Creating a Movement

Michael J. Readinger

There is a season, turn, turn, turn. — Pete Seeger

It looks like summer is finally here in the Midwest. May days will soon lead to June, July and August. As I am writing this, we have an upper 80-degree day with sunny skies! For some odd reason, Peter Seeger’s lyrics from The Byrds’ 1965 song, Turn, Turn, Turn have been on my mind all week. This beautiful melody conveys a dissonant message of birth and death, love and hate, laughing and weeping, killing and healing, war and peace, dancing and mourning. But in the end, we are challenged to believe that it is not too late to find a time for peace.

As I was ruminating on the lyrics, I started thinking about all the days we celebrate in May. We all know the big ones: May Day, Cinco de Mayo, V-E Day, Mother’s Day, Ramadan, Memorial Day. But what about all the other days that are also special in so many ways to so many others. There is: Save the Rhino Day, Baby Day, Brothers and Sisters Day, Bird Day, Nurses Days, Schoolteachers Day, Receptionist Day, Military Spouses Day, Red Cross Day, Windmill Day, Police Officer’s Memorial Day, Bike to Work Day, Armed Forces Day, Missing Children’s Day, Amnesty International Day, Learn About Composting Day, Water a Flower Day, and World No Tobacco Day. There are another 50 or so others – some that are more whimsical and others that mean a lot to many. Wow!

The significance of these “Days” becomes greater when we view them in the light of the United Church of Christ’s Three Great Loves initiative and the service so many CHHSM member ministries provide. Yes, we celebrate these days as they appear on our calendars, but our health and human service ministries celebrate these every day: Every time they care for a client or resident; support their communities; plant a tree; erect a green building; celebrate with their employees, volunteers and clients; and remember those who have made the world we live in possible. Every day.

So, as the seasons turn, turn, turn, let’s remember to celebrate every day, and let’s share the good news of how the Three Great Loves are alive and well in your lives and in your work. Send those stories to me and post them on social media. Let’s create a movement and a feeling of hope in this world so that, in the end, like The Byrds, we will believe that it is not too late to find a time for love, healing, dancing, life, and peace.

A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time for love, a time for hate
A time for peace, I swear it’s not too late . . .