Daily Worship

Turning seasons

September 21, 2015 0 0

Ecclesiastes 3: 2

God sets a time for birth and a time for death,
A time for planting and a time for reaping.

You may like to use symbols of an autumn leaf and a bulb or seed as a focus for your prayers.
Look around you. See leaves turning to autumnal colours. Be aware of plants retreating before winter sets in. But look again for berries ripening, buds setting on the branches. Plant some spring bulbs in your garden or in pots. Take part in God’s movement of the seasons. Reflect on birthing and dying. What have you brought to birth in your life this year. What is withering and dying?

Prayer

God of endings and beginnings,
as I watch the harvested fields being ploughed,
I am aware of your ever turning seasons.
I hold these symbols of the turning year
a leaf decaying, the seed of new life,
and in them see your enfolding of all of life.
How easy it is to wrap the seed in the leaf
to make a shroud for life
and see only the decay.
God give me the faith to know, 
that in time, 
and with your blessings,
the seed will sprout and burst the shroud.