Reflecting Reality

The Harvest “super-moon” is shining on us. We are three weeks past the Autumn Equinox and I feel my life shifting into winter patterns: cozy socks are in the front of the dresser drawer and, like George Constanza, I’m moving into “soup mode.”

Over the past few years, Heather and I have made an October tradition of reading aloud Bram Stoker’s Dracula to each other. And we are re-watching the entire Harry Potter series.

Now we approach harvest thanksgiving, with the feasts of Halloween and All Saints/Souls just around the corner. Many people have their own rituals and patterns that help to ground them at this time of the year. I cannot go through this season without pumpkin pie, along with certain sounds, scents and reminiscences. Part of my journey through autumn is a reflection on the past, while another part involves dreaming of the future.

As I navigate these weeks, reading and watching, reminiscing and dreaming, I feel immense gratitude. How blessed am I to have a place where my evenings are filled with the peaceful rhythms of art, music and drama – my sanctuary of peace and healing.

In Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone there is a mirror called Erised. It does not reflect back one’s image. Instead it reveals to the viewer their deepest and most heartfelt desires. It can lead people to go mad by fixating them on their dreams instead of their real lives. This speaks to me because I know I sometimes get too caught up with past and future and forget to give thanks for the here and now.

Jesus calls us to lean toward God’s Realm, finding it in the here and now. God’s Realm is both now and not yet. Each of us is called to reflect God’s presence in the world. We are infused with the life of Jesus, and can transform the world through acts of justice and service to remedy global problems as God intends.

This is difficult to do if we are caught up in the past, or singularly focused on the future.

I pray, as the leaves turn and fall, as autumn brings harvest celebration, Halloween festivities and solemn saintly remembrance, that I may live in the present, walking with the Holy One each and every day.

David

The Rev’d David Burrows is the Incumbent Priest of the Anglican Parish of Kokanee, encompassing Nelson, Kaslo, and the North Shore.