The hills are alive with the sound of music.
Many hear that opening line and imagine Julie Andrews, arms spread wide open singing amid rolling, green hills with mountains in behind. Her beautiful voice echoes as she ponders the gifts around her, recognising hills, and wings of birds, and brooks tripping over stones as having music that blesses her.
The hills are alive with the sound of music. The earth is alive with gifts that bless us when we are willing to pay attention. Welcome to the season of Creation! This is the annual Christian celebration to pray and respond to the cry of Creation. This is the time when the ecumenical family unites to listen and care for our common home.
How magical it is, then, that we start this season with a reading from the Song of Solomon. This book in the Bible is unique in that it is one of two which doesn’t mention God (Esther being the other one). Rather, this book is a beautiful love song between two human beings. The poetic language of this song points to God’s presence because the song is all about love. This book is unashamedly about the passionate love between two people, which highlights the desire and longing they have for each other. Of course, from the rest of the Bible we know this is God’s very nature. God is unashamedly passionate towards all of Creation, including humanity. God is love.
Look, he comes, leaping upon the mountains, bounding over the hills. My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag.
The human love song proclaimed in the Song of Solomon is set within the natural world. It is full of the colours, scents, seasons, and fertility of Creation. The sensuality and the joy with which the two lovers engage is mirrored in the land as it puts forth its song of Creation, in the flowers which bloom, the call of the doves, the fruits and blossoms of the trees. It is as if the whole Earth joins in this love song. It is as if the Song of Solomon proclaims in its own ways: the hills are alive with the sound of music.
Over the next 6 weeks, we too will be challenged to listen to the music of Creation. Our prayers, our music, the sermons, and activities are intentionally oriented to invite us to appreciate God’s gifts in the natural world. We may not have many hills in the area where we can twirl around and sing, but we do have spaces and places where we can pause and open our senses to the wonder of Creation.
One of the ways we will do this is through a Forest Therapy Walk at Maidstone Conservation area (Sept. 28th, 1:30). This facilitated walk will feature activities designed to encourage us to interact with nature in meaningful ways. As appropriate to the season and location, we will be challenged to look at the colours around us, listen for the ways Creation speaks, touch the diverse textures, pay attention to the aromas around us, and taste the wonders of the harvest. This will be an opportunity to slow down, notice, and embrace the gifts of Creation.
Likewise, our annual blessing of the animals (Oct. 6th, 1:30), invites us to appreciate the gifts of animals in our midst. In this moment, we are encouraged to reflect on what animals mean to us, how they nurture and bless us, as we seek to return the favour and bless them. The season of Creation concludes as we give thanks for all of God’s bountiful gifts during our Harvest Thanksgiving celebration.
The hills are alive with the sound of music! This season is an opportunity to explore how our songs are set within the natural world. It is a time in which we reflect on the ways we hear music in the hills, and birds, and blossoms. It is an opportunity to better appreciate the grace and beauty of God’s gifts of Creation.
Let us pray, that this season provides ample space for us to truly embrace the wonder and beauty of nature as we seek to hope and act with Creation. This we pray as we sing: 414 God of the Sparrow
