January 25, 2026: A Community of Snowflakes

Epistle Reading: 1 Corinthians 12: 1-13
The Gospel: Matthew 4: 18-25

Not having grown up with snow, I have always been fascinated by it. There is such incredible beauty in watching the individual flakes fall, whether gently floating down, a few at a time, or collectively coming down in a shower of flakes. Like a small child, I still like to stare out the window at the snow falling and to go outside and collect some on my tongue. I like to watch as a few white flakes land on my black coat, to see if I can make out their unique patterns before they disappear, turning to moisture on my jacket. 

Moving to Vermont, I loved learning about Snowflake Bentley. Wilson Bentley was a Vermont Farmer born in 1865 in Jericho, Vermont. “On January 15, 1885 he became the first person to photograph a single snow crystal.  He would go on to photograph well over 5000 snow crystals (never finding two the same), and his documentation of this work advanced the study of meteorology in his time.” He said that, "Under the microscope,  I found that snowflakes  were miracles of beauty; and it seemed a shame that this beauty should  not be seen and appreciated by others. Every crystal was a masterpiece  of design and no one design was ever repeated., When a snowflake melted,  that design was forever lost. Just that much beauty was gone, without  leaving any record behind." (https://snowflakebentley.com/biography)

However, this is where I disagree with Bentley. Yes, the individual snowflake is gone, but its beauty is absorbed into the other snowflakes that creates a more visible white blanket that decorates fir trees, rock walls, mountains, and fields. It is this collective blanket of billions of individual snowflakes that lets us ski, sled, build snow people and snow angels. While the individual flake indeed has its own unique patterns and beauty, it takes a community of snowflakes to create the spectacular winter landscapes that catch our breath in wonder, let us play, and even capture the water that will continue to refresh us through the warm seasons that follow. 

It takes a community of snowflakes coming together to sustain us. 

Like individual snowflakes, Peter, Andrew, James and John had their own beauty - their own individual gifts in catching fish to feed people, but as they came together with Jesus, their individual talents combined with Jesus’ teaching allowed them to collectively learn to feed more people: feeding them with hope, healing and the peace of Christ, reaching far more people than they could with their individual catches of fish. 

Together with all the other ancient and modern disciples, they created a beautiful blanket of hope like snow on the earth that continues to nourish us today. They learned that their gifts were multiplied when they gathered together as a community of faith. 

Our 1 Corinthians scripture reminds us that we all have a variety of gifts. Some of us are healers, others are teachers, designers, or builders. Some are bankers, administrators, cooks, servers, painters and so much more. Each of us, like an individual snowflake, has our own unique beauty, our own unique gifts. And that, by itself, is a wonderful thing. But we remember that gifts are to be shared. God did not put us here just to dazzle ourselves as we look in the mirror but to share our light, our individual gifts, with others. 

As 1 Corinthians 4-7 reminds us: “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”

Let’s consider that last line again, “to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” Here we are reminded that in addition to our individual and unique beauty and talents - one thing we all received from God is the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. Each of us has been given the desire and ability to contribute to the common good - it is the intersection of our unique gifts. We may work for the common good in different ways individually, or, like a pile of individual snowflakes that come together as a base for a sugar on snow party, we may work together for the common good or common joy. 

I believe God created this exquisite earth, not just to sustain us but to teach us. There are so many patterns in nature and habits of animals that we can learn from. Each of these is from God as a reminder of what is possible when we live in harmony as a community. 

Snowflakes are just one of the many teachers that God has provided for us. Wilson Bentley taught us of their individual beauty and we can easily see and experience their collective beauty but we also need to see ourselves as individual snowflakes - offering our unique gifts as a part of a greater community. Despite its splendor, a single snowflake is noticed but briefly, however, that single snowflake when gathered in community, can last for months: can become a surface for sliding, a base for sugar on snow, or sustenance for a river that will nourish us through the hot summer and beyond. 

I do know that the term “snowflake” has sometimes been used in a derogatory way to say that people are overly sensitive and lacking in resilience, implying that their current efforts will soon melt or fade away. However, this comparison leaves out both the value of the community of snowflakes and the water cycle. As  individual snowflakes collect together, they become a greater whole but even this whole will melt away with time, just as our time as humans on this earth is limited. 

However, when snowflakes melt, they become water that flows into rivers, and is eventually evaporated by the heat of summer, forming water vapor which rises into the clouds and which will eventually rain or snow down again. I think snowflakes or any forms of water are some of the most resilient materials God makes. They are certainly not flaky in the sense that, that word is sometimes used. 

Part of being the unique individuals that God has created us to be is discovering our gifts, spiritual and otherwise, and then sharing them for the common good of all God’s people or just those in need at the moment. As a community of faith, we. like the disciples, look to Jesus as our guide. In his time as a human, he welcomed all, especially those who were marginalized; healed all, especially those for whom there seemed to be no hope of healing, and fed all with the gifts of the spirit, inviting them to share those unique gifts and talents. 

I invite you to look at this image of a snowflake cross. It is comprised of eleven uniquely beautiful individual snowflakes. Each one could be a work of art on its own, but put together in this manner, we are reminded of God who came to the earth in human form even to the point of dying on a cross to remind us of our individual gifts and how, working together as a community of faith for the common good, we can join God as his living symbols of beautiful hope for this world. Amen. 
Pastor Michelle Fountain

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