The Intersection of Autumn and the Liturgical Cycle

It is a rainy day. The sky has been gray for three days straight and the air feels cool, despite being July in the south. I welcome it gladly, as a reminder that autumn is approaching. Autumn whispers and beings to gently rouse me from my slow and lazy summer days. And the church does too. After a large portion of ordinary time, which is less rigorous spiritually than other points of the calendar, the church then announces a new year, a chance to evaluate and re-set our course for the long pilgrimage towards Christ at the peak of Pascha in the spring.

And when the leaves start to turn in the not so distant future, we will see nature all around us preparing for winter, as if God is reminding us that we too must prepare our inner burrows to be a dwelling place for the winter gift of the Christ-child. We will begin our nativity fast towards the end of autumn, and we will see ourselves in the trees, shedding what cannot be sustained if we wish to come alive again.

One of my favorite things about the liturgical cycle is its intersection with the patterns in nature, reminding me that all of creation participates in holy rhythms, co-declaring the glory of the Lord. What a rich and colorful life God has given us!

Even though it is July, I wait in much excited anticipation as the time has not quite yet come, to prepare for the season of preparing. I have been preparing for this coming autumn for many years, quietly building and collecting a treasury of traditions that grafts seasons and church into one way of living and it is partly to blame for my untimely excitement. May it bless your home and family as well as mine!

-V.W