The story of the departure ceremony (3): ‘Autumn’.

During the Departure Ceremony/Pilgrim’s Lauds of the Walk of Wisdom on October 3 in the Stevenskerk in Nijmegen, volunteer, coordinator, Manja Bente read the text by Martin Pieterse.

The text for each Departure Ceremony comes from the book ‘Seasons of Life: a contemporary book of hours and pilgrims’.

Below you will find the text as Manja recorded it.

Autumn

“He who always watches the wind never gets around to sowing; If you always look at the clouds, you’ll never get around to mowing.’

Ecclesiastes 11.4

The Preacher sighs often, willingly and loudly. You always have to do something! Constantly making choices!
And it’s never good, the Preacher seems to say over and over again. Isn’t autumn the season of compelling choices? It’s now or never! Now you have to fertilize the field, sow the winter wheat, fill the storehouses, quickly put the animals in the stable, before the first frost. Is your home ready to weather the autumn storms? Are the tiles tight on the roof? Can’t it rain in anywhere? Is there enough wood to burn?

Making choices, especially now that gray autumn heralds the dark death of winter. If you can still weck, weck. If you can still dry, dry. If you can still freeze, freeze. Do it now, or you won’t make it to next spring.

Autumn is usually dark. But sometimes the cat warms itself by a belated sun, on the windowsill above the central heating. Warm yourself like a cat in the autumn sun. “The light is a delight,” says the Preacher, surprised by the unexpected happiness. “What a blessing for the eyes to see the sun!”

Martin Pieterse
Lecturer of the Old Catholic Willibrordus parish in Arnhem

Information about the upcoming Departure Ceremonies can be found in the Agenda.