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A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Canon Angela Tilby

Good morning.

I have a strong instinct in the summer to want to be outside and close to nature. It is partly to do with the space that nature opens up and partly to do with the vivid colours of this time of year. Summer gives us blues and greens, sometimes the yellow of parched grass and the brown of earth, together with the dash of brighter shades from plants and fruits. When I was a child we invariably made for the sea. And even it if weather was awful, (which it not infrequently was), I would be in and out of water, shivering sometimes but determined not to be cheated of our annual visit to the seaside.

Even now when I am more likely to holiday in the Mediterranean my spirits lift at the sight of the sea and the strange promise of renewal it always seems to hold. In fact I now live by the sea in Portsmouth and am constantly grateful for its changing moods, its calm and its restlessness, its elemental power. It helps me understand why water plays a part in faith. Water to purify, water to cleans, water as a symbol of a clear conscience.

I remember once seeing a film of a Christian baptism on the sea coast in Kenya. Hundreds of worshippers, the baptised in their white garments, the waves rolling in, and just the hint of real danger along with the promise of salvation. For many of us, seas and forests, rivers and mountains are sacraments of nature, hints of the mysterious force which has brought us into being and still sustains us in life.

As we renew our strength through rest and play, Lord renew our spirits, immerse us in hope, faith and love.

Amen.