I love September. Throughout my life it has been associated with new beginnings. The academic new year starts in September, with going to school for the first time, new classes, or schools, each year a new start, new friends, new things to learn. College and University start in September. Outside education, September was the time that Richard and I embarked on our new life together at our wedding, nearly 40 years ago.
For those of us who like gardening, September is a new beginning in the agricultural year. The grain harvest is gathered, the garden has pale remnants of the explosion of summer exuberance and is now turning towards mellow fruitfulness. It is a time when gardeners are busy planning for next years’ growth, pruning, replanting, turning the soil and nourishing it in readiness for sowing. The abundance of the harvest is frozen, bottled, pickled, conserved and brewed in readiness for the long winter months and to feed us through to the following harvest.
Autumn is a chance of new beginnings. For us as a church it is a new beginning as our church profile is published in the search for our next minister. It is a time to pray and dream, what sort of church are we being called to be? It is also a time to look back and see what God has done for us over the last year. We have been greatly blessed.
For Richard and I, this September is a maze of packing boxes and lists, as we gradually prepare for the new ministry at Camberley Baptist Church. It is another new beginning, and we are asking the Holy Spirit to guide us as we pray about the ministry we have been called to.
Israel’s festivals were tied to the agricultural seasons. So now that harvest is over, September sees the festival of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year. It is a time of looking back, learning the lessons from the past, and counting our blessings while anticipating the future. Traditional foods include Tzimmis, a sweetened carrot and beef stew, bearing the wish for a sweet and because carrots when sliced can look like coins, a prosperous new year. Other traditional foods include apples and Lekach (honey cake). Michelle Guinness notes a prayer used when serving apple slices dipped in honey:
‘Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who creates the fruit of the tree. May it be your will, O Lord, God of our fathers, to grant us a happy, pleasant and sweet new year.’
In this season, as summer slides into autumn, and the opening of new possibilities lie before us, we pray that the Holy Spirit will be our light, guiding us into the future God has for us.
The Celtic saint, Columba prayed:
My dearest Lord
Be Thou a bright flame before me,
Be Thou a guiding star above me,
Be Thou a smooth path beneath me,
Be Thou a kindly shepherd behind me,
Today and evermore.