One morning toward the end of our vacation, Katie and I woke up early. In the dim light, we quietly got dressed, scarfed down breakfast, and chugged a bit of coffee. After a quick double-check of our packs, we were off to the trailhead.

 

Our destination was Grinnell Glacier, one of the most famous in Glacier National Park. We’d already seen it from afar earlier that week, but that wasn’t enough for me. I wanted to get closer. I needed to touch the glacier, to stand on it, to get some sense of its magnitude and presence.

Six miles later and 1,600-some feet up, we reached the trail’s end at an overlook on Upper Grinnell Lake. Hemmed in by rock walls that stretch up for hundreds or thousands of feet, its millky-turquoise waters were filled with icebergs. A paper-thin crust of crystal clear ice covered its surface. Small piles of ice, driven by wind onto the shore, were creaking and groaning in the sunshine. It was stark, beautiful, amazing.

It is also new.

 

That incredible lake and its beautiful waters weren’t there a hundred years ago. When the park was established in 1910, Grinnell Glacier came right up to the overlook, covering more than 700 acres. Today, it covers less than 150 acres. Eighty percent of the glacier is gone.

 

Back then, the trail would have ended at the glacier. Last week, however, we had to cross another half-mile of rubble and bedrock to reach the ice sheet. Passing the sign advising against traveling on the glacier, we carefully crossed the snowfield, and then walked out on the ice.

 

It wasn’t very thick there, just five or six feet. Covered with shards of rock and gravel, it looks more like the springtime snow pile at the end of a driveway than a mountain-shaping force of nature. There were graceful scoops in clear ice, dripping with meltwater, and holes here and there, reaching down to bedrock. Further on, the ice stepped up in thickness and its pale blue color was faintly visible.

 

I stood there, atop that ancient ice sheet, wondering at its immensity and beauty. Turning to the towering rock walls, I quietly sang the Lord’s prayer and my eyes began to fill with tears. The immense magnitude and beauty of creation filled me, striking me with my own insignificance. Water dripped off the ice, trickling toward the lake and revealing, in real time, the cumulative effect of so many insignificant creatures. We are reshaping the natural world on an unimaginable scale. Together we have become a force more powerful than the ice which grinds bedrock into mountains.

 

Yet even there, I found hope. Thus far, humanity has reshaped the world unintentionally, haphazardly even. Just imagine what we could do if we channeled even a portion of that power and creative energy toward preservation and ecological health, toward justice and equity, toward love. That, I believe, is the aim of our Christian project: To shape ourselves in the model of God’s love and desire in order to build a more just, equitable, and healthy world with abundant life for all.

That is exactly what we’re striving to do right here at St. Luke’s. Filled with the abundant love of God, we are moving together through death toward resurrection and into a new way of life. I'm so grateful to be working on such a sublime project together with all of you.

Yours in Christ,

Justin

Please check out Calvary's weekly newsletter, The Visitor, published on Wednesdays. Current and archived editions are available here.

In addition to a variety of worship services, Calvary regularly has other public events that are sure to be of interest to folks like us. This summer, consider checking out Lunch on the Lawn, Tuesday lunch-hour outdoor concerts.

Rochester Duplicate Bridge Club warmly invites you to Chat Bridge, Mondays 10 - 11:30, beginning September 12th. This is an informal group with mentors available to help with bidding, leads, and play of the hand. If you are a "party' bridge player, Chat Bridge will give you insight into what duplicate bridge looks like. There is no charge, no partner needed, and is a drop-in event. Beginning and intermediate classes will start in September; registration is done online with Rochester Public Schools Community Education, Adult Enrichment. Hope to see you soon!

Sue Greenberg, Club Manager

If you've got something to include in next week's Lifelines, get in touch with Karen (507-288-2469, gouldk@stlukesepiscopal.org). The deadline is Wednesday at noon.