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Viewpoint from Rev Derrick Hill 03/10/2014
 SEASONS
Rev Derrick Hill
Moderator, Park Baptist Church
I write this on one of those misty autumnal mornings. Earlier I walked down to the village shops, greeting people on the way as ever, but one comment from one of those encounters, expressed in a rather grumpy fashion, jumped out at me: “Where has all the sun gone?”
 I thought back over what has been a glorious summer – and an abundant harvest! Home, or locally, grown fruit and vegetables fill my freezer. Farmers have been talking of bumper crops – and church harvest festivals have had more to celebrate than ever. Yet last week, as I spent a couple of days in the Derbyshire Peak District, I thought how wonderful those forests will look in the weeks to come as they display their autumnal colours
Seasons are an essential part of the natural world – and it is for good reason that God promises, in Genesis 8.22, that “as long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease”. The cold winter frosts helping to break the ground and kill bugs are just as much a part of the productive English climate as the joy-bringing summer sun
 But, that rhythm of season following season has much wider implications. Many of us will recall learning at school of Shakespeare’s Seven Ages of Man – infancy, schoolboy, lover, hot-headed soldier, wise sage, retirement and incapacity. In the Bible as we are encouraged to approach Jesus as little children, to learn, to respect the wise elders whilst not looking down on those of younger years. Each season of life has its purpose, preparing for what is to come – and we recognise the tragedy when life is cut short before its natural journey is complete
However, as we move from one season of life to another, there can be a sad tendency to mourn that which passes rather than look ahead to that which is to come. In recent weeks I have been preparing for the next season of my life – the season called retirement, although not inactivity! I will miss that which I leave – but I look forward to new opportunities. And Park Baptist Church, where I have ministered for the past 15 years, can also look forward to a new lease of life under younger, more energetic leadership, prepared by God specifically for this new season, as Revd Peter Timothy begins ministry here on 11th October
Whatever changes you, the reader, may be facing right now, I encourage you to embrace them as God intends and use the new opportunities for his glory
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