THE FIRST FULL MOON OF SPRING

In recent years I have become an early riser, almost always up by 6 o’clock, and usually by 5. These morning hours have become my favourite of the day. Suzanne is the comparative night-owl now, so the apartment’s quiet in the morning. I can pray and write and think.

This morning I got up at 5 o’clock and did something that I haven’t done for many months. I took my cup of coffee and went out on the balcony, nine stories above the city streets. Still dark and quiet for another hour or so. Still cool. And what a moon! Full and bright, hanging like a batless bat-signal in the western sky just beyond the next apartment buildings. “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky”, God said, “to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years.” (Genesis 1:14) This batless-signal is there to tell us something, for this is the first full moon of spring.

Last night the Jewish side of the family was celebrating the first day of Passover, as we have for 4000 years, beginning at the first full moon of spring. – This evening Suzanne and I will lead a Passover meal at our little church on the U of A campus. – And next Sunday, the first Sunday following the first full moon of spring, we will be celebrating Easter, as we on the Christian side of the family have done for 2000 years. We will be celebrating the resurrection of the one we believe is the Messiah for both sides of the family and for all the world, while the Jewish side remains doubtful to say the least.

This is, of course, one of the great ironies of faith. But in these latter years I’ve grown to love more than the early hours of the day. I love spring, and the first full moon thereof, along with Passover, Easter and all the rest. And I love the comedy and tragedy, the story and the poetry, the symmetry and irony that tie it all together.