May! May! May! by David Connolly
What a lovely month May is. The season of mid spring, giving us the promise of summer soon to arrive. Trees springing to life in leaf, May blossom of course on the hawthorn trees. Plus of course the wonderful flowers of rhododendron, wisteria, peonies and many others. May starts to get warmer, days get longer and really cheer our spirits after the winter months. Of course it also means much work in the garden!
We have two bank holidays when we can think of getting away for a day trip or longer. We spend time with friends and family particularly out and about or in our gardens or communal gardens. It is of course also the post Easter period, celebrating the arrival of spring, but to us Christians, more importantly, the celebration of the wonderful gift given to us of forgiveness and eternal life because of the death of Jesus. But even more importantly, his resurrection, which we celebrate on Ascension Day on the 29th of May. Whitsun or Pentecost being soon after in early June. I have always been fascinated however how we have so many words which have more than one meaning. May is not only the name for the month but it also means we ‘can choose’, a ‘possibility’, and ‘enabling’ us to do something or make decisions, or ‘allow’ us to do an activity, make decisions or even ‘have the right to’ do whatever we want.Which made me think in terms of the season, in that Easter and Ascension are not happenings that we are forced to accept. These are events which we know are history, not only from the Bible
narrative but also other historical records. We have the choice to believe. We have the right to reject the belief in the occasions
occurring and their meaning.
We all probably question them at some time in our lives as I did as a teenager, then I discovered a book entitled ‘Who Moved The Stone’. The author started to investigate all the possibilities as to who may have moved the stone from Jesus’ tomb and removed the body, as he was convinced it could not be by the resurrection as portrayed in the gospels. He was an atheist. He discussed the possibilities, such as the authorities removing the body or the disciples as well as others. By the end of his research he came to the conclusion that there was only one way the body was not there and that was by the resurrection. He therefore became a believer. God gave us the right to accept or reject beliefs, he gave us free will to accept the wonderful gift of a relationship with Him and enable us to attain everlasting life in heaven with our saviour. In the meantime it makes our lives more fulfilling in so many ways.
May you all therefore enjoy the season of nature but also the heartening news from the Christian celebrations.
A letter from our former Minister, Rev Alison Smith: