A Fallen Sparrow

One of the things which frightens us in our spiritual journey are the those moments when our encounter with God seems to refute what we have learned to believe about Him.  Byron Herbert Reece was an Appalachian poet of north Georgia whose legacy still lingers heavy in the valleys and hills he called home.  One of his poems is about that passage of Scripture which speaks of God's protective eye being on the sparrow.  The poem begins with the words, "I saw a fallen sparrow..."  As the poet wrote lines wondering how it happened, he ends with the words, 'I had no means to know; But this I minded well: Whose eye was on the sparrow Shifted,--and it fell."     

What do we do with a healing God who does not heal?  How do we relate to a caring God who allows my child to die?  How do we relate to a God who supposedly watches over the sparrow; yet, who lets him fall?  If our questions about faith are easily answered, it is likely that we have not been asking the right questions.  With his poem Reece pondered what seemed as mystery to Him.  If we read the gospel as a book of answers for life, we will likely be disappointed in the end.  What the gospel reveals is not answers, but an open door into the mystery where God can be encountered.  

Mystery abound.  How can it be that a person who dies shall live again?  How is that God became flesh?  How is that the cross has the power to transform life and bring into the creation a new order?  As Reece saw the sparrow, he pondered what cannot be understood.  Dare we do the same?