Walk past St George’s, or any school playground, at break or lunch time and what will you see? Movement. Lots of it as children run and dodge round the playground. Chasing, shouting, laughing. The human brain grows in response to movement.
We’re happy with this kind of movement. Happy, joyful, youthful movement. But movement also means that things in life shift and change. And some things we’d like to keep the same. We’re not keen on this idea of impermanence. It undermines our sense of stability.
Outside our window stands a rowan tree, a Mountain Ash. It is always the first tree to come into leaf. A short time ago the tips of its branches burst into frothy flat sprays of creamy flowers and already they have become brown and are turning into the pinpoints that will swell into berries. This tree will also be the first to lose its leaves when Autumn comes.
There’s a rhythm here. A rhythm of growth and renewal. Without impermanence we would be stuck. We would have no opportunity to change, to develop, to let go and embrace a new way of being.
The church moves on too, from season to season. We move on this week from celebrating Easter to the Ascension. Yes, it all moves in the blink of an eye. But we can be still for a moment, reflect and carry with us something learned from each season. And in that way we can grow.
Chris Dawson