The weather is changing. Or at least, it’s supposed to be over the course of the next few months. As we prepare for the coming fall and winter, I am reminded of the need to prepare ourselves for the seasons of life as well. My youngest daughter is now sleeping in my office (as I type this) and I ponder how I prepared her to rest. “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens…” the author of Ecclesiastes writes (3:1); or as the Byrds sang, “To everything turn, turn, turn   There is a season turn, turn, turn   and a time to every purpose under Heaven…” (which is catchy modern singing of the ancient poem from the bible).

We talk about preparation a lot: meals, lessons for teachers, my body for work with a morning routine, for bed. But what are we doing to prepare ourselves for our life with our faith. Life is constantly happening, and one of the things I am asked most by people when life happens is, “why wasn’t I prepared for this?” or “Where was God in this?”

God having become one of us in Christ Jesus knows of those questions. And, yet God didn’t have to become one of us to teach us consider the poem from Ecclesiastes where God instructs us to understand the ‘time for everything…’
           “2 a time to be born and a time to die,   a time to plant and a time to uproot,
           3 a time to kill and a time to heal,   a time to tear down and a time to build,
           4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,   a time to mourn and a time to dance,
           5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
              a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
           6 a time to search and a time to give up,
              a time to keep and a time to throw away,
           7 a time to tear and a time to mend,   a time to be silent and a time to speak,
           8 a time to love and a time to hate,   a time for war and a time for peace.”

God knows that life has seasons! And God invites us to be nourished for those seasons, just as various animals know to gather in food for the long months ahead. And God provides those blessings for the animals just as God provides things for us to be prepared for all times in our lives.

Here at St. James, I invite you to consider participating in any of the ministries and opportunities to be grounded in God’s love, grace, and embrace through fellowship, study and service. Coming up this weekend is our Fall Kick Off Potluck, after church on Sunday. Next Monday starts a grief group in that season of life, 2pm in the NEAge room. Confirmation ReDo continues on Tuesday evenings, 6pm in the NEAge room. Next Wednesday kicks off WoW! (Word on Wednesdays) for kids, 6pm in the Fellowship Hall. Next Thursday starts the Book Group on Grateful by Diana Butler Bass, 2pm in NEAge room. Lutheran Men continue on the Third Mondays, 6pm in the Fellowship Hall; and Saturday Sisters picks back up on the 21st, 9am in the NEAge room.
 

Whatever season of life you are in, come and be nourished by God with love, grace, and embrace through fellowship, study and service.