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“Let us run to accompany him
as he hastens towards his passion”
Andrew of Crete

I took the back road through the Rakaia Gorge on my journey yesterday from Christchurch to Timaru giving me the chance to stop at the famous Mayfield second-hand store.

I think it’s in new ownership, completely re-ordered and full of pre-loved items ready for new homes and recycled uses.

Then on one of the shelves in a back-room I noticed my grandmother’s dinner-set. It was immediately recognisable and surfaced good memories of meals and table-conversations from decades ago.

I was surprised that the name of Grandma’s china came to mind the moment I saw the set: Autumn Splendour.

Autumn splendour, an oxymoron surely?

Autumn in Canterbury is splendid with glorious days following cool mornings, and colour, colour everywhere, splendid so long as we don’t let our minds wander ahead into the colds and chills of winter days and bugs.

But without the beauty of the colour the words autumn and splendour don’t seem to naturally or easily sit together…

…unless we appreciate the natural seasonal pattern of new life, abundance, decline, death – then again, and forever, new life.

And this is why Andrew of Crete in the 8th century (today’s Office of Readings) could be so excited, running, hastening towards the passion.

This is important – enabling us to enter Holy Week not as a threatening Good Friday death but a pilgrimage of hope-filled and abundant Easter life.

As Richard Rohr in one of his many inspiring books (Falling Upward) writes – through suffering we learn that the way up is to first go down. This journey difficult moves us from the first to the second part of life, through suffering to death then resurrection.

This is not theory – each of us must make the personal link to the ups and downs, more accurately the downs then ups, in our own up and down lives.

When we appreciate this, autumn becomes splendid, and Holy Week a joy at the deepest level of existence.

E.

Send your date and time to add to the list, and just turn up at at one of the advertised gatherings, just one hour, focussing on where we are encountering Christ.

CHRISTCHURCH
Monday 14 April 10.00am (& every Monday)
Moku cafe, Bush Inn Centre Waimairi Road.
Invitation from Trish

PETONE
Thursday 17 April 10am
at Faith & Co.
313 Jackson St, Petone
Invitation from Kath