August

This is my birthday month, so it has a special meaning for me. August has always seemed to be a month of contrasts. We have the warmth of summer. For many of us, too intense and challenging this year. But change is perceptible. It is darker earlier in the evening, and the mornings often have a chill edge to them. The colours around us are changing too, the bright greens, beside our parched lawns, slowly giving way to autumn russets and yellows.

Above all, of course, it is a holiday month. A time for doing things differently, letting go of work-related stresses, celebrating times and places with family members and friends. But this means that some people are working harder, to supply enjoyment to others. Others again will be unable to travel, or waiting for quieter opportunities. And it also the month for many of the important exam results, which produces its own unique tension and need for planning. Preparation is in the air. All the more reason, then, to find and enjoy those unexpected times of quiet around and within us.

Perhaps it is a month to give special thanks for our church community. Our liturgy has its rhythms which allow for adaptation: changing the place or the shape of our worship as we need. But carrying on the work of prayer is our weekly and daily privilege. We dip in and out of worship, both at home and in the churches we may visit on our travels. We meet new people, renew old friendships, learn again who it is who binds us together.

Now thank we all our God –                                            

for days of gift and grace,                                                 

for beauty’s changing colours,                                             

for the companionship of others at the feast of life,                          

for Christ, who shows us both how to die,                                        

and how to celebrate each year, each month, each day.