People
of God: return!
You
are called to be God’s own.
From
the mountains announce the good news.
God
comes in justice and peace,
to
all who follow his ways.
You
are God’s children.
Lord,
make us one in the peace of Christ
today
and for ever.
Amen.
return…follow
his ways
Much
as I love the green fuzz of the first new leaves of the year, or the glory of
their autumn colours, it is in these bare winter months that the trees that
line our street are at their most arresting. We tend to think of them as dead,
awaiting new life; but they are not. Not dead, but sleeping. The rest of the
righteous. God calls, and they follow his ways, returning to rest, returning to
awakening, to unfurling and stretching out a canopy, to blossom and to clusters
of ripe berries, to letting go. There is neither justice, nor peace, in forcing
a plant to produce a harvest all year round.
Might
the call to return to God, to follow his ways today, be an invitation to enter
into rest—deep, bone marrow satisfying rest?
I love the idea of rest in winter, particularly for the natural world. For the gardener/food grower/farmer it's a mixed blessing. February is the hungry time as there isn't much growing and we've blasted through our stores, but I enjoy having less to do and more time to think and plan.
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