大象传媒

Good Morning,

I鈥檓 probably not alone in thinking that T.S. Elliott got it wrong. Surely November is the cruelest month. We moved to Scotland from the sunny, southern state of North Carolina on the east coast of the U.S.A. People often ask us how we鈥檙e coping here with the cold. But in my experience, it鈥檚 not the cold that requires so much adjustment, it鈥檚 the dark! I鈥檝e never before lived in a place where there was so little sunshine for so many months. And November is when I really begin to feel it closing in, a force as oppressive as the British fog Elliott describes in The Wasteland.

It was ten years ago yesterday that Amazon launched the Kindle. Such revolutionary devices are commonplace now in many makes, shapes and sizes and allow me to carry a library with me when I travel. In the small glow of the screen, I can dive into Elliott鈥檚 works anywhere in the world. That glow holds out so much promise, especially in the dark winter months, maybe feelings of warmth and light鈥攅ven new beginnings as the first sparks of illumination pierce the dark of a long November night. So, it鈥檚 fitting also on a dark November Monday morning to reflect on beginnings. In the book of Genesis, God says, 鈥淟et there be light,鈥� and, bang! Light overcame the void and out of nothing sprung all that exists.

Gracious and merciful God, we thank you for the light, for warmth, for illumination, for the way life on earth is fed and nourished by light. As those first rays of this November morning are kindled, we offer you praise for the beginning of a new week. In the name of Jesus, Amen.聽聽