Greetings from Our Pastor

Greetings from our Pastor!

For her preschool unit on nature, my 5-year-old daughter  has been keeping an eye out for “signs of spring.” On the way to and from school each morning, we’ve marveled over snow glories and crocuses; tulips and daffodils; new leaves on trees; and an uptick in robins snagging worms.

But our favorite neighborhood nature sighting can be seen all year long: a rare “piebald” Easter cottontail rabbit. The piebald coloring is mostly white, with a few brownish-grey patches – due to a genetic mutation and can make piebald rabbits easy prey for hawks and owls. But our Piebald Bunny, as we call it, is pretty good at hiding in the bushes; we play a game on the way to school to see who can spot it first.

From pill bugs to red tailed hawks, it’s such a thrill to see her sharing my sense of awe and wonder at God’s creation. But I particularly love sharing our rabbit friend with her, because just like the freckles that pop out on her cheeks this time of year, Piebald Bunny is a reminder of God’s creativity – and that difference can be special.

In honor of Piebald Bunny and of God’s tendency to show off in spring and summer, I invite you to read this poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins celebrating all manner of spotted, mottled, and strange creations giving glory to their Maker by the very fact of their juxtaposition:

“Pied Beauty”

Glory be to God for dappled things – 

For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow; 

For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim; 

Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings; 

Landscape plotted and pieced – fold, fallow, and plough; 

And all trades, their gear and tackle and trim. 

 All things counter, original, spare, strange; 

Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?) 

With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim; 

He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change: 

Praise him.

 Blessings,

Reverend Leah Lyman Waldron, Pastor