Two different people talk to me about Wendell Berry this weekend. I find myself in a long conversation about committing oneself fully to the land around you, to the small space in which God has placed you, to the local community right there. I think about my home in central Pennsylvania and my love of the oak trees, the forest behind my house, the mushrooms after the rain, and the rabbits. I think about the Pennsylvania landscape, the people, their histories, their spiritual lives. Here I am.
Wendell Berry helps me understand a rich theology of place. Another friend sends me a Berry quote that says, “No matter how much one may love the world as a whole, one can live fully in it only by living responsibly in some small part of it.”
This sabbath day, I thank the Lord for the small part.