10 Comments
User's avatar
Dixie Dillon Lane's avatar

Rest. All the natural world is trying to order us toward a rhythm of activity followed by rest, and yet we can't allow ourselves to accept this. Maybe if we walked the fields more we would realize that it we, too, are seasonal creatures.

I loved this piece!

Expand full comment
Hadden Turner's avatar

Thanks Dixie,

"All the natural world is trying to order us toward a rhythm of activity followed by rest" - yes! This is an excellent observation

Expand full comment
civil winters's avatar

I am delighted you re-shared this beautiful reflection today, particularly as autumn is currently giving way to cold in this corner of the world. There's a word I learned in ecology that I greatly admire: senescence. It's grants a little bit of poetic licence to that dormancy period. It also often reminds me that these darker, chilier months are a necessary sleep. As you've written, this wintering is a time for dreaming (and snowshoeing if you feel so inclined!)

Expand full comment
Richard Myerscough's avatar

Ought we be disturbed by the fact that for most people's schedules and rhythms, summer is now the time for rest and deepest winter, along with the weeks heading up to it, among the most frantic (think teachers and schools, shops and shop-workers as Christmas approaches). This can also include, in my experience, church, as it now replicates the educational seasons (various ministries stop in summer and gear up again in September). Things have been inverted. I'd love your thoughts on the potential implications of that.

Expand full comment
Hadden Turner's avatar

Thanks Richard, this is exactly what my own pastor said to me when I wrote this!

I think you are absolutely right in what you say, there has been a significant inversion - summer is now the break time, which shows just how disconnected society has become from the land (harvest time - which coincides with our summer holidays used to be the busiest time - I think I remember reading that is the rationale behind summer holidays, so MPs and there families, and children from school could go back to their lands for the busy harvest).

And you are right, winter now is a frantic time - and so much of this is tied up with martialism and consumerism - black Friday, Christmas shopping, etc. This is why I think it is a tragedy, because of how closely tied this is to vices of covetousness, greed, and lust. The commercialisation of Christmas has a lot to answer for.

How this affects us as a society - the fact we no longer rest during winter - is something I need to put some more thought into. Perhaps it is reflected in the sorry state of our agricultural lands, which bear the scars of our consumeristic desires. And perhaps we have become anxious as a society from working extra hard at a season where sunlight is in short supply (think Seasonal Affective disorder etc). When we should naturally take it slower and rest, we are harried and frantic - surely this does something to us collectively?

Thank you for this question Richard, it has given me much food for thought.

Expand full comment
Richard Myerscough's avatar

As a pastor - can I say this? - I dread this time of year. Not just because it's extra busy (we don't do huge amounts extra as a church, tbh) but probably because of the psychological ramping that's inevitably tied to what you mention re commercialisation (btw, I love your typo - martialism indeed!).

I don't have a problem with remembering the Lord's coming (of course not!) and adore a special family feast but it's everything else that goes with it I often find depleting. Quite how to fight back and re-introduce not just the notion but the space for winter rest is a question I need to ponder and find help with.

(As it happens, in order to use up some unused leave, I have a fortnight's leave from next Monday - I'm not complaining!)

Expand full comment
Hadden Turner's avatar

I think you would find a lot more pastors share your apprehension - the pressure you are all under to "perform" is immense. And the amount of judging that goes on and comparison against the big churches (All Souls with their real animal nativity! etc) can be toxic. It is a travesty that we judge a ministers performance by how many visitors come for Christmas, how many extra services and events etc - all this for something that is not even biblically mandated!

Like yourself, I love the family time and the remembering of Advent. And I enjoy all the traditions, colours, aesthetics etc. But, a reflective observer can readily perceive just how consumeristic it has all become, and how with each passing year, the start of the season eats further into autumn.

Enjoy your break Richard, I hope it is very restful and refreshing. And as I tell myself and my wife, in this age of constant busyness it is more than ok just to have days where one does nothing! Nothing, that is but reflect on our lives and the blessings we have received, ponder on the awesome, majestic, and the good, and rest - which when one considers it, is some of the best work that we could do.

Expand full comment
Richard Myerscough's avatar

Amen, thanks so much Hadden, that's so appreciated.

Expand full comment
Hadden Turner's avatar

My pleasure, Richard.

Expand full comment
User's avatar
Comment deleted
Oct 6, 2023
Comment deleted
Expand full comment
Hadden Turner's avatar

Thanks Ben, I am glad you enjoyed it. One of my favourite things to do on a snow day morning (rare here too in the South of England) is to get up before anyone else while it is still dark and go for a walk in the "snow-silence" a particular type of silence which is just simply wonderful as the snow absorbs all the noise (I can usually tell before opening the curtains that it has snowed because of the absence of sound).

Expand full comment