Our weather has suddenly turned very summer-like. While Summer has its own busyness there is something about sunny days, warm nights, birdsong in the morning, the profusion of color blooming around, and children laughing and playing in their yards and in the parks, that naturally draws us toward rest and renewal.
I am reminded of what Frederick Buechner says about “Play.”
When David’s wife berates him for making a fool of himself by leaping and dancing before the ark of the Lord with all his might, David protests that is seemed exactly the right thing to do considering all the Lord had done for him. “Therefore will I play before the Lord,” he tells her (2 Samuel 6:14-21).
When God describes how he will rescue Jerusalem from his wrath and make it new again, . . . he conveys the glory of it by saying, “And the streets of the city will be full of boys and girls playing in the streets” (Zechariah 8:5)
When the Psalmist praises God for creating “this great wide sea” . . . he makes special mention of Leviathan, “whom,” he says, “you made to play therein” (Psalm 104:25-26).
David has sweat pouring down his face and his eyes aflame. The boys and girls are spinning like tops. The Whale has just shot a thirty-foot spout into the air and is getting ready to heave his entire one-hundred-and-fifty-ton body into the air after it.
For that matter, what is the wind doing in the hayfield? What is Victoria Falls up to . . . or the rain beating on the roof like the Hallelujah Chorus, or the violet on the windowsill leaning toward the sun?
What, come to think of it, is God up to, getting the whole thing started in the first place? Hurling the stars around like rice at a wedding, gathering the waters together into the seas . . . calling forth the creatures of earth and air like a person calling “Sing Your Partner” at a square dance.
God calls, and creator and creature both all but lose track of which is which in the wonder of their playing.
God is knocking on the door of our heart, inviting you to be and to see God’s presence in and with you in the gifts of this season. Listen for the knocking, hear God’s voice,
Can, will, you come out to play?
Summer Blessings, Pastor Lamont