Dear Friends,

I write this on a lovely late summer’s day, I look out of the window and the gardens opposite are bathed in sunshine. There are however just a few days left of summer, for autumn begins on Sunday 22nd September, the day when day and night are of equal length but apparently the summer weather is also due to end soon and by the time you read this blue sky and sunshine may be a distant memory. However, I recall a discussion some years ago on a long car journey about which was our favourite season. My wife, sister and I agreed on autumn. Hardly a surprising choice for on that journey we passed hundreds of trees in glorious autumn colours.

So, some lovely late summer days to enjoy but at this time of year the
evenings and night time can be quite cool and some of the mornings have as well been misty and that is a sign that autumn is on the way. Driving Viv to work on one of those misty mornings some famous words came to mind. The words ‘Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness’ sprang to mind. The opening words of a poem, I have heard quoted many several times over the years during the month of October. The words come from Ode to Autumn by John Keats a poem written in September 1819 after a walk one Sunday in Winchester. Many stick to the opening line and do not know any more, myself included!

Ode to Autumn is a much loved and much studied poem a collection of
words put together so beautifully that they capture a true sense of autumn, even if you only have the opening words. There are many beautiful words in the Bible that are just as beautiful and like the poetry of Keats and others we probably remember a few lines and not much substance. I believe there are hundreds of short biblical quotes however that beat the opening words of any poet which capture truth and beauty even if we fail to search for more substance. The trouble is some do not know any at all and hear only the bizarre variety of crazy ideas in our modern world. Quotes from the Bible in your head can help describe what is happening and answer the needs and questions of today. At a recent Elders’ Meeting the Elder doing the opening devotions used some recent daily bible study notes from a small booklet; daily reading of the Bible and prayer can make such a difference to our lives and help us move from one liners to substance.

By a strange coincidence, I will be in Winchester this October, there one
Saturday for a Synod meeting and I will recall the words of Keats:
‘Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;’
When I go to Winchester, I may not see quite the beauty of nature of his
less developed vista but I can be sure of the truth and beauty of Scripture at our gathering of churches. May it be in your lives as well.

With best wishes,
Robert