Some of you know we have a batch of chicks, I think I have already blogged about them earlier. There are 10 of them and they have gone from tiny little fluff balls to slightly more lanky partially feathered creatures. It only takes a chick about 6 weeks to lose its fluff and get its feathers. I am finding that I have to go around their pen each day and call them by their names - they retain their chick markings but Pippa and Percy are hard to keep up with!
Those of you familiar with the Book of Common Prayer will recognize these words in the title from a prayer in the night service of Compline:
"Be present, O Merciful God, and protect us through the quiet hours of this night, so that we who are wearied by the changes and chances of this fleeting world may rest upon thy eternal changelessness."
Change is the order of the season. It is Spring, there are a host of birds singing outside, even as I write. Crocuses and Lenten Roses have appeared. I have peas and lettuces growing in the garden (with plastic and glass nearby, just in case. These would be normal changes, and we are all faced with unprecedented change. We can easily forget to notice God, much as I would lose track of chick names if I did not constantly refer back to them.
God is changeless, but we can see God in many different ways over a lifetime and, even, day to day. God hides in unexpected places. We are called to recognize and name God in our lives every day, in all sorts of times and places. This is especially true now, when the changelessness of God might be truth, but we struggle to understand it.
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