Rev. Cathie Crooks
Special to The Guardian
“Ah, September! You are the doorway to the season that awakens my soul…” Peggy Toney Horton
The words of author and poet Peggy Toney Horton caught my attention in recent days. For those of us who have the luxury of a beautiful Island summer, the thought of leaving it behind is met with some resistance, to be sure. Long days and late nights, beach walks and bonfires, picnics and patios, stolen time with family and friends – all gifts of summer.
Yet, what if we were to greet September with the kind of anticipation and appreciation as that of an author and a poet? What if we were to welcome it for its inherent beauty and the autumn into which it leads us? What if we were to walk through its doorway with awe and wonder to embrace the kaleidoscope of colour that awaits us in October?
The author of the Book of Ecclesiastes, one of the oft-quoted books from the Wisdom Literature of the Hebrew Bible, has written:
To every thing there is a season,
a time for every purpose under the heaven.
If the season of summer is the season for rest and renewal, perhaps autumn is the season that awakens our souls. If the season of summer is the season for leisure and letting go, perhaps autumn is the season that calls us anew to tend ever more deeply to the cares of the world. If the season of summer is the season of lightheartedness and play, perhaps autumn is the season that asks of us full-hearted commitment to the sacred work of justice and peace and love.
“Ah, September! You are the doorway to the season that awakens my soul…”
To what might your soul be awakening this day? To what cares of the world are you being called to tend anew? For what sacred work of justice and peace and love is your heart feeling full and ready to commit?
May the luxury of a beautiful Island summer – long days and late nights, beach walks and bonfires, picnics and patios, stolen time with family and friends – strengthen and sustain us all as we walk through September’s open door. Let us go forth with a daring and tender love for the world is waiting.
May it be so. Amen.
Rev. Cathie Crooks is with Trinity-Clifton United Church of Canada. A guest sermon runs regularly in Saturday’s Guardian and is provided through Christian Communications.
