Every season is a sermon. The blossoms of spring invite us to think about new life and new beginnings. The long, hot days of summer urge us to make the most of our time; to play, relax and enjoy every moment. And every one of us has experienced the closing in of winter, as we hunker down against the chill of sadness or grief.
Each season reveals a truism about life.
Spring, Fall, and Winter all have something to tell us, but nothing teaches us like Autumn. Autumn contains the raw material for not one sermon, but many. If I think back on my years of preaching, I have crafted many a message rooted in the experience of Fall; “Change Can Be Beautiful”, “You Gotta Let Go!”, “God’s Painted Masterpiece”.
In fall, the sermons practically write themselves.
One of Fall’s more interesting metaphors can be found in the science of colour. Leaves are created colourful; red, yellow, orange, etc. But in their infancy, the tree injects them with chlorophyll, giving them their green hue. The chlorophyll allows photosynthesis to take place, which in turn feeds the tree so that it can thrive through the long, hot days of summer. As summer wanes and the days get shorter, the tree no longer benefits from its leaves’ ability to collect sunlight. As a result, the chlorophyll breaks down, and the leaves return to their original colours; red, orange and yellow. What we see as the leaves changing colour, is them reverting to what they were originally created to be.
Wow! What a metaphor for life!
Some of the most colourful and interesting people I know are those who have lived the longest. Their longevity has allowed them to absorb the wisdom of the world, and to learn a thing or two about what is important in life, and what is distraction. And often, they have come to a place where they have pushed back against the chlorophyll of the world. They no longer feel a need to live up to other’s ideas about what is expected of them, their minds are no longer occupied with false notions of beauty or success, and they are more interested in making friends with the “Joneses” than trying to keep up with them. They are wonderfully themselves!
There is great freedom that comes when we can get to a point in life when we can be our true and authentic selves. Hurray to those who have pushed away against the greening of the world and are letting their colours show.
Psalm 139 includes the line, “you were knit together in your mother’s womb, you are beautifully and wonderfully made.” In other words, God didn’t make you to be green! Perhaps the challenge this Autumn, as we watch the world paint itself in reds and oranges, is to consider what if anything is keeping us from being our most colourful. Or put another way, don’t wait until the last minute, to be the very best version of yourself.
