This morning the weather feels more like early November but don’t hold your breath because we’re supposed to have two to three more days of late summer by midweek – with the promise of rain. It’s not too late to still plant spring bulbs, several dozen of which my dear gardener son was good enough to give me.
But first I need to replenish my supply of bone meal. It’s bad enough to see artificial Christmas trees and blow-up Santas before Thanksgiving, but before Halloween is something else. So while we’re being forced into thinking about Christmas with the dreadful muzak versions of Christmas-type music, soothe yourself with Handel.
In Every Valley, a new book about the world of Handel’s Messiah, historian Charles King writes about how slavery was so enmeshed in British culture that critics were seen as outliers. Handel was an outlier. As we listen to the opening lines from the text, in this dark time, let us remember the triumph of hope that surpasses even our fears.
Prayer for the Day
God of compassion, who embraces us as a mother does a child,
There are times we just want to crawl into your arms shutting off the world;
But we know that’s not possible, for you call us to serve you,
So, more than anything else, we pray, keep us on the steady path.
Stir us by the power of your Spirit and soak us in the water of your love,
So we will have the strength to live as you would have us live.
In the name of the One who gives us strength,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower
Albert Camus, French philosopher (1913-1960)
The heat of autumn is different from the heat of summer. One ripens apples, the other turns them to cider.
Jane Hirshfield, American writer, from The Heat of Autumn
You who live in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,
Will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress; My God in whom I trust.”
For God will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence;
God will cover you with pinions and you will find refuge under God’s wings.
God’s faithfulness is a shield and a buckler.
You will not fear the terror of the night or the arrow that flies by day,
Or the pestilence that stalks in the darkness or the destruction that wastes by day.
Psalm 91:1-6