Letter from Clare
So often when we escape from Suffolk in August, we leave a hot, dry landscape, in search of cooler and yes, even a wetter climate, last year by the time we had reached Hemingford Grey in Cambs, where we stopped for some lunch the temperature had risen to 42C. We didn’t know quite where to sit, what to do with ourselves, we were so uncomfortable. By the time we reached the Lakes, some 6 hours later, the temperature was 21C, and it felt so cool and soothing, but the locals were complaining it was too hot! Ten days later we were being blown by gale force winds and driving rain on Iona, and Suffolk sunshine was rather more appealing, we are never satisfied. The ideal I suppose is for warm sunny days, with a breeze, but not too cold and for all the rain to come at night, that would be ideal.
It struck me that in describing God, there are biblical descriptions of him as sunshine; also Matthew’s account of the Transfiguration. In the Book of Revelation, Christ is described in a vision as having a face as bright as the noonday sun, and there are numerous references to God as a wind and God as rain, especially in the Old Testament. Just as in life where we want a balance between sunshine, wind and rain, so in our understanding of God, we need to live in the creative tension between the clarity of God (which exposes all our failings by the brightness of his light) the refreshing, renewing love of God (which is experienced as “soft refreshing rain”) and the energising that a wind or a breeze brings, re- invigorating, exciting. It’s no wonder that the spirit of God is described as coming like wind.
Too much sunshine and we are left feeling uncomfortable, too much exposure leads to burns, that applies physically and spiritually, and if we are burned we need the heat taken out of our bodies, we need healing, we need water to prevent dehydration. Our Christian lives need balance just as we need a balance in the weather that we experience, whether in Suffolk, Iona or foreign climes wherever we holiday this year. Have a good time.
Clare