Minister’s Column
On February 1, we are halfway from the winter solstice (December 21, known as Yule) to the spring equinox (March 21, known as Ostara). The holiday of February 1 and the season of late winter are known as Imbolc. At this time of year, I often reflect on winter and how the Christmas holiday (around Yule) is too early. Yes, that is the darkest season of the year—but this is the coldest and the longest. It’s at this time in the winter, with all of February and March in front of us, that we could use some Christmas lights and Christmas cheer…and Christmas vacation.
Walking in the woods by the river yesterday, I saw two surprising things: one was a kayaker paddling in the river. I had a great view of him from the foot bridge at Mill Pond Park and stopped a minute to watch. He was paddling back and forth in the rapids there, looking playful like an otter but also very serious. Messing around in the water when the air is 35 degrees and the river was halfway frozen just last week—this takes courage and determination. I love kayaking on this river too--but only in the hot days of summer. A little later, in the swampy part of the woods by the river, I found the trails that I am used to following blocked by fallen branches and trees – the result of the heavy snow in recent weeks. In the snow I saw more animal prints than human. As I was making my way past a fallen branch, some movement caught my eye and I looked up to see a group of six or eight deer. We stood for a very long quiet moment watching each other before moving on. It was the twilight hour before sunset.
Imbolc is a special time of year: the dead of winter, but with signs of life. Deer in the woods. The river thawing and muddy and running high from the unusual January thaw. And we all continue to live with cold and snow and look forward to two more months of winter. I love this life in all of its seasons. May we settle into the cold; may we explore and see what is stirring in nature; may we embrace the journey of the Earth that brings us to Imbolc.
PRAYER:
May the river be blessed in all of its seasons: in its freezing and in its thawing, in its flood and in its low time.
May the creatures of the woods be safe and prosper.
May the trees awake again when it is their time; may the branches broken by the winter snows give way to new growth.
May we find our place in the seasons, knowing the time of rest that winter invites us into.
May nature be in balance, and may we know our place in the great sweep of time.
Blessed be.
Rev. Drew Frantz
January 30,2024