During lockdown, I learnt a poem by the American, Mary Oliver. It’s called, ‘Why I Wake Early’ and is a celebration of the life-giving powers of the sun. It begins at the start of day as the poet marvels at the sun in her eyes.

“Hello, sun in my face. Hello, you who made the morning and spread it over the fields and into the faces of the tulips and the nodding morning glories, and into the windows of, even, the miserable and the crotchety.” She calls the sun the ‘best preacher that ever was’, the source of light, who keeps us from darkness and touches us with warmth.

She ends by greeting the sun: “Good morning, good morning”. But remarkably, the sun then becomes an inspiration for how we might live our lives. “Watch, now, how I start the day in happiness, in kindness.”

The poem reminded me of when a young teenager, I got up one day with an overwhelming sense that I should be kind and loving to everyone I met. The feeling didn’t last long, as I had an argument with my brother on the way to school! But discovering Mary Oliver’s poem has taught me that what I felt all those years ago is right. The true way to happiness is to light up people’s lives with warmth and love. It’s not, of course, a new idea. Jesus saw the sun as a marvellous spiritual teacher. He said: “Let your light shine before people, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father in heaven.’”

So, as the sun lights up the world and makes us all feel better, do pray that our lives will light up God’s world and our community.

Rev Canon Stephen Bowen