Wendell Berry was a famous American author who passed away on August 31, 2026. To my personal disappointment, I had never even heard of Wendell Berry until many Christian online publications paid tribute to his writing - publications like First Things, Christianity Today, The Gospel Coalition, Christian Century and others.
Jonah "Jayber" Crow is the main character in one of Berry's novels, Jayber Crow. In the story, young Jayber was orphaned very early in life. He was adopted by an elderly couple who also passed away before Jayber was grown. Jayber then went to live in an orphanage. He didn't like that life because of the loneliness but he had no choice but to stay because his basic practical needs for living were being met there. When grown, he wanted a career as a clergyman but seminary didn't work out, so he quit and returned to his hometown of Port William, Kentucky where he became the local barber.
At first, he lived an independent, care-free life by refusing to be tied down. He had an on-again-off-again girlfriend to whom he wouldn't commit anything permanent. He owned a car to take him out of town every chance he got so he could avoid settling down. All this changed when he met the faithful wife of a man who cared more about making a name for himself in the big world than he did for his own family. In this woman, her name was Mattie, Jayber suddenly saw the value of committing oneself to others. Despite her husband's ambition and wanderlust, she remained laser-focused on raising her children and maintaining the family home. She carried herself with a grace that impressed Jayber so much, that it profoundly changed him and his outlook on life. Mattie possessed a grace that changed people; grace that demonstrated an excellent spirit and a calm, stalwart faithfulness to what is good, what truly matters. The effect on Jayber was life-changing. He broke up with the girlfriend and sold his car and committed himself to loving Mattie from a distance and patterning himself after her. He never told her how he felt.
He also rekindled his first love, God. He was intrigued by the Bible verse John 3:16 and the God so radical that He could love a world in rebellion against Him enough to send His own Son to redeem that world.
Jeffrey Bilbro of The Gospel Coalition wrote this, "This imaginative vision spurs Jayber to try to love the other members of Port William as if they were indeed eternal beings, beloved by their Creator. As anyone who has tried to do this knows, it isn’t easy. But at least the attempt enables him to participate in the love of the God who so loved the world that He gave himself for it."
The point of the novel is it counts immensely that we human beings try to love one another in as many ways as possible because that is how God is with us. And it's not easy. Jayber discovered that even acting this way locally in a small town, modelled by Mattie, had profound eternal meaning and ramifications. Jesus Himself acted locally and changed the entire world.
Bilbro also wrote this about the author, "Berry sought to imagine how the death and resurrection of the incarnate God changes literally everything, from the cosmic to the quotidian (ordinary). And then he tried, as a fallible, limited human in a fallen world, to live accordingly."
As Christians, we act in love toward the ordinary and unlovely at the behest of God who is love, because we have been redeemed by His Son and transformed. And even though we are acting on a small stage, because we act in Christ's name, we are a city on a hill that leaves the imprint of the God of the universe.
I recently came across this quote on the internet, "It is a broken Christianity that swears it can see God in presidents and billionaires but not in the poor and the powerless" (source uncertain). In His name, we should serve the poor and the powerless. It isn't easy, but that is each Christian's personal ministry.
