What a summer this has been! July was the hottest month on record. Fires have raged around the country causing air pollution all the way down to the southern tip and beyond! Storms saw three tornados touch down locally, caused power outages and brought down trees . In one storm, 185 mm of rain fell on Harrow overnight causing road closures and flooding. Some say this is the ‘new normal’. Others say, it will only get worse.
What a summer this has been. How many more summers, and winters, and extreme weather events do we need before we wake from our sleep and realise change is necessary for our very survival?
Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near.
A good night’s sleep is a blessing. There can be a sense of peacefulness that embraces us when we lay down for the night and drift off allowing the world to fade away as we hope for rest and renewal. To sleep well means that we feel safe and secure in our environment. We trust that everything will be OK, that there are no threats to our wellbeing, and we can rest, we can dream, we can sleep, peacefully.
There are ways in which our circumstances may seem similarly peaceful. We are privileged when we feel safe and secure in our environment to the point where we don’t think too much about the consequences of our choices. There is a gift in not knowing the extent to which we contribute to the challenges and changes our world is facing. It feels like a blessing when we believe we have little about which we need to worry. It feels like a blessing, like the gift of sleep, the privilege of letting go and trusting all will be well, that is, until we are challenged to wake up!
Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep.
There is a big difference between being asleep and being awake. As we transition from one to the other, we become more aware. Our senses send us signals about our surroundings. On the best days that might mean the sight of a gentle light brightening our space, the smell of bacon cooking when someone makes us a special breakfast, and the sound of birds chirping their good morning song. It might include the feel of soft sheets and warm blankets surrounding us and the taste of a delicious hot beverage. Waking enables us to become aware in a way we weren’t while we slept.
Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep.
Waking enables us to become aware in a way we weren’t while we slept. Waking invites us to see, and hear, and smell, and taste, and feel things anew. Waking challenges us to greet a new day, with new possibilities, and new opportunities. Waking is our gift and our task. We get to decide how we live out the day. What we do. What we don’t do.
Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep.
What happens when we take the gift of each new day and embrace the opportunities to learn, to grow, to challenge, to change, to do better? What happens when waking invites us to use the power and privilege of our reality to acknowledge the impacts of the choices we make? What does it look like to recognise our contributions, intentional and unintentional to the current situation? What might happen if we choose to root our choices in justice and peace? What might happen if we learn and choose based on the fifth mark of mission: to safeguard the integrity of God’s creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.
Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep.
It is now the moment for us to wake from sleep. We need to be more aware. We need to challenge the status quo, the ways in which we have put the economy, personal preferences, and convenience ahead of the wellbeing of people and creation. We can do better. We need to do better.
As we use this Season of Creation to learn, reflect, and act, may our efforts contribute to the transformation we need for the sake of our children, and grandchildren, unto seven generations. This we pray as we sing: 418 Draw the Circle Wide
