Minister's Musings

This week, as I was driving to work I was overcome by the beauty of the landscape. The autumn colours have arrived in all their glory. The dark red sumac drips like melting ore, the bright red maples dance in the wind, and the bright yellows glow under the low sun. I didn’t grow up in a place with fall colours. On the prairies, it is summer until the temperature crashes, the leaves glow yellow for one day, and then winter. So for me, every year seeing the colours still feels new. Fall is truly a wonder filled time, and yet my experience tells me that it heralds the long freeze: difficult drives, cold rains, and damp cold that seeps into bones.

It is a memento mori, a reminder of our mortality. There are many ways to reflect on mortality. Throughout time, artists, philosophers, and religious teachers have all chimed in. At this moment, I can’t help but think of the way that the New Creed reminds us of this: In life, in death, in LIFE beyond death (emphasis mine), we are not alone. Christian teachings are about renewal and rebirth: forgiveness to move forward, grace to begin again.

Poet Jessica Kantrowitz captures this beautifully in the blessing below. As I read it, I thought about our tree project. We have deep roots, each of us, through our family stories, our community, our faith, our own experiences. We hold in our bodies hope.

Friends, enjoy the fall with its radiant colours. Prepare in hope for the winter, which indeed carries its own beauty. And know that spring will come. New hope is embedded into the fabric of creation by God, who made each of us in love.

– Rev. Kirsty –

The Death of Leaves (From Blessings for the Long Night, Jessica Kantrowitz)

You are not the leaves

which blaze with color every fall, then fall

ground into the ground.

Their death is not your death.

No, you are the tree, which moves its energy

down in autumn, to the roots, in ample store.

Bare branches best prepared

for winter cold and winter winds.

That’s not to say the loss of leaves is not a loss.

The grief of losing all your color, your connection to the sun

is real grief. The stripping is a real stripping.

But as every fall speaks of coming spring

and every winter holds its end in its beginning

your own sap will rise again in longer light

nourishing every small branch.

And you, tree, human, living creature

will grow green life again.