground;
for it is time to seek the Lord,
   that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.

Peter tells us in the scripture above that we received new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ that still sustains us today. Let us learn valuable lessons from this pandemic across all aspects of our lives as we gradually move into the time when we can break up our fallow ground and plant new seeds of love through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Prayer: Lord, as you nurture our souls, plant new seeds of understanding and service in our hearts for recovering from such a time as this. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.