Ruth on Change Islands July 2017
Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind...
...Have you entered the storehouses of the snow,
or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,
23 which I have reserved for the time of trouble,
for the day of battle and war?
24 What is the way to the place where the light is distributed,
or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?
from Job 38
Four years ago, right now, Ruth and I were on Change Islands, adjacent to the better known Fogo Island off the northeast coast of Newfoundland. I retired in June of 2017 so we headed back to the area where I began my ministry, what would be a five week absence from home. We drove there with our kayaks and had the remarkable opportunity to paddle at a cautious distance from actual icebergs but often alongside the smaller chunks of ice or "bergy bits." It was the summer of the iceberg with people in their eighties unable to recall any summer with more. We were awakened in the night as bergs calved or rolled over just offshore from the house we were renting. It's impossible to describe what this experience was like for us but it was magical.
This year is quite the opposite when it comes to icebergs in Newfoundland with yesterday's bulletin showing no icebergs along what is often advertised as Iceberg Alley, Yet the cause for both these anomalous seasons may be the same. In 2017 scientists were suggesting that the thousands of icebergs was a result of climate change affected warmer waters surrounding Greenland's glaciers. This year the traditional pattern of calving bergs has altered and the southerly flow through Iceberg Alley isn't taking place.
I've mentioned in this blog that while we've vacationed on Change Islands I would regularly enter the historic Anglican church and open the 150 year old bible to passages of scripture about Creation, including the magnificent chapters from the book of Job. Each time I returned the bible had been dutifully closed, but I kept up my mildly seditious behaviour as a statement abut the rugged natural beauty of these islands. The bible says nothing about icebergs -- surprise, surprise -- but there are passages about the wonder of ice and snow. I also searched out the Prayer of Azariah, an apocryphal reading inserted in the book of Daniel which is found in the venerable Book of Common Prayer.
It may seem that having reverence for ice and snow is, well, cold, yet our planet depends on our frozen poles, along with frigid seasons in certain climes. You might not be inclined to celebrate Winter on a frosty February day but if scripture does as a gift from the Creator why can't we?
Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord.
Praise and exalt him above all forever.
Angels of the Lord, bless the Lord.
You heavens, bless the Lord.
All you waters above the heavens, bless the Lord.
All you hosts of the Lord, bless the Lord.
Sun and moon, bless the Lord.
Stars of heaven, bless the Lord.
Every shower and dew, bless the Lord.
All you winds, bless the Lord.
Fire and heat, bless the Lord.
Cold and chill, bless the Lord.
Dew and rain, bless the Lord.
Frost and chill, bless the Lord.
Ice and snow, bless the Lord.
Nights and days, bless the Lord.
Light and darkness, bless the Lord.
Lightnings and clouds, bless the Lord.
from the Prayer of Azariah
Moi in the waters around Change Islands July 2017
