PAUSE FOR THOUGHT : SOON BE CHRISTMAS

It’s one of my oldest jokes. As soon as the Summer Solstice (21 June this year) is past, I’ll remark “Nights are drawing in. Soon be Christmas.”
I’m much more a lover of dark winter nights and foul weather (and the privilege of a warm house) than long summer evenings. Not that they don’t have their own attraction. Sitting around at 9.30 in June watching the last of the sun slip below the horizon isn’t a terrible thing to do. I’ve heard that watching the first solstice sun arise is also quite an experience. Make the most of it while you can. Because winter’s coming, and it’ll soon be Christmas.

It’s built into our church calendar of course. St John the Baptist, whose feast we celebrate at midsummer, was born to tell people about the one to come after him. So June 24th (John’s actual feast day) is a reminder that Christmas is coming. And before Christmas – Advent, when John picks up his staff, heads out into the wilderness, and says prepare the way of the Lord.

The reminder of darkness coming – of our death approaching – is a common theme in the church. It calls people to repentance. Apart from Ash Wednesday, Lent, and Advent, there’s all the cheery skulls we see on gravestones and memorials. Knowing what is approaching is a humbling experience, whether you’re a Christian or not. Some worry about their legacies – how will they be remembered? Maybe Donald Trump’s frenzy of building and rebuilding – the East Wing ballroom, his proposed “Trump Arch”, renaming airports and his planned Florida presidential library, to name a few – are his recognition that his days, like ours, are numbered. He wants to leave a legacy. He wants to be remembered. I’m sure he will be.

Shelley’s poem Ozymandias tells us what legacies are like. The most powerful man of his time, remembered only by a couple of stone legs in an empty desert. And the words, “My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!” Some legacy, we are left to reflect.

Our legacies on earth should be the memories of us, treasured by those we met. Those we loved, but also those we helped, those whose lives we made better maybe just by a good deed on the way. If, as I believe, and as Jesus told us, those good things we do are treasured stored up for us in heaven, all the better.

So as the nights start drawing in from 22 June, make a little light in the world. Make a little care and kindness go a long way. And whatever projects you may ever have thought of doing, get on with them. As the old song says, it’s later than you think.
Reverend Gary

“Pause for Thought” this month comes from Gary Alderson
Rector – Barnack with Ufford, Bainton, Helpston & Wittering
Telephone: 07503975588