awayforrest

In the early hours of this morning we sat silent and still in the darkness, eyes to the sky for the Perseid meteor shower. Despite our best efforts, cloud coverage and rain meant that their lights remained invisible to us. Yet beyond our sight, through the darkness and cloud, I was accutely aware that up to 100 shooting stars per hour were hitting Earth's atmosphere at 134,000mph, their heat and bright flashes visible to so many others viewing the sky from different perspectives and places.

This awesome phenomenon occurs due to debris from a comet colliding with our Earth's atmosphere and burning up. These meteors only measure from as small as a grain of sand to as big as a pea, yet these tiny pieces create an awesome display of light reaching far and wide across the globe.

For those of us who could not physically see their awesome light, we rest in the assurance and delight of their presence. We delight in the darkness as we know that the light shines within it and the darkness has not overcome it (John 1:5).

[This picture contains amazing stacked images from the BBC website, showing Perseid meteors and aircraft crossing the sky near Kumanovo, North Macedonia in the early hours of yesterday morning.]

Blessings for May Day, Beltaine, Calan Mai (or Calan Haf)!

That midpoint between the spring equinox and summer solstice marking the joyful beginning of summer! Cattle were put out to summer pastures, fires were lit to purify and renew the land and encourage fertility and abundance, and flowers and branches adorned the outside of houses.

As children we would rise early, sing with the birds at sunrise on the top of the church tower and dance around a colourful maypole (known here in South Wales as 'raising the birch'/ 'codi'r fedwen'). As we grew older we would make may crowns and dance and sing, sharing bonfires the eve before and on the day.

Yesterday we rejoiced in petals and leaves unfurled, celebrating the return of fertility and life to the land and shouting praise to the Creator! We thanked God for pollinators sustaining our world, and for Hawthorn, the May Tree and ancestor of the maypole blossoms. We absolutely delighted in the new life of a Welsh Black calf and of tiny baby coots, mallard ducklings and nesting swans (though sadly didn't capture it all on camera!).

IT IS FINISHED... 🙏

Today, on Good Friday, we reflect on the day Jesus willingly suffered and died by crucifixion as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins (1 John 1:10). Jesus's suffering and death marked the dramatic culmination of God’s plan to save all people from their sins. He set us free.

'For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.' (John 3:16-17)

Tomorrow, we rest in the waiting...