Spring Dawn

Faith Today - Moncton Times and Transcript - April 21 2012

Whatever your views on climate change, this spring sure seems different.

I can’t remember ever being out mid-April in the 25 degree sunshine in the Maritimes. I can’t remember the picnic parks opening up long before the Victoria Day weekend. I have even considered swimming… but when I put my feet in the water that idea quickly changes.

It may seem like it was ancient history, but it was not so long ago that people with a religious bent prayed, sacrificed, danced, and otherwise implored the gods to change the weather. Most of us have probably even tried this ourselves, praying to god for sunshine when we want to go to the beach, or rain when we want to get out of something. How about a snowstorm on exam day? I was guilty of that once or twice.

I am not if anyone remembers the movie Bruce almighty, where there is this one man who is given the power of God to teach him a lesson. He tries to change the weather, or make the moon brighter, and in the meantime nearly wipes out the other side of the planet because he has thrown off all the tides and oceans.

There is a balance that is impossibly complex to figure out. In fact, some scientists claim that if a butterfly flaps their wings on the other side of the world it changes the air currents way over here.

Which I guess is what has always troubled me about the whole prayer scenario. If I pray for sunshine and the farmer really needs rain, do I win if I am more faithful? I’m a minister, do my prayers count double? They don’t seem to on those beach days when it rains.

This may seem trivial, but what about when we start praying for a child to survive a night of sickness? What if we pray to survive a natural disaster?

It seems to me just a little arrogant to think that my needs trump the needs of the rest of the planet; even if it is life and death.

Also, realizing the complexity of all things, how can I personally decide when my needs are more valuable than the needs of other people?

So perhaps I am more inclined to be like the people who say, “It is in God’s hands” and trust in that. This is what Jesus supposedly did in the garden of Gethsemane when he said, “If there is any way to get out of this crucifixion thing, God, I would be good with that; but whatever needs to happen…”

Well, actually, I am little further along the line of thinking that what really matters is what happens after the fact.

It seems pretty clear that life is random. Weather patterns come and go; people who are good have accidents and bad people stumble across riches. I do not think that any of these things are changed because of prayer.

What does change is me. Prayer is an after the fact thing in which I connect to the divine spirit and get the strength to face the reality of my life.  So, it rains, and I have to learn to accept it and move on. I get sick and I have to learn to accept it and live whatever time remains well.

I think of God as the creative and positive spirit of the universe that flows through each one of us, to connect to it is to be able to see the world differently.

So in essence it does not matter if it is 25 degrees in April or not, what matters is how I feel about it. Do I accept it for the gift that it is and have a picnic, or do I complain about how unnatural it is and live bitterly?

The choice, ultimately, is up to me. Way back in the story of the people of Israel finding the promised land God is rumoured to have said to them, “I put before you life and death, blessing and curse; choose…”

How are you going to choose to live your life.