Streams of Mercy

In recent weeks the church parking lot has been undergoing the process of repaving. This involved breaking up the old asphalt and hauling it away, smoothing and allowing the ground to settle, and after several days, repaving. I appreciated the faithfulness of those hard workers who toiled through some of the hottest days on record! I’ve wondered what became of all that was broken up and hauled away.

The old surface was bumpy and cracked and uneven. We became well-acquainted with its problems and possibilities during the early months of the pandemic when we worshipped outside in the parking lot.

I’ve thought a lot about the process I watched unfolding from day to day - a breaking up and removing a surface that had years of faithful use, then time to prepare a new foundation, and the new surface itself. I’ve thought a lot about all the cars that parked here or cut through here to avoid tricky curves coming and going. I’ve thought about Bible School gatherings and Easter Sunrise Services and Easter Egg Hunts and the drive-through Blessing of the Animals Service during the pandemic. That old parking lot served us well and if those pieces of asphalt could speak, they would surely have stories to tell. And soon the newly paved surface will have stories to tell as well!

Scripture tells of God working to make all things new. Perhaps much the same process applies to our lives as well. All that is broken and cracked is healed and restored; the ups and downs of our journeys of life and faith are smoothed and resurfaced, and we have the gift of a new beginning.

“Tikkun olam” is a concept in Judaism, which refers to various forms of action intended to repair and improve the world:

A cherished Jewish recognition

That our purpose in life

Is to repair the world

In that spirit, we might ask

What might I contribute with my life

How might I be, that my life leaves things better?

The busy street of my life

Needs to be restored.

Ground down

Swept and washed

Resurfaced

And the world is crying out

For love

Or even for a little recognition

An awareness that our lives

Are of value and have a contribution to make.

It seems there’s always something we can learn from every life experience, even the repaving of a parking lot at a 206- year-old Presbyterian Church in Jackson Springs!

Elizabeth