{"id":3492,"date":"2020-11-09T11:28:45","date_gmt":"2020-11-09T16:28:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/?p=3492"},"modified":"2020-11-09T11:37:42","modified_gmt":"2020-11-09T16:37:42","slug":"and-so-we-pass-from-one-season-to-another-by-doug-bennett","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/?p=3492","title":{"rendered":"“And So We Pass from One Season to Another,” by Doug Bennett"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Message given at Durham Friends Meeting, November 8, 2020<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so we pass from one season to another. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The leaves are mostly gone now, gone \u2018til next spring, their bright colors just a memory.  The sun is down by late afternoon.  It\u2019s growing chilly.  Mid-day there still may be some warmth in the sun, but there\u2019s a bite in the air toward nightfall that\u2019s there again when we greet the morning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a great cycle of life, and I\u2019m one who loves to live in a place that has four robust seasons.  I say this even as I know that I hate the shortening of the days.  There are pleasures, too, in fall, I know, and pleasures, too in winter.  The sun will return. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so we pass from one season to another. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes seasons are human-made.  We\u2019ve just passed out of one season with yesterday\u2019s election announcements.  I\u2019m sure some hearts were gladdened and others disappointed.  I\u2019m feeling a little of both.  We\u2019ve heard the speeches and taken down the lawn signs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so we pass from one season to another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know all this, and yet I also feel like time is standing still, going nowhere.  \u2018Every day is Wednesday\u2019 I\u2019ve found myself saying to distant friends for the past few months when they ask how I\u2019m doing.  It\u2019s true, every day is the same, and tomorrow will bring nothing new.  I already know that.  In this pandemic, it feels like someone has hit the pause button on the cosmic remote control.  Nothing moves forward.  The story doesn\u2019t advance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re like the Israelites stuck in the desert for 40 years unable to enter the Promised Land. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course this week, it seemed like every day was Tuesday, not Wednesday.  Something was supposed to happen on Tuesday.  Tuesday was supposed to be a day when the votes were all counted.  Tuesday was supposed to be a day when the we knew something about the future.  But it didn\u2019t happen that day.  Then it didn\u2019t happen the next or the next, and I found myself thinking it would never happen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m stuck between these two accounts.  The seasons are turning, the cosmic ones and the human ones.  Time is standing still. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m trying to find my bearings, my spiritual bearings, stuck between these two accounts.  The seasons are turning, the cosmic ones and the human ones.  Time is standing still.  How am I called to faithfulness between these two accounts, these two rhythms, that each have a hold on me? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neither seems to be doing me anything good.  One is telling me I\u2019m irrelevant.  Watching the seasons turn I can find myself thinking I don\u2019t have anything to do with any of this.  I can think I have no responsibility. We\u2019re just watchers; it doesn\u2019t make any difference what we do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But watching time stand still also makes me think I\u2019m irrelevant.  Nothing I do matters; nothing anyone does seems to matter.  We\u2019re just waiting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most people who call themselves Christians follow a liturgical calendar that tells them what spiritual season we are in. It tells them what Saints days to celebrate, or what feast days s are to be observed, or what Bible passages are to be read each Sunday.  Advent leading to Christmas is a season.  Lent leading to Easter and then Pentecost is a season.  Some portions of year are \u201cordinary time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first Quakers pretty much rejected this way of thinking or doing things.  Just as they believed no persons had special access to God, just as they believed no buildings were more sacred than any others, they also believed no days were more special or sacred than any other.  Early Friends didn\u2019t celebrate Christmas or Easter.  Friends schools were in session on those days. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me this goes a little too far.  I like observing the seasons \u2013 both the seasons of nature and the seasons of the soul.  I know that I should be the same person each and every day.  I know I should be caring for the same things each and every day.  But it helps me to be reminded, in turn, of various things.  It helps me focus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s very useful to me that there is a sabbath, a day each week on which I am especially called to worship with others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the same way, it\u2019s useful for me to have a season of thankfulness, a season in which we especially turn our hearts and minds to feeling grateful for the many, many blessings we have received.  Even in this time of pandemic, even in this time of polarization, I know there are many things for which I should be thankful, for which I am thankful if I\u2019ll take a moment to notice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m grateful for the gift of life,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m grateful for the gift of time,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m grateful for the gifts of family and friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m grateful for the love that surrounds us all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year I\u2019m especially grateful that a season of Thanksgiving, a holy season, a spiritual season, follows a season of political combat.  I\u2019m grateful to turn my focus to something else.  As the hymn we sang this morning puts it: \u201cCome, then, thankful people, come, Raise the song of harvest home.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps that is all I should say.  But just as I know that many things have their seasons, I know that some things do not. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I recently re-read a Pendle Hill pamphlet by Wilmer Cooper.  He was a midwestern Friend who was the first Dean of the Earlham School of Religion.  Ellen and I got to know Wilmer and his wife, Emily, when we were at Earlham. The pamphlet is titled \u201cThe Testimony of Integrity.\u201d  Wilmer begins it by saying that for many years he had a hard time giving a short, helpful answer to the question \u201cWhat Is a Quaker,\u201d or \u201cWhat Is Quakerism?\u201d  And then he realized \u201cPerhaps the word \u2018integrity\u2019 comes as close as any single-word answer.\u201d A Quaker is one who lives a life of integrity.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We Quakers speak often of the testimonies, and more often than not we\u2019re thinking of the peace testimony or the testimony of equality.\u00a0 But Wilmer Cooper says \u201c\u2019integrity\u2019 is the essential Quaker testimony.\u201d\u00a0 At all times and all seasons, a Quaker is called to speak the truth and to live a life that is genuine and straightforward.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Britain Yearly Meeting\u2019s Faith and Practice<\/em> puts it this way:  \u201cArising from the teaching of Jesus as related in the writings of John and James: \u2018Let your yes mean yes and your no mean no\u2019, Quakers perceived that with a conscience illuminated by the Light, life became an integrated whole with honesty as its basis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even as the seasons change, we are called to live with integrity in all things.  That is something we can do, each of us every day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so we pass from one season to another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also posted on Riverview Friend<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Message given at Durham Friends Meeting, November 8, 2020 And so we pass from one season to another.  The leaves are mostly gone now, gone \u2018til next spring, their bright colors just a memory.  The sun is down by late … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":213,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-message"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9rLvf-Uk","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/213"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3492"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3496,"href":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3492\/revisions\/3496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}