Changing Seasons and God's Changelessness

“From everlasting thou art God, to endless years the same.”

-Hymn 680 (“O God our help in ages past”)

This time of year always makes me think of transitions.  Baseball season is over, giving way to football and basketball.  The leaves change and fall to the ground, giving birth to a new landscape.  The weather begins to cool, and Old Man Winter starts to knock on the door.  In the church we are journeying through these final days of the year, looking with expectation to the Advent and Christmas seasons. All around us we are in the midst of transition.

What transition do you find yourself in the midst of right now?  Are you dealing with the loss of a loved one?  Has a child gone away to school for the first time?  Are you preparing to move away to a new place?  Are you adjusting to new life circumstances that seem to have hit you from out-of-the-blue?

Transitions can be scary, just like the weather outside our doors.  Transitions make us feel vulnerable and afraid.  Uncertainties abound as we journey into something unexpected.  Life can feel as dark as the skies we have seen as of late, with very little direction and promise.  It is even difficult to see the light of God as we go through these moments of transition. 

Our Daily Office readings have been carrying us recently through the Wisdom of Jesus ben Sirach
(commonly called Ecclesiasticus).  This jewel that we find in the section of Holy Scripture known as the Apocrypha offers many nuggets of wisdom and instruction for right living.  The one constant throughout the book is the wisdom and love of God.  Through all of life’s trials and tribulations, God’s grace and wisdom abound, unhindered, ever-changing.  God is from everlasting and remains the same throughout all generations.  Though the seasons change, the weather cools, loved ones leave us, and we find ourselves thrown into situations we either did not ask for or expect, God remains constant.  God’s welcome, God’s wisdom, God’s love, and God’s life-giving Spirit are ever-present and never-failing.  No amount of transition that we endure can change that.

So as you journey through the changing weather and the growing storms of life, may you rest in God’s eternal changelessness.  Know that regardless of the changes and chances of this life that you belong to God…ALWAYS!  That God’s love for you is eternal.  And that God will see you safely to your journey’s end. 

-The Rev. Joe Mitchell, Curate