Faith in Focus
-
The Anabaptist Network is a relational network of individuals and churches. Looking for authentic expressions of discipleship and community in achanging culture where Christians are now on the margins, we value theinsights of the Anabaptist tradition.
The Anabaptist movement began in Europe in the 16th century and, despitesustained persecution, survived and spread by migration and mission. It isnow a global family of churches and networks.
Visit the Anabaptist Network site at
www.anabaptistnetwork.com
by Andrew Francis
God is good. Definitely so, when we had one of the last days of summer sun on the occasion of the wedding of two of my good friends. Particularly as the reception was held in a marquee in an orchard, with bouncy castles for the children and croquet for the adults. As we sat into the dusk, glasses in hand, the chill came from an autumn breeze.
But it made me think of how important times and seasons are. Although I enjoy the warmth of a summer beach, the crispness of a snowy winter morning or the smell of spring flowers, autumn is now my favourite season. Autumn officially begins on September 22nd, and the nights will become longer than the days. But like the poet Keats said, it is a season of ‘mists and mellow fruitfulness’ as well as trees full of their copper tantrums.
Autumn is a great season of change, a time for endings, for thankfulness. That is why many churches, schools and communities celebrate Harvest. I have just picked the last of my tomatoes off their vines. I continue to pick and prepare the apples from my garden’s trees. But it is not just the final crops of produce and foodstuffs which the autumn brings. For most of us, autumn is often a time when our life changes, too
For many, it is the new school and college year – another time of change. For some, it is settling into autumn’s routine of work. For my newly-married friends, it is settling into life together. For others, it can bring individual change. For another friend, it means entering hospital for life-changing surgery. For me, this has been a time of change as I recently had to retire early on the grounds of ill-health. Seasons are times of change – not all of them easy.
In the Hebrew or Jewish Bible, the writer of Ecclesiastes reminds us that there ‘is a season for everything under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die’. For those of a certain generation, these words were adapted to become a chart-topping pop-song by the Byrds. It is true. There is a time for everything. Whether we celebrate them and those changes, is up to us. This autumn, whatever life brings for you, how will you celebrate that this time of change is part of life’s rich gift and pattern?
(Andrew Francis is a member of the Anabaptist Network, a community theologian & writer, living in north Wiltshire. This article also appeared in both the Swindon Advertiser and the UP northern syndicate of newspapers.)