Have you washed your faces in dew? Or are you planning to on May the 1st? Such a lovely tradition. Catherine of Aragon used to do it and so did the women in Samuel Pepys’ family – a way of becoming more beautiful apparently – and of course nowadays men are allowed to want to be beautiful too so we can all go out merrily together at sunrise!

I do like it as a custom – and I think I like it because it makes sense – early morning in May or late April is a time of such soft and gentle beauty – going out and seeing the light grow amongst all the green, the white and the yellow, is to be part of something wonderful – and by being part – we feel beautiful too – whether that be in clarity of mind – joy of the heart – or chilly and fresh skin.

In our Lent group this year we were thinking about how we share our faith – how we ‘proclaim’ the kingdom of God. Some of us felt uncomfortable with the word – ‘proclaim’. When Christians in the past have ‘proclaimed’ stuff, it sometimes had connotations of doom rather than joy, of hell fire rather than love. As well, we considered how often when we go out into God’s world we receive so much from it – we see the goodness of his kingdom all around us – in people, in nature, in the little day to day wonders. And how that helps us be good too.

I wonder if we might exchange the word ‘Proclaim’ for ‘Greet’ or ‘Welcome’ and sometimes I suppose ‘nurture’ or ‘free up’ and best of all ‘Join in with’ or ‘be changed by’.

May is a stunning time of year – and early in the morning it is at its best. Go out, greet it, welcome it, nurture it, join in with it – and let yourselves be changed by it. For surely May herself, without doom, without judgement and only with joy, proclaims the Kingdom of God.