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 As August began to wane and signs of Autumn began to appear, I was taken aback.  Although many tell me they love Autumn and they love putting on their sweaters again, this year I am not so sure.  As a result of Covid threats, outdoor gatherings are a great way to gather with friends and family and feel a little safer.  Yet, I feel hesitant.  

However, reading James E. Miller’s Autumn Wisdom I was caught by these words, “Your time of endings is best marked by new beginnings.”  This is so true on so many levels, personally, as families, and as a congregation.  Each level reveals a truth about the ongoing movement of life.  Life doesn’t end; it re-creates itself.  Miller writes, “ life does not come to a halt in autumn; it readies itself for what comes next.  Life does not slowly disappear; it busies itself for an unfolding reappearance.  At its truest and its best, autumn is a time of transformation.”  

How are you being readied for transformation with Autumn season?  How is Lord of Life?  Certainly, as Lord of Life prepares to call a new pastor, the time of endings will be marked by new beginnings.  Paul writes in Romans 12 verse 2: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God — what is good and acceptable and perfect.”  May we all be transformed so that we can determine the will of God for all matters of our life and faith together.  Like the transformation in Autumn, through listening to one another we can experience new beginnings. A perfect example exists when one hikes through forest paths among golden leaves and suddenly discovers an amazing new beginning when that new path or direction, which was blind to us when the forest was blanketed in lush green, now clearly emerges.  How could we have missed it?  Just so, the ending is making way for something new.  “I am doing a new thing,” says our God, right in the beginning of Autumn.  Let’s make way, with hesitancy perhaps, but with openness to the promises of God.  Let’s go hiking together through the Autumn trails and find out where they lead us.  

In Christ, Pastor Carole