The Beginning of Autumn

Good morning to all my Cornerstone family and friends on this last Friday in September at the beginning of Autumn!

Psalm 92 begins: ‘It is a good thing to give thanks to the Lord and to make music in your name, O Most High, proclaiming your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night.’

So, let us thank the Lord for the beauty of light, for the unknown promise of this new day.

On 1 May I was preparing seedlings for the allotment, leading my prayerful thoughts to faith that there would be growth in the springtime. Today I’m giving thanks for my harvest. As you can see, the gourds are ready for Martha to share, the first pumpkin has been delivered to Revd George, with more ripening in the late sunshine, and the family has now become bored with French beans!

We may feel that life is in limbo, but God’s world marches along at a brisk pace. We seem to have come to the end of one season of pandemic with a requirement to prepare and protect for the next along with the winter darkness to come. Today, the day and the night are briefly equal, giving time and space to pause for just a moment, time for a breath of morning.

Lord, be near me in the quiet space of morning.
Let me feel you close today as I set about my duties.

Give our community a fresh injection of compassion and care,
building on our harvest of information and experience.
Help us see the beauty that is change, the beauty that moves from shoot to bud to flower to seed with its promise of life renewed.

Amen

Soon the nature of the light will change. The sun will be lower, its light more glaring.
It will give us another, different view of the world.
Ecclesiastes reminds us that ‘To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.’ He made everything beautiful in its time.

Let us set out in hopeful expectation for this morning with a prayer by Helen Cameron, Chair of the Northamptonshire Methodist District, and one of our Cornerstone Presidents:

Creator God, may we rejoice in our creatureliness and our utter dependence on you.
May we delight that we are all wonderfully made in your image and likeness.

Christ who redeems, restores and re-creates us,
may we see you revealed to us each day in the faces of our sisters and brothers,
may we become one gloriously differing but united community.

Creative Spirit, the breath of God present in all Creation,
may we treasure and protect your very great gift, our world and yours, our home and yours.

Holy Trinity, Creator, re-creator, creative Spirit be with us and bless us.

Amen

God Bless us all as we head out to explore this autumn Friday.

Cheryl Montgomery