Winter to Spring

March is a month of transitions. Since coming to the Great Northwest, my favorite of those transitions is Winter to Spring. It's a time to focus our hearts on hope.


I love to speak from my own experience
  when I preach.

It's sometimes called "confessional preaching,"
  since it involves things that the preacher
    actually knows about from her or his own life.

That doesn't mean that I love
  to confess my sins when I preach,
    though that inevitably happens sometimes.

:-)

My experience of coming to live
  in the inland Pacific Northwest
    has brought many changes to my life,
      most of them for the better, by far.

Among those changes for the better
  has been a major change
    in the climate that I experience.

I sometimes say that Texas
  (at least the part where I lived),
    has two seasons: hot and hotter.

OK, so that's an exaggeration,
  but not by too much!

I'll never forget one year (in the 1990's)
  in which the temperature in Austin, Texas
    was 99 degrees in February!

There are plenty of contrasts
  between the weather I knew and expected in Texas
    and the weather I experience in these parts.

I could expect uncomfortably hot afternoons
  by the time late Spring arrived
    - or even earlier -
      in the parts of Texas where I lived.

I prefer not even to talk about the summer months!

The milder climate we have around here
  feels to me like a parable for better times
    that will be coming for us as a region,
      as a nation, and as a planet.

Climate change will certainly be a factor,
  but we still have the opportunity
    to make a difference.

Although authoritarianism is on the rise
  in the U.S. and in many other places.
    it looks to me like the far end
      of a swinging pendulum.

I keep thinking that we have reached the point
  at which the pendulum will begin to swing back
    nearer the balanced middle.

I also keep seeing that the return swing
  has not yet begun.

I'm an incurable optimist,
  so I still believe that the return swing is upon us
    and that we will soon see the signs of it.

If we think of our mild climate as a parable
  for more moderation in our governance,
    we can look for the signs
      of the fulfillment of this hope
        in the weeks and months ahead.

Another parable for us is the change of seasons.

The transitions are inevitable: 
  from Winter to Spring through Summer to Fall
    and finally the return to Winter's cold and quiet
      once again.

We can accept these inevitable, natural changes
  and adapt to them,
    or we can struggle against them
      and find ourselves acting in useless ways.

Likewise in the lives of our communities and nations   
  we can work to live adaptively
    while we also affirm the changes
      that are inevitably coming.

We don't have to despair.

Some pain in life is inevitable.

Letting it reach the point of misery is optional.

There is hope,
  and the signs of the coming of Spring
    are reminders that better times are coming
      in every way.

When I lived in Texas,
  the coming of Spring was not always
    an event that I welcomed!

It was a harbinger of the unbearable heat
  that was just around the corner.

Even the Winter Solstice was not a happy event
  because it marked the start of lengthening days
    that would inevitably lead to
      the painful heat of Summer.

I don't yet share the mild sadness
  that many people around here experience
    with the Summer Solstice
      because the days then begin to grow shorter.

I spent too many years with a sense of relief:
  It won't keep getting hotter forever!

One thing I really enjoy around here
  is the clearly observable lengthening of the days
    as the Spring Equinox approaches.

Today is the First Sunday in Lent,
  and the very name of "Lent" comes from
    an Anglo-Saxon word, Lengten,
      which is the origin of our word, Lengthen,
        referring to the lengthening
          of the days of Spring.

As UU's we can especially appreciate
  the positive implications of Lent,
    with the longer days
      and without the self-inflicted pain
        of giving up things we enjoy during the season.

Our spirituality draws from many traditions
  and claims the best from all of them.

Likewise we draw from the earth-based tradition
  that celebrates nature with its cycles.

We can draw comfort and hope
  as nature goes through all its changes.

Our society will change over and over
  just like the natural world.

Our political realities will change, too,
  and in our particular part of the world,
    we have great examples
      of just how fast change can come.

I'll never forget one Spring day 
  in which I was kind of freaking out.

I told Beth that
  in the microclimate of our neighborhood
    we had had snow, rain, hail, sunshine and wind
      all on that one day!

She said, "Hmm! It sounds like Spring!"

It took me a while,
  but with some reflection
    I understood what she meant.

She had lived in this part of the world
  for more than 30 years by then.

She had seen that much variety of weather
  all in one day many times over,
    and that one day often came
      during Spring.

The combination of conditions
  really typical of Spring weather around here
    has been unique in my experience.

At least it's always interesting!

Our political realities, too,
  can change suddenly.

We can expect new hope and new possibilities,
  preparing the way for them,
    each of us in our own way.

New hopes can bring long term changes, too.

I'll never forget one year up here
  in which Spring lasted about six months!

I've come to think of Spring
  as the period in which the weather
    doesn't get too hot or too cold,
      at least not for too long.

I've seen plenty of times of chilly
  and even snowy weather
    during Spring.

So Spring is a time of transition.

We can expect ups and downs
  as the changes we hope for begin to form.

Spring is a time of rebirth.

It can also represent a rebirth of hope in our hearts
  as well as in our weather.

Changes have come quite suddenly in our society
  and in the culture of what is acceptable
    and what is unacceptable.

Change in the health of nations is coming
  so fast that it's difficult to keep up with.

Change can come just as quickly in the future,
  and some changes for the better cannot come
    quickly enough for me.

I draw hope from the transition of Winter to Spring
  especially in this particular year.

I'm holding on to hope
  that the transition from illness to wellness
    from war to peace
      from authoritarianism to freedom
        and from fear to love
          will be seen all over our small planet.

There are larger forces at work
  than we can even begin to perceive.

Some of them will work to our benefit;
  some of them will work to our detriment.

There is little we can do to affect them,
  but if all of us do our own part
    we will promote positive change together.

The single most important thing we can do
  this year is vote. 

The first opportunity for residents of Idaho
   to vote in the presidential election
      is the primary election,
        a week from this Tuesday. 

The presidential primary in Idaho and in Washington
  will take place on the same day, March 10.

We don't know for certain
  which candidate would be best,
    but all of them have good qualities.

I would not begin to try to tell anyone
  for whom to vote.

I don't think it would even be right
  for me to try to do so.

I'm only going to say, "Please vote!"
  even if you are unsure about your choice.

I strongly believe
  that the result will almost always be better
    for us all
      if more people vote.

This Spring is a time of hope.

This election is an opportunity to hope.

I want to put the two together
  to encourage us all
    to work together
      to bring our hopes to fruition.

By working together
  we can make this Spring
    a time of renewal,
      not only for the world of nature around us,
        but also for us all
          in our community and our nation.

Amen

Blessed Be