Winter

I wonder if you have ever thought of Winter as a Season of Sabbath. Spring and Summer are times of growth and flourishing and Autumn brings us all the bounty of those growing months in its abundance and plenty. The fruitfulness of autumn is displayed most visually in the fields ripe for harvest and in the trees full of their own offerings of seeds, nuts and berries and then the final shedding of russet red and golden leaves. 

Winter is a different story. A season where nature withdraws, holding herself in stillness until the world turns again and Spring is once more on the way. The cold and darkness wrap the earth and all is put away for another year. Even some of our native animals turn in for the winter. Sabbath time is a time of resting, reflecting and refreshing. Sabbath time does not mean just Sundays, it can be any time we can take to be still and quiet, and in these long and dark evenings we may find we have time to do that.

Our 24/7, noisy and demanding world expects us to carry on just the same, and this is maybe why many struggle through the winter months. Sabbath is when we can take some time to withdraw from the busyness of our lives, to draw breath and give ourselves some time to slow down, to rest and reflect in peace.

Perhaps this year we could look at this Winter season a little differently and embrace the Winter Sabbath and use it in the same way nature does. As a time for reflecting, resting, snuggling down and preparing for next year’s growth.

Jesus often took himself away for some peace and quiet; to pray, rest and listen and he never felt guilty about it, and encouraged it in others. The message he left us tells us all we need to know about being human in an ever-changing world. It is perhaps no coincidence that the Light of the World comes to us at the darkest time of the year.

Ali Hunter Johnston

Licensed Lay Minister, St Chad’s Tushingham