Christian Comment with Rev Richard Bryant retired Associate Minister in the Stanleys with Selsley

Late beginnings

THE trees had stayed green well into October, but now the ground was covered with freshly fallen leaves.

Brother George loved the colours of autumn – reds, browns, and yellows against the greens and blues of the evergreens.

There was bonfire smoke in the air, and mist hanging over the river.

But there was also the expectation of darkening evenings, morning frosts, and grey days of rain.

And then, just as the year begins to go to sleep, the church takes everyone by surprise by starting to celebrate new beginnings.

Advent – those precious weeks of anticipation when we are encouraged to start looking beyond the autumn mists towards the coming of the great light at Christmas.

On the cusp of the seasons – the change from autumn’s wonderful generosity to the pinch-nosed sharpness of winter – right there the church offers each year the start of a pilgrimage of renewal.

This was a magical time for Brother George, a time of waiting and preparing.

It was also the time of year when he tried to focus of two aspects of God that sometimes seemed to be in conflict with one another.

God’s wonderful generosity was like the fruitfulness of Autumn, while the harshness of some aspects of God’s justice could seem more like the numbing chill of winter when, whichever way we turn, we cannot get out of the wind.

Brother George remembered the countless words of love that Jesus shared, and the innumerable acts of healing and compassion.

Against these he set Jesus’ warning of the coming day of judgement, and he realised that this should not be seen as a threat but as a simple statement of the consequences of continuing wilful blindness.

Few can be unaware of the love that God has showered on the world, and the glory that a living covenant would bring.

No one can be unaware of the results of selfishness, of brutality, and of people’s unwillingness to follow the simplest of rules – love God and love your neighbour as yourself.

So, if humanity is going to fulfil its promised potential, we need to begin to change now.