Thought for Today
Leviticus 26:4 I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
Mark 11:13 Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see whether perhaps he would find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.
Luke 20:10 When the season came, he sent a slave to the tenants in order that they might give him his share of the produce of the vineyard; but the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed.
This time of year, it is hard not to talk and write about the onset of spring. When we lived in the South, our friends and neighbors who had moved from colder climates always lamented that they “missed the different seasons.” Seasonal variations in the South are much more subtle. There are 4 different, distinct seasons. Hot, hotter, ‘your kidding’ and ‘don’t dare to go outside.’ Or, alternatively, ‘’hot and wet,’ ‘’hot and muggy,’ ‘blistering and soppy,’ and ‘I can’t breathe.’
Somewhere in my primary education, I learned all about the earth’s rotation around its axis and the tilt of that axis to the plane of the ecliptic. The rotation gives us night and day. The tilt of that axis gives us the cycle of our seasons. Without that rotation and/or that tilt, our planet would be a barren, sterile orb without life. Every time I hear or read about astronomers’ searching for exoplanets, I wonder whether the ones they have identified have rotation and tilt. Without both, all of those exoplanets would be barren, sterile husks, at least in terms of life as we know life.
Many of the trees, shrubs and plants in Texas are evergreens. Some do lose their leaves; few flower in the winter. But, summer, winter, spring and fall much of the landscape is green. Admittedly, the cycle of rain and drought are much more significant in terms of lush verses barren landscape. Here in New England we do have some evergreens. There are pines that bear needles all year. Like the pines in Texas, they do shed old needles and grow new ones, but they are green all year. But the variation in green lushness is much starker in the colder climate.
Christians and other monotheists understand life as a gift from our Creator God. We understand the rotation and tilt, cycle of the seasons and everything else as part of God’s Creation, provided for us as children of God. Our sciences and technologies help us to understand some of the intricacies of our planetary ecosystem. We have developed theories and mathematical algorithms to help us describe and predict weather patterns. We understand the growing cycles of flora and fauna. We know about crop rotation and soil depletion.
Not to minimize the importance of either science or technology, but neither really answers the most important questions, “Who?” “Why?” For those answers, we must turn to faith and theology. Pagan religions are predicated on a multiplicity of gods, often related to and responsible for specific aspects of climate or fertility. “Thor (from Old Norse: Þórr) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred groves and trees, strength, the protection of humankind, hallowing, and fertility.” (en.wikipedia.org) There were similar gods in both the Greek and Roman religions.
Christians and Jews believe in the One True God. The God of the Bible. We understand Creation and all life as gifts from God. As we go through the annual cycle of the seasons, we are reminded of God’s gifts to God’s children. In our own congregation, each month when we celebrate the Eucharist, we are reminded that the bread and wine are “the gifts of God for the people of God.” As I look at all the flower trees in our yard, the dogwoods, the crabapple, the flowering cherry, as I look at the maples leafing out, I am reminded of “the gifts of God for the people of God.” I am reminded of all of the blessings gifted to us and to me simply because of the love of God.
Stay safe, offer a prayer of thanksgiving today, trust God,
Pastor Ray