The sun will set today at 6:00 pm. 6 o’clock. It is glorious that we get to enjoy daylight until 6 o’clock. Every day the sun is a bit warmer and stays a bit longer.
One of our Lenten hymns has as it’s first verse … As the sun with longer journey melts the winter’s snow and ice / with it’s slowly growing radiance warms the seed beneath the earth, / may the sun of Christ’s uprising gently bring our hearts to life.
And it does, in some ways, feel as if the sun brings our hearts to life! The Syrian family who came to live here, like many other new Canadians, were surprised at how much Canadians talk about the weather! I teased them recently that, after three winters, they have become true Canadians because now they always talk about the weather too. They, like me, are tired of the winter days, the need for boots and hats and mitts. With three little kids, they, like many young families, joke about how long it takes to get out the door on a winter’s day, by the time all the snow pants and boots and mitts are on someone inevitably has to go to the bathroom! Won’t it be great when we can just walk out the door in our bare feet?
The expression of our faith is, understandably, connected to our environment. We put the mystery of faith into the concrete – what we can see, touch, taste and feel. The wonder of Christ’s love is explained in bread and wine. The comfort of faith is linked to green pastures and still waters. Much of the mystery of God’s relationship to humanity is put into words of creation and the environment. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…”
A five year old recently explained to me why we have season… “In the summer the earth and the sun are friends but in the winter, not so much. Then in the spring they start to become friends again.” Not too scientific but I thought that was a pretty good description of what happens. I am grateful that right now the sun and the earth are reconsidering their friendship and soon we will be basking in the warmth of their renewed relationship.
Tonight, at 6 o’clock, I am going to stand in the long stretch of the closing rays of sun and thank God for the regular return of the seasons, an annual event that reminds me of the constancy of God’s love and renewal.
Doffing the winter gear to enjoy Spring’s warmth is parallel to doffing one’s internal woes to embrace the warmth that Easter brings to the soul. Both are a tribute to the renewal that life offers us. This yearly occurrence is a welcomed respite from former dark days that often plague us. Glad that the “friendship” is an annual and repetitive process, allowing us new opportunities to explore.