This Week at Trinity, Beamsville
Friday, July 16, 2021
Dear Friends,
This week, and for at least a few weeks prior, I’ve been thinking often about the old adage – used often in rural circles, or at least often in our rural extended family – that you need to make hay when the sun shines. I remember once upon a time having a conversation with the Trinity children about what the phrase really means. It’s also quite likely I’ve written about it here before? It’s certainly on my mind often enough.
In a more literal sense, these last weeks I’ve been watching the farmers around us work with the fleeting sunshine and dry days to cut and bale their precious commodity. On our small piece of country pie, it’s been an ongoing race to keep the lawn from baling length. Within that minor inconvenience, however, I’ve come to yearn for that time on the tractor, going round and round with just my thoughts, and the world all but quieted by the whirring of the mower.
Why is the adage so much on my spiritual mind, and what is on my whirring, sometimes worrying mind so much these days? I think, in both regards, it is about learning to seize sacred opportunities, whenever they come upon us. My yearning for space in the free, fresh air, to process and find perspective, and my longing to say yes to precious moments whenever they present themselves, are part and parcel of this long time apart. Even as we gradually, carefully come out of this cocoon, we are still learning how to be and do ‘church’ in new ways. My head and heart are often on overdrive, trying to think creatively, to ensure we don’t miss blessed moments. There is an endless list of things to which we’ve had to say no, this last stretch of life, but there are many things we’ve still been able to embrace, with humble, heartfelt praise.
So, will you join me in praising God for every time the clouds and sun find their balance? Will you join me in praising God for every time communities surround each other with strength and purpose, determined to come through hard spaces, together? Will you join me in praying for healing and comfort, for communities like Barrie and Kelowna, and countless more across the country and world, where hard spaces feel overwhelming and reasons for praise seem far away? Will you join me, amid all of that, in lifting up endless praise for new life, new promises, new family relationships, and renewed hope in all that God is still pouring forth? Will you join me in celebrating the sacrament of Baptism, this Sunday morning? Yes, I said Baptism. Yes, we will celebrate together. It won’t be what we’ve done before, but yes, praise can still be on our hearts and lifted from our lips. We can still make sacramental hay, even in the long stretch of showers… and maybe, in some ways, it will start to feel like holy water, in a whole new way.
With love to you all,
Heather
“With the whole church we affirm that we are made in God’s image, befriended by Christ, empowered by the Spirit. With people everywhere we affirm God’s goodness at the heart of humanity, planted more deeply than all that is wrong. With all creation we celebrate the miracle and wonder of life; the unfolding purposes of God, forever at work in ourselves and the world.”
(The Iona Community, Daily Act of Prayer)