On the senior retreat to Trinity Retreat Center in West Cornwall, Connecticut I found myself drawn to a large boulder situated on the Housatonic River. I perched myself on this large, rugged rock covered with moss and reflected on how much the world was changing each day. I wondered about the future. Would my cohort see each other again before the end of the semester? How long would this unprecedented time last? What tools could help me through this?

When I revisited the boulder the next day, my mind still wondered about these questions, but on my return, I began to notice the river and the trees lining the banks. There was a chipmunk making her way through tunnels made by tree roots, a bald eagle flying up the river searching for his lunch, and tiny bugs welcoming the warm sun after a long winter. I was witness to God’s creation greeting the day unfazed by the coronavirus pandemic.

In those moments I was reminded that some things are sustained over time. The world will come alive each spring and Wendell Berry tells us there will be a “birth of color out of night and the ground.” The Berkeley senior class’ community will continue to be a rock of support for one another in our future ministries, not bound by location. God’s love and desire to be in relationship with God’s creation will never cease. Yes, times are challenging, and many things seem unpredictable and unknown. Perhaps in this time we might see new births of color present in the witness of God in creation.

April Woods: Morning

Birth of color

out of night and the ground.

Luminous the gatherings

of bloodroot

newly risen, green leaf,

white flower

in the sun, the dark

grown absent.

-Wendell Berry