The autumn sun has a special brilliance as it rises in the morning bathing our oak trees, our spruce, our plum and cherry trees with light. Toward the end of the 1st century, St. Clement of Rome wrote a letter to the Christians of Corinth, the church St. Paul wrote two letters to earlier.

In lyrical language Clement pictures God’s great plan for creation. “Fix your gaze on the Father and Creator of the whole world.” You can see the Creator in the world he made.

“By God’s direction the heavens are in motion, and they are subject to him in peace. Day and night they fulfill the course God has established. The sun, the moon and the choirs of stars revolve in harmony at his command in their appointed paths without deviation….The earth blossoms in the proper seasons and produces abundant food…”

The destiny of creation is not destruction but resurrection. The world has its fierce, stormy seas, but God commands the seas.

“ Consider, beloved, how the Lord keeps reminding us of the resurrection that is to come, of which he has made the Lord Jesus Christ the first fruits by raising him from the dead. Let us look, beloved, at the resurrection that occurs at its appointed time. Day and night show us a resurrection; the night lies in sleep, day rises again; the day departs, night takes its place. Let us think about the harvest; how does the sowing take place, and in what manner? The sower goes out and casts each seed onto the ground. Dry and bare, they fall into the earth and decay. Then the greatness of the Lord’s providence raises them up again from decay, and out of one many are produced and yield fruit.”

It’s not nature mysticism Clement recommends. It’s a world seen through the eyes of faith. God’s “great providence” is at work.

Sunrise through the trees in our garden the other day whispered that to me.