Faces on Faith: Love that never changes
(Editor’s note: June Sieber has been a contributor to this column since its inception. She is moving out of the area and this will be her final piece. Coordinator the Rev. Dr. John Danner reported that all are most grateful for Sieber’s years of dedication to the project and wished her blessings as she moves into a new part of her life.)
Christians around the world consider Easter the holiest day in the Christian calendar, celebrating Jesus’ victory over the cross and the grave to everlasting life. That the beloved son should have to suffer is a hard problem in theology. In the King James version of the Bible, I John tells us: “God is love. In this was manifested the love of God because God sent his only begotten son into the world that we might live through Him.” Jesus rose triumphant on Easter morn and demonstrated that Love is ever with us, meeting every challenge.
A recent family situation challenged me to see this love as active and totally present. My granddaughter was diagnosed with COVID while teaching her second-grade class in Mesquite, Texas. Two days later her symptoms became more alarming, so her mother made the treacherous four-hour drive from Austin, Texas, to care for her daughter. That night the apartment lost power and the temperature fell to 37 degrees. Prayer at this juncture was deep and earnest knowing that the young woman was created, constituted and governed by God, who was caring for her as pure, innocent, wholly love’s manifestation.
Two days later, both became so chilled that the women slept huddled in the same bed for warmth, despite the concern that the mother would become infected. As director of the Covenant Methodist Pre-School in Austin, she struggled with her need to care for her child, while also wanting to protect her preschool children and teachers.
Mary Baker Eddy, discoverer and founder of Christian Science, reminds us of Florence Nightingale, who was able to undergo fatigue and exposure that ordinary people could not endure. She writes: “The explanation lies in the support which she derived from the divine law, rising above the human. The spiritual demand, quelling the material, supplies energy and endurance surpassing all other aids, and forestalls the penalty which our beliefs would attach to our best deeds.” My prayer was the fervent realization that, as children of God, both were right in the center of love’s holy power and could never be disconnected or cut off from love’s comfort and care.
The fever broke, the power came on. Mother was able to return to Austin and tested negative for COVID. She was then cleared to return to her job at the preschool. Granddaughter was soon free from symptoms and approved to return to her second-graders. Easter can bring us a fresh realization and awareness of divine love that never changes, lifting us out of despair, into newness of life.
June Sieber is affiliated with the Sanibel Christian Science Church.