Time has worked its way around to another changing of
seasons. True to its heritage, the sky
is clear and blue, and the breeze is warm.
The afternoons in the direct sunlight are hot, so a few drops of sweat
form on the brow of those tending to
late season yard work. Early September
is much like August, but the air is drier and more comfortable. While summer seems to be holding on, the tips
of the soybean fields are yellow and the corn has notably begun to dry down
even though the kernels are still moist and plump. The roadside ferns have curled and are
already rusty brown, The sumac is showing
tinges of red, and a few trees are splashed with color. Also, this
week, the first of the wild asters have begun to bloom; the ones I saw on my
morning walk were deep purple, but I know that others will be lighter purple
and others to come nearly pink.
To the casual observer there is a constant push-pull in
the changing of the seasons, until one season becomes dominant. And, in these parts, it happens roughly every
third turning of the calendar page. The
consequence of thinking that way, is you consider change of season like the
whole of the natural and fallen world.
It is a reality of contest and struggle. The
challenge to that world view is that creation is trapped in a cycle of conquest
with an occasional pause, but no real time of peaceful rest. It could be argued then, that the seasons
themselves are like four parts, but without a whole.
What if we thought of creation rather than having four
distinct seasons, we saw creation where the four seasons exist in communion,
rather than competition? All of the
seasons would then exist simultaneously.
In that view, the seasons formed a whole since the moment that God spoke
all into being. Perhaps the January thaw,
the early frost, and the sandhill crane arriving in the still-frozen marsh are
all glimpses into this communion of seasons to bring to our mind the One who is
simultaneously Alpha and Omega, Divine and Human, crucified and yet risen, and who
lives in the ever-present now.
His Peace <><
Deacon Dan
Photo by Eilis Garvey on Unsplash
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