Absorbing Creation this "May Long"

 

                                                             Trees in Spring -- David Milne

2 What a wondrous time is spring when all the trees

are budding,

the birds begin to sing, the flowers start their blooming;

that's how it is with God's love,

once you've experienced it:

you want to sing, it's fresh like spring,

you want to pass it on.

                                      Voices United 289

Victoria Day begat May Two-Four, begat May Long. Tomorrow Canadians will celebrate the longest standing national holiday in Canada, other than the religious ones. I wonder how many Canadians could name Queen Victoria and her birthday (May 24th) as the source of the extra day off this weekend?

This is an opportunity for millions of us to get outside, camping amidst the blackflies, opening the cottage, going for a walk for that fleeting look at trilliums and trout lilies. We've paddled a number of times already, but we'll get out on the water to enjoy that unique "David Milne" green of Spring along the shoreline. This morning we sat on our deck for the first outdoor breakfast of the year, soaking in the Dawn Chorus. 

Recently I read Adam Nicholson's Bird School: A Beginner in the Woods. He describes the old farmstead in Britain on which he has taken up residence and the construction of a small structure in a derelict field for the purpose of paying attention to the birds. It is designed so that lots of feeders can be hung and large windows be opened wide to take in birdsong. 

What captured me is that he describes this cabin not as an observatory but as an absorbatory., a word of his making and a brilliant one. It speaks to his deep desire to be immersed in and to absorb his surroundings. He wanted the structure to be "semi-permeable, a space into which the outside worlds could be allowed to enter as a welcome guest." 

Few of us could afford to purchase property and build a structure crafted for this purpose. But many of us have the opportunity to be awake to the outdoors world at our doorsteps and beyond, one of the blessings of this country. We can nurture our appreciation of Creation, the birds and flowers, as Jesus encouraged the curious and the disciples to do in the Sermon on the Mount. I figure faith communities can get beyond the stained glass confines to absorb, "to take it in, to dissolve if such a thing is possible, the boundary between self and world." (Bird School)

Next Sunday, actually closer to the actual "May Two-Four", one of the young people at Trenton United will take us on an after-worship walk at a nearby park. What a wonderful way to honour the Creator. I don't know whether Queen Victoria would approve but we certainly hope to participate.