Inspirations, thoughts, phrases, and/or titles to things often come in surprising or weird ways. This morning I was walking my usual sidewalk. My brain seemed preoccupied with two things. One was the seasonal repeat of autumn leaves crunching underfoot but coming from above and yet blown about here, there and everywhere (I could almost recognize last year’s patterns of which trees had shed their leaves in which places). The other was preoccupation with today’s Canuckle word, which still had me baffled in the morning darkness. So I walked also waving a few neighbors off to work and a couple walking their dogs. On my mind was the no-brainer seasonal repeater and the brain-baffling word of the day!
When
I got back in the house and into the kitchen, rubbing my hands trying for a
quick warmup, I pulled my cellphone out of jacket pocket and gave it one more
try in front of the coffeemaker. There it was: AGAIN! Fifth try, finally I got
it! Such a simple ordinary five-lettered word, inspired by that Canadian television
show of the sixties, “On the Road Again.” Why hadn’t I thought of that earlier?
One of those vowels can be repeated - and it showcases unique stories and
traditions of people living in this good country. So, vowels repeated and
different episodes every day. AGAIN, what a nice Fun Fact word and theme for
this day.
Seasonal
occasions can be either repetitive mumble jumble or quite exciting. I’m glad I
did not hit upon the exact same Canuckle word as I had on October 18, 2023!
That would be totally boring, and quickly bring that series to a halt. Repeat
patterns must contain new ingredients or they die! I think of certain habits my
wife and I nurture, now in retirement quite important to us. Every morning just
before breakfast after I have had my morning walk (yes the morning walk a
perfect remedy for my Type-2, and also essential for that other malady,
depression). [That plus pills of course, prescriptions – aagh]. Anyway, back to
topic at hand, the morning ritual also includes lighting two candles, each with
a significant story. After the candles are lit we read the devotional as
outlined in a publication from our church denomination. I read the scriptures,
she reads the devotional, and then one or the other of us leads the prayer. Oh,
and that is ritually interrupted by a 5 minute timer to stir the porridge! The
ritual is the order, not necessary the set time – one of the benefits of
retirement! The scriptures and the discussion and the morning moods are new and
sometimes unpredictable each day. The ritual is routine. If within the ritual
we were to read the same passage each day and repeat same prayer, it might be
well dead by now.
I
think also of other ‘almost’ rituals. I have been looking forward to beginning
of the NHL Hockey Season. The only given is the schedule – and it is date/time
specific all the way through until next April 17. So on time and on schedule
the season has opened. And also already a variation at least for Edmonton
Oilers fans. Ritual cheers are not quite as boisterous when your team loses
season opener to Winnipeg Jets (lost 6-0) and also yields turnovers galore to
last year’s lowest ranking Chicago Blackhawks (lost 5-2). Roster changes like
first round draft pick Connor Bedard and the ho hum aging of star players like
Connor McDavid do make a difference. [Note wins also on record by now (2W 2L),
including last night’s win against Nashville 4-2]. So the hockey season
2024-25, although set in time, is already different than last year. The ongoing
life is in the wins – losses, the injuries and even the personal circumstances
faced by players and coaches alike. On similar theme, the World Series are
coming up. Repeat repeat, I remember listening to the series on radio during my
high-school days. This year’s headline news, the Los Angeles Dodgers and New
York Yankees will square off! It’s been 43 years since that last happened! The
Series still rolling along year after year, but would have been dead long time
ago if there were not winners and losers, competitors and action during each
and every season.
The
coming and going of seasons and the life therein. This year it seems to me that
it requires a little attention. In a recent sermon in church our pastor began
with some references that he labeled as bad news. Churches are dwindling,
statisticians claiming that as per present rates of births, deaths, and church
participants, by 2040 the church may be extinct! “Ouch,” he says with that
attention getter, and then moves on to tell us this most certainly is not our
reason for being. We are not gathered to prop up a dead institution. The real
reason for our gathering is to celebrate that we have the Messiah, as declared
by Jesus’ ready student Peter in Matthew 16: 16 Simon Peter answered, “You
are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” "Are you here because of loyalty to a dead
institution, or to experience the power and the presence of
the One who is beyond times and seasons. The eternal everlasting." That
was the timely question. Aah, I thought to myself, that's a good shaker-upper
for us.
Does
this suggest we ignore times and seasons? No, we cannot ignore them, but it
means we stop fussing and fretting about rise and fall of institutions, and
camping season and winter holiday season and whatever else excuses we can think
of to miss church. Seems to me we need to focus more on the original meaning of
times and seasons. Interestingly, my lifelong nescheah [i] in last several
retirement years has been providing good extra info on that as well. Our
indigenous forebears cannot be forgotten any longer. I discover this via recent
books read [ii] and also new friends. Rev
Tony Snow, a United Church Minister and member of Calgary Interfaith Council,
is quick to remind us of seasonal encounter with the living Messiah. This
Messiah is available to each of us as trees and gardens go to sleep, and birds
fly south, and bears hibernate; God present and available within that rhythm.
Seasons are a part of encounter with our living Creator God, and availed for
our lives through none other than our Messiah. Here is reason for us to reach
out to neighbors (fellow creatures) with harmonious intent rather than
individual rights and freedoms and political and religious polemics.
Again
and again. Each time around there are new things to learn, until that day.
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,”
for the first heaven and the first earth had
passed away (Revelation 21:1).
[i]
Low German for “nosey curious boy.”
[ii]
See references by an Episcopalian Bishop, Dr. Steven Charleston, The Four
Vision Quests of Jesus (New York: Morehouse Publishing, 2015) and also
Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass (Minneapolis: Milkweed
Editions, 2013).
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