“For human beings, autumn is a time of harvest, of gathering together. For nature, it is a time of sowing, of scattering abroad.” Edwin Teale

Autumn, that season that Americans refer to as “the Fall,” is here. Perhaps more than any other, this season is filled with poignant contradictions.

On the one hand, it is full of death and sadness. On the other, it is replete with beauty and life.

On the one hand, it is a time of dead leaves. On the other, it is a time when nature scatters and sows something new.

I’m not sure why Americans usually speak of the Fall rather than Autumn but, presumably, it’s something to do with the leaves falling from the trees. It is a mysterious and beautiful process. Green leaves turn to glorious golds, oranges and reds before they fall to the earth.

There is a similar cycle in the lives of human beings. I am thinking here not only of a complete life cycle ending in our physical death. There are many more cycles than that in a single lifetime. For human beings the realities of the Fall occur many times during life’s journey.

Things may be going fine until one day something happens that causes us to lose connection with our roots. A relationship comes to an end, a loved one dies, a move is forced upon us, the world changes, and suddenly we don't know who we are any more.

The lifeline between us and those things which had sustained and stabilized us is severed, causing us to experience a “fall.” The effect can be painful and disorientating. I think, to some extent, the covid crisis is causing us all to feel that way right now. I certainly am.

The good news, though, is that we don’t fall forever. Eventually, we always hit the ground of God’s love.

One of the great Christian thinkers of the twentieth century, Paul Tillich, thought of God as, the ground of our being. God, said Tillich, is that ground which undergirds and underpins the life of every being, from which all things spring, and to which all things return. Paul said something similar in the Bible too, in God “we live and move and have our being.” (Acts 17:28)

A relationship may end, a loved one may die, the world may change, we may discover we have a life-threatening illness, but even the worst of it should only ever serve to ground us in that greater source of life from which we sprang in the first place.

How fortunate we are, as believers, to know this. And to know even more – that when our earthly life comes to an end, even then new life is in the making. At that time, on that solid ground of God’s never-ending love, we will take our place amidst the rich glorious colours of that cloud of witnesses. We will return to the love and source of life from which we came.

The natural year shows us this clearly. It proceeds not in a straight line through the seasons but in a circle that brings the world and humanity back to the mystery in which both began, and out of which a new seed-time and a new generation will begin.

What an opportunity God gives us, whatever our situation, to ensure we have done our part to ensure both a good harvest now and a laying aside of strong seed for the future. We get to see the fruits of a labour now and have the satisfaction of knowing we have made our contribution to the future too.

And through it all, whether we are growing or falling, God’s presence is with us – of course it is – a good gardener never gives up on the things he is growing and nurturing!

May we grow strong and bear much fruit for him. And may we reflect the glorious colours and hues of his life and love as we do.