Almost every week for the past nine years, I have driven to the Hockley valley in the early hours of Sunday morning to lead worship in St. James Anglican church.

It has always been a time of joy and reflection as the surrounding countryside unfolds before me in all its beauty. I am swept away in the

wonder of how each week it is different and yet still glorious.

Even the day, in a heavy rainfall, when goose flew into my windshield and

broke the windshield wiper, there was a sense that God had created a wonderful world for us to occupy.

The changing colours can be dramatic or subtle, soft or vivid. The mixture of forest and open fields, pasture and plowed field give evidence that this is a place of life and energy. The sky and light can change even in the few minutes that it takes me to go from the top of one hill to the bottom of the valley. I have seen colourful balloons, flocks of birds emerging from the trees, deer hidden in the underbrush, turkeys displaying plumage in the roadside fields, and rabbits pursued by a hawk.

I am reminded that the world is colourful and full of surprises. Life too is full of colour and surprises that can baffle or distress or fill us with joy.

Some people see the world and life in black and white. A belief, an action, a word is either right or it is wrong. Things that are right are to be held up for praise and even made lawfully the only course of belief or action.

Things that are wrong are to be attacked, suppressed and possibly destroyed. They want the world to operate in predictable and proper ways.

Some people see the world in shades of gray. They attempt to live lives that are more right than wrong. They try to be understanding of the problems o t h e r s may have in meeting the high standards of right and w r o n g that the black and w h i t e p e o p l e w o u l d have us follow.

They live with ambivalence and compromise as they minister to others and deal with conflicting opinions. Even within their own belief system, there is room for the possibility of other ways of understanding life and God.

I like to see the world in full colour. I like to glory in the richness of God's creation and the variety of people and life. I like the excitement of change and the softness of gentleness. I like to see the possibilities of life rather than worry about the limitations.

Great artists know that colour is s u b t l e a n d speaks of mood and e n e r g y. Even in pictures of poverty or death and destruct i o n , colour offers a sense of hope. Looking beyond right and wrong - black and white or gray - can help us to see possibilities in people and situations that might challenge our sense of proper behaviour.

The bible tells us that as Jesus walked through Galilee, Samaria and into Jerusalem, he stopped and talked to many people. He ate and drank with outcasts and sinners. He invited the tax collectors and lepers to come to him. I don't think He was judging them - they did that enough to themselves.

Instead He offered them new life by seeing in them possibilities for their lives. He taught them that loving one another and God could richly improve how they felt about themselves and the world around them.

I like to think that Jesus saw the world in colour. He went beyond the law and the limitations that rulers and teachers and even religions can place on people. Encouraging people not to sin, he never-the-less healed them so that they could see and hear new possibilities and have hope.

Look around and marvel at the beauty of colour in the world in our lives. Let God's glorious creation lift up your heart and open your life to new hope and new possibilities.