The Fourth Day

By Carol Woolum Roberts

For a season, Paul and I hosted, what we called “Creative Communion” in our home and garden to give people an opportunity to come and have a quiet time focusing on having communion with the Creator.

We would have a different theme each month.  For a couple of years, the theme for January was Creation.  We would share the Creation story from Genesis in the Bible.

This summer has been a summer of many celebrations.  It made me think of the wording of this creation story in The Message Bible, as it talks about the fourth day, and how creating day and night marks sacred times, and days and years.  It helps prepare the seasons.  And helps prepare for feasts and festivals, sacred assembly, celebrations and convening together for solemn purposes.

Here is a part of what Paul and I shared about the fourth day.

Paul: And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years.  

Carol: This was in preparation of our seasons, spring, summer, fall and winter.  This in preparation for the feasts and festivals God put into place for His people. 

Paul: This is in preparation of our times of sacred assembly, celebrations and convening together for solemn purposes.

Carol: God made two great lights—the greater light, the sun, to govern the day and the lesser light, the moon, to govern the night. 

Paul: He also made the stars, those beacons of the Heavens.  ¹⁷ God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, ¹⁸ to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness.

Carol: And God saw that it was good.

Carol: And there was evening, 

Paul: and there was morning

Both: —the fourth day. 

As humans, I think we like having rituals, celebrations, seasons, those things in our lives that define the different times in our lives.

I love living in a place where I can experience all four seasons. 

I love autumn, as things start to slow down, and harvesting continues, the days get shorter and cooler, and the leaves turn.  The autumn world prepares for slumber.

Then there is winter, the quiet season, the season of shorter and darker days.  Colder days.  Days of quieter times, and slower times, and often the world is more hushed in winter.

Then spring is the season of life.  I love to see what things emerge from the ground as we transition to spring, where buds form on trees and bushes, green shoots come up from the ground, and the world moves from gray, snowy and cold, to green, rainy and warmer.

To me, summer is the season of action.  The days are longer, so we tend to spend more time outside.  The trees, bushes, flowers, and vegetables are in full bloom, and vegetables begin to be harvested.  Summer is a very active time.

And each season has the feasts, festivals, celebrations.

In our family, summer is a time to celebrate four birthdays and one anniversary.

I love having a year end, and a new year beginning in January.

For me, ritual, celebrating, and having seasons keep me on track.  My body loves the rhythms of the seasons as well.

So today I celebrate the fourth day.  When we think about how the sun governs the day, and the lesser light, the moon, governs the night.

And it was, and still continues to be, good.

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What celebrations, feasts, festivals and seasons do you enjoy throughout the year?

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