From the Rector…
This past weekend Steve and I got to hang out at Orange Beach with some of our dearest friends. It was windy and cold but beautiful blue skies most of the time—a great day at the beach. On our last morning—the coldest but also the least windy—I headed down to the pier to enjoy the sunrise. It was glorious. To the east, the sky slowly turned from deep blue to grey to salmon to red. The closer the sun came to peeping its way above the horizon, the more orange the sky became until—pop—the curve of that fiery ball breeched the treetops and the rays began to sparkle like diamonds dancing on the bay.
As I sat watching the miracle of the day being born, I couldn’t help but look to the western sky—tracing the color scheme from yellow and orange to midnight blue and black. Hanging amidst the drapery of the night sky in the west was an almost full moon, shining brightly to greet the sun. Two lovers destined to chase one another across the skies for all eternity.
It is an eternal and sacred moment—one that is a privilege to see. To watch the sun rise in the east reaching forth its light to the moon and to see the moon, in its turn, embracing the light of the sun is an invitation into the holy and an experience one does not hold lightly. It is an invitation to pause and pay homage to a new born world.
I don’t get to witness that as often as I would like. But for reasons beyond my knowing, I was privileged with the honor of witnessing the awakening of the earth two days in a row. Yesterday morning at the beach and this morning at Camp McDowell. I awoke to watch the sun begin to peep over the trees of Clear Creek while the moon, a little lessened in its fullness, paid faithful homage to her delight and joy.
It’s the same sun and moon no matter where you are. If you live long enough you realize the earth doesn’t change, people are not different from one another, and God always shows up. That is the faithfulness we are called too—appreciating what we have and delighting in all that God gives us. And maybe, like the moon awaiting his lover, we too await our God—shining brightly as we receive God’s rays of hope and joy and reflecting them for all the world to see.
Light and Life,
Candice+