April 16, 2023
Until I was 20 years old, my family spent summers on Kelly Lake. My Grandparents on my mom’s side had sold their humble getaway to my parents. The “cottage” was a simple mobile home, maybe 12 feet wide and 50 feet long. It wasn’t very mobile as it sat in the same spot since I had first laid eyes on it as a baby in the summer of 1971. It was the “cottage” to all of us.
Being the baby brother of four older siblings, I was often left in the care of one of my three sisters or my brother. Barb, one of my three older sisters, was the closest to me in age, being just six years my senior. While at the cottage one day when I was 8 years old, Barb took me on a walk down a gravel road to a gift shop to get a Father’s Day gift for my dad. It was a weekday; most folks were somewhere south working so they could afford to steal away to their hideaway on the weekend. It was quiet.
In the clear blue sky, the sun was hot, a warm breeze made the leaves of the aspens and alders chatter high above my head. I walked at a slight distance ahead of my sister, but not too far from her safety. I kicked big rocks and bent over to pick up little ones to chuck ahead of me on the gravel path. I liked the sound of rocks rolling over rocks. We were quiet.
Like all my siblings, Barb was patient with me, letting me test my independence while keeping a watchful eye. I gained confidence in their presence. If I stumbled, they told me to keep on. They helped me believe I could overcome…anything.
The early Christians, namely The Twelve, convinced non-believers to believe. When their contemporaries stumbled, there was no condemnation, just spiritual strengthening. They told stories, they welcomed questions, they helped those who needed help. John emphasizes, “these (stories) are written that you may come to believe” (20:31). Peter carried that torch as well, “even though you do not see him now yet, believe in him” (1 Peter 1:9).
While the apostles expressed urgency in their actions, they were patient in their teaching, by devoting “themselves…awe came upon everyone…every day they devoted themselves…and every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved” (Acts 2:42-43, 46-47).
As humans, we yearn for independence and exercise our free will, wrestling with the consequences of our decisions daily. Peter recognizes that during our life on earth we may “now for a little while have to suffer through various trials,” he also reminds us that the Resurrection of Jesus Christ gives us a “new birth to a living hope” (1 Peter 1:3).
I choose to believe in this living hope. The hope that I will have “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading kept in heaven” for me (1 Peter 1:4). I hope to one day walk down that gravel path again, warm, quiet, peaceful. Like the silent confidence I gleaned while being under the watchful eye of my siblings, because of the Resurrection I know I can overcome anything to attain the goal of my faith which is the salvation of my soul (1 Peter 1:9).
In today’s gospel passage from John, we encounter the phrase Peace be with you three separate times (20:19, 21, 26). I want peace for each of you. In your heart, in your mind, in your spirit, may you feel the peace of Christ’s presence in the room where you are independent, quiet, and keeping on.
The Balance 