The Seasons; They Are A-Changing....

I can feel it in the air.  Summer and all that it entails is on the way out, and autumn is about to segue into  the city.

A few weeks ago, I was in Paris with friends and relatives enjoying the last throes of summertime in the city of light.  We visited shops, restaurants, cafes, parks and museums jacket-free and foot-sandled. We took an evening Seine River cruise watching the twinkling Eiffel Tower and the brilliant sunset that accompanied it.   And then...BAM! The last two days of rain and wind came upon us, indicating that even the French are facing the same seasonal changes we were anticipating.

On our return, I could feel the change approaching. The days are getting shorter. The sun's light has a different slant and feel and reflection.  The moon is rising higher and the night sky is changing...different stars and constellations are making their return to the soon to be winter sky. Orion, Ursa Major and Minor, and Cassiopeia are making their annual appearance in the night skies along with the planets Mars, Venus and Jupiter. These twinkling lights make stargazing this time of year a joy, and I often spend evenings just watching the eastern sky as they move across it.

It is always sad when summer leaves the scene. Back in time when I was a student, it meant a return to the classroom and more studying, returning from our summers in the countryside, returning to our urban neighborhood in New York City and getting back into the normal routine. That pattern continued as I taught school: for me the year ended in August and began in September.

But nowadays, as the leaves start to turn orange, red and gold, I think of times past, and the years that have seemed to fly by me. How life is changing all the time, as fast as the summer leaves turn to flame and, once brown and withered, fall to the ground.

This time of year seems to bring out the melancholy that rests easy in my spring and summer soul.  I often think about Marcel Proust and his lengthy literary work "Remembrance of Things Past" ( in French "A la recherché des temps perdu"). This is considered to be one of the defining novels of the twentieth century known for its theme of involuntary memory. These moments of being drawn into a moment of memory triggered by a sound, a sight, a smell or even a sensation often happen this time of year. The sound of the rake scrapping up the fallen leaves; the sight of autumnal colored branches swaying on a blustery day; the smell of apples baking in a cake or pie; the sensation of the autumn wind blowing against your face and messing your hair: these triggers can cause those involuntary memories to rise up and capture you unawares.

And...this is not a bad thing. Some melancholy can be good for the soul as long as we don't sit in it for too long. Luckily for us, winter is never far behind the fall. The season filled with festivities that brings with it the anticipation of things soon to be...new life and hope  And hope does spring eternal.
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One of my favorites:

https://www.bing.com/search?q=autumn+leaves+barbara+striestand&form=EDGEAR&qs=PF&cvid=8fea62527b2947698feb703669c47aa3&pq=autumn+leaves+barbara+striestand

One hymn, two congregations

This past Sunday I got to attend church twice at two very different congregations. One located in a residential section of a New York City outer borough, the other smack-dab in the middle of Manhattan where Broadway and Fifth Avenue cross nestled nicely at the edge of a lovely city park.
One is a housed congregation, the other is in an open space that is subject to the various twists and turns of local weather in the Northeast United States. In one I read the Gospel, introduced the prayers, and dismissed the faithful in my role as deacon of that congregation.  In the other, although I was asked to read the reading from Jeremiah, I got to spend the rest of the time just being part of the congregation...a nice change for me.

Both groups shared prayers for peace and understanding.  Both groups prayed for a member of the congregation celebrating milestones, whether it was a child returning from a trip to visit relatives in Europe, or a member celebrating a milestone birthday. Each group recited the "Lord's Prayer" together, most from memory, and both groups partook of a shared communion of bread and either wine or grape juice. And...both groups got to sing the same rousing hymn at the service.

"God of Grace and God of Glory" was written in 1930 for the dedication of Riverside Church in Manhattan by its then pastor, Harry Emerson Fosdick, ordained Baptist minister and former World War I chaplain.  Fosdick was a strong supporter of the social gospel movement; the hymn was written while the nation, and indeed the world, was in the throws of the Great Depression. The repeated call :"Grant us wisdom; grant us courage..," definitely spoke to the members of his congregation, and soon the hymn, which is now sung to that classic Welsh tune "Cwe Rhodda"...don't ask me to pronounce it...I know it when I hear it...is now widely sung throughout mainline Protestant congregations . It is a real rouser with great high notes for tenors and sopranos to trill about, but baritones and altos...like me...can also join with joyful noise.

But just what are we asking for when we engage in this particular hymn? Well, the answer to that question lies at the end of every stanza: For the facing of these days; for the living of this hour; lest we miss they kingdom's goal; and serving thee whom we adore. Pretty straightforward, and it certainly still speaks to us today.

But in my study of this hymn, I discovered a stanza not in the hymnal:

"Set our feet on lofty places,
Gird our lives that they may be,
Armored with all Christ-like graces,
In the fight to set men free.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
That we fail not man nor Thee,
That we fail not man nor Thee."

I will admit that this stanza has some language that as a life long feminist, I find a bit,well, paternalistic, but the sentiment still holds true. In this season of electoral decision, I think we need to remember that our charge is to choose the person most qualified to  lead this nation into a future where our overarching responsibility will be to further the rights and responsibilities of all of those who live, move and have there being in our home nation.

Here is a rendition of the hymn:
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=god+of+garac+eand+god+of+glory...you+tuebe&&view=detail&mid=07CCED045503B9C37E7A07CCED045503B9C37E7A&rvsmid=C8C75E2584C601F4BEC7C8C75E2584C601F4BEC7&fsscr=0&FORM=VDFSRV