HERE AT THE CHURCH O THE PINES it is a gorgeous morning as we cast our eyes heavenward. Green trees, blue sky, gauzy white clouds drifting over. But there are forecasts of impending arctic fronts, snowstorms and blizzards, earthquakes, tornadoes, and tsunamis. While more seriously, halfway round the word, we hear forecasts and drumbeats of imminent invasion and war.

And we remember that we are all connected. That our good weather will not last, and while we have it someone else will experience bad weather. Or terrible weather. We know that weather comes in many guises. And we remember to enjoy the warm, soft breezes while we have them. Not as our right or our due, because of some imagined virtue. But as part of the ebb and flow, up and down of life. To whose vicissitudes we are all subject.

So today we appreciate blue skies and lovely trees, a woods that enfolds and comforts us, with the songs of chickadees and cardinals and the shouts of bluejays. And we pray that others may be spared the worst of bad weather, and that we can handle it with grace when it arrives here. For we are all connected, under one sky and upon one Earth. Good sabbath to you…