Last Hurrah

Since I'm starting back teaching next week, I did a last-hiking-trip-of-the-summer to Acadia National Park in Maine. What a jewel this place is! There are rocky mountains rising from sea level to 1,500 feet with amazing vistas of the dramatic Maine coast. The photo from Acadiamagic.com is of the summit of Gorham Mountain looking down to the shore.

I also love Bar Harbor, the largest town near the park. It's quaint and filled with life this time of the year. As you can imagine, you can get excellent seafood here. I had grilled Atlantic salmon last night.

This 2 day trip feels like a last hurrah for summer. Even though astronomical summer lasts another month, it feels like the season is on the wane. It's colder in the mornings and there is the gradual decrease of sunlight each day as we move toward the Winter solstice.

I feel a certain sadness at the end of most seasons, but especially summer. It's been so great to spend so much time outdoors eating, walking, rowing and hiking. But time moves on like "an ever rolling stream" as one poet put it. And this is good. The movement of time gives an urgency to daily life. We need to enjoy each and every moment to the best of our ability. Once those moments pass, they are only alive in memory.

One-Third Over!

Today is July 1 and summer is 1/3 over! It's hard to believe that June passed so quickly. Paraphrasing Paul Simon, "Slow down, you move too fast. Got to make the summer last."

Time passes either slowly or quickly, depending on what we're doing. When we're bored, an hour can seem interminable. Boredom slows time down to the painful ticking of seconds off the clock. But, when were engaged in something interesting, we hardly notice the passage of time.

We know that time, as measured by clocks, passes at the same rate. But we also know that our perception of time has an internal component that can speed it up or slow it down.

In the New Testament there are two Greek words for time that capture the external and internal components of time. Chronos is the word used for "clock time" or "calendar time." The passage of chronos was constant and measured by minutes, hours, days, months and years.

The other word for time is kairos, which roughly means "at the right time" or "at the appropriate time." Kairos is internal time and can be applied to events that unfold in on their own timetable. The birth of a baby, the maturing of a person, falling in love and spiritual awakening-- these happen when they're ready to.

Kairos is also used in the New Testament for "God's timetable." In the spiritual realm, most things don't happen on a set schedule-- they happen when we are ready.

A Summer Prayer

As Memorial Day weekend approaches and summer weather begins, it's a time to savor the warm days of this season. The following is based on a prayer composed by Ted Loder in his book, My Heart in My Mouth (Innisfree Press, 2000).

Sabbath God,
In this season of warm days and long daylight,
Of cicadas, fireflies and birds singing at first light,
Of flowers bursting with color and grass so full and green,
We are grateful to be alive.

Give us the wisdom to pause from our hectic routines and enjoy
the simple things of this time of year...
To take off shoes and walk barefoot in sand or grass,
To sit outside in the cool of the evening and listen to the
symphony of nature.
To eat watermelon and spit out the seeds,
To swim in pools and oceans,
To play with children and like children.

Let us live easily for a time,
Putting away watches and looking away from clocks,
ignoring all the things that need to be fixed, moved or cleaned.
Let us lose ourselves in the beauty and bounty of
the earth you created.
May this be a time of rest, refreshment and renewal.

And, as we pause to play and rest, let us not forget to enjoy
time with you, Lord.
May we be calm enough and quiet enough to perceive your presence.
Let us not fill all our time with endless activity.
Let us not fill all our silences with noise.
Let us simply be for a while.

Summer Prayer

My favorite composer of prayers is Ted Loder, a retired United Methodist pastor. In his book, Guerillas of Grace (LuraMedia, 1984), he pens this prayer.

Let Me Live Grace-fully

Thank you, Lord,
for this season
of sun and slow motion,
of games and porch sitting,
of picnics and light green fireflies
on heavy purple evenings:
and praise for slight breezes.
It's good, God,
as the first long days of your creation.

Let this season be for me
a time of gathering together the pieces
into which my busyness has broken me.
O God, enable me now
to grow wise through reflection,
peaceful through the song of the cricket,
recreated through the laughter of play.

Most of all, Lord,
let me live easily and grace-fully for a spell,
so that I may see other souls deeply,
share in a silence unhurried,
listen to the sound of sunlight and shadows,
explore barefoot the land of forgotten dreams and shy hopes,
and find the right words to tell another who I am.