What is the Miracle?

Renée Antrosio – December 2, 2025 2 Comments

I am drawn to the poets who see the miracles in the everyday, who illuminate the moment of awe and invite us to join in reverence. For the screech owl temporarily making its home in a dying tree. For the way the light returns every morning, and the mystery of the night. For the blanket of snow and hope of future fireflies. 

On Saturday night, the possibility of gathering in person for worship seemed quite unlikely. 10 inches of snow, then rain, then freezing wind. What good was a layer of salt on sidewalks in that situation? Some of us hoped for a snow day. Others wisely stayed home, partaking in the miracle of our online worship podcast. And a brave few agreed to show up at 7am to shovel.

During the night, the wind howled from the east, clearing the sidewalk on White. And in the morning, the guys chipped and scraped and hacked at the frozen snow sprayed by the plow onto the Randolph side. What was the miracle? 

The visible
and the invisible

working together
in common cause,

to produce
the miraculous.*

Which is more visible to us- the wind of the Holy Spirit or the labor of those who got up early to scrape their own cars and clear church walkways? How do we participate in the miracle- to see its possibility, to be quiet and observe, to bring a sacrifice of our labor and time, to take note and tell about it. 

Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it. **

As winter settles in, we plan for a Jubilee summer- 50 years of New Covenant Fellowship. A miracle indeed, to be alive and thriving and relevant to another generation. How God has worked through the visible and the invisible to produce the miraculous- in individuals and in the collective, here in Champaign Urbana and spread throughout the world. 

Sometimes the miracle is shifting from fear to love. Sometimes the miracle is forgiveness. Sometimes the miracle is asking to see things differently. 

Laboring God,
with axe and winnowing fork
you clear a holy space
where hurt and destruction have no place,
and a little child holds sway.
Clear our lives of hatred and despair,
sow seeds of joy and peace,
that shoots of hope may spring forth
and we may live in harmony
with one another. Amen. ***

May we be gifted with eyes of faith over fear to see the miracles around us. May we acknowledge God’s unexpected provision and see the labor of family and strangers, working together to produce the miraculous. May we be astonished, and tell about it. –Renée

*David Whyte, “Working Together”
**Mary Oliver, “Sometimes”
***lectionary prayer for 12/7