The Reflectionary

In Britain, weather is a BIG THING. We have a lot of it- and it varies all the time. Our summers are too hot, our winters too cold, spring is always late, and autumn is “wetter than it used to be.” Without weather, what on earth would we talk about? We’ve had plenty of rain recently- in fact, rather more than we need. Whoever has been praying for rain, you can stop now. Please.

Our local fields are getting soggy and, in places, flooding. Mud is turning paths to treacherous swamps. Grass squishes when we tread on it. I saw a slug wearing an aqualung yesterday… (well, slight exaggeration there- poetic licence? A fib?)

It feels as if the slugs OUGHT to wear wetsuits and scuba gear, anyway.

This kind of grey, damp, rainy weather gets me down. “Another depression is rolling in from the west…” Have you noticed that we have a tendency to pray for the weather to change whenever it inconveniences us? One wise pastor answered requests to pray to change the weather by saying “I’m in Sales, not Management.” Only God can control the weather!

To use “rain” as a metaphor, we can see that society has “prayed for rain” in the sense of continuous economic growth and exorbitant profits. Yet as actor Denzel Washington observed:

“You pray for rain, you got to deal with the mud too. That’s a part of it.”

– Denzel Washington

Excess rain makes mud. We can’t change today’s weather; we don’t even forecast it terribly well. However, we do appear to be affecting our planet and upsetting its systems. Partly, at least, by our exploitation of natural resources and careless attitude to problems. Our planning departments keep approving new builds of (mostly luxury) houses on farmland and floodplain. Unsurprisingly, civic drainage/sewage systems are not coping. No-one doubts that society needs more homes for people: but they need to be affordable for ordinary people, and with better services and amenities. Our society is looking pretty mucky and muddy… And, of course, for all the muddy problems facing Western Europe, there are so many regions where basic health, food, and shelter are STILL a distant dream. Surely this shouldn’t be so?

Prophets in the Bible have plenty to say- but we’ve not been listening very well.

Isaiah 1:17 – “Learn to do good; Seek justice; Reprove the ruthless; Defend the orphan; Plead for the widow.“

Jeremiah 22:3 – “Do justice and righteousness, and deliver the one who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor. Also do not mistreat or do violence to the stranger, the orphan, or the widow; and do not shed innocent blood in this place.”

Micah 6:8 – “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

Matthew 7:12 Jesus said – “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”

I fear the rainy days and the mud are blocking our ears to the Voice of God.