I love Fall as do many people. Just a few days ago, I was talking to a woman from Columbia who had moved to Ithaca about four years ago with her husband who is studying at Cornell. Our conversation led to me asking her how she likes the seasons in the Northern Hemisphere. Bogata, her Colombian home, has very little variation in temperature throughout the year. It is near the equator but sits on a high plateau,, eight thousand feet or so above sea level. The average daytime temperature is in the upper sixties throughout the year, the average low in the upper forties. She said that she loves the Fall.

Fall has much to recommend it. I especially love the changing colors and the flowers. But, nothing endears Fall to me more than the food: apples in particular.

Many years ago, Disney made an animated film called Melody Time which included a segment about John Chapman who was an American pioneer, nurseryman, and missionary. Chapman introduced apple trees to large parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, present-day West Virginia, and Ontario, Canada. He became legendary for his creation of apple tree nurseries, his kindness and generosity, his love of animals, his advocacy of conservation, and his high regard among Native Americans who believed he had been touched by the Great Spirit, because of which he was never harmed by them. Chapman became idealized in legend as Johnny Appleseed.

A song in the film lists many of the things that can be made with apples: apple pickles, apple tarts, apple dumplings, apple fritters. apple cider, apple pie, apple cake, just to mention a few. I don’t believe I’ve ever disliked anything made with apples.

Apples and the delicious foods made from them remind me of the cooperation between God and humans. God provides for the creation of things from nothing. Humans cannot create apples from nothing. But we can create all kinds of wonderful things to eat from what God has provided.

In closing, I say:

Lift High the Cross

Reverend Dennis