Every year, summer comes quickly and just in time, it seems. After the hectic race of Holy Week and the exuberance of Easter, we celebrate Pentecost right about the time we think of beaches and sunshine.
From the day we first set foot in school and reach our first summer break, we realize how important it is. To have that freedom to be and do without the daily grind.
Then many of us grew up to take on work that didn’t provide summer vacation or much vacation at all. Or all the good weeks are taken and you’re stuck with the third week in April or second week of October. But those thoughts are strong. Summer is for play. It’s time to get away.
I’ve shared with many of you that I’ve always been a part of a church with a program year of September-to-May. Summers were always down time. And I always found it boring. We didn’t picnic or potluck very much. People I was used to seeing weekly would be gone for weeks at a time on vacation. No Sunday School or Bible study.
Since I’ve been serving churches for the past decade, I’ve found summer to run against my expectations. I find them busier than the rest of the year. Perhaps because of those vacations and that sense in which we are all taking a break from our routines.
Deby, our deacon is on vacation now and soon I’ll be heading north for awhile to lay in a hammock by a beautiful lake and giving another tour of my childhood home as if none of my family has seen it before.
Vacation is good. It is also entirely necessary.
But our work keeps going.
- We’re currently developing a new series of Basics courses, updating and personalizing them for a new group of newcomers.
- Our Fellowship team is gathering a group to go camping in a few weeks.
- Our Christian Discovery for Children team will be meeting shortly in preparation for September’s kickoff.
- The Holypalooza team is busy meeting with our neighbors to kick off the biggest one yet: Holypalooza V!
- Our property team is at work renewing our commitment to the Mabley Garden and looking at new opportunities for signage.
Those of us responsible for the planning and implementation of our programs desperately need this time to recharge and catch up.
Whether you are able to get away for a few days physically, or perhaps emotionally, take this opportunity to get away. Away from the weight and pressure that is on you. And the routines which govern your “regular” time.
Let this also be a time of reconnection with yourself: your motivations and heartbreaks: with your friends and with God.
Let this summer be Sabbath time. Holy time of rest and reconnection. Of freedom from order so that our love of order may be renewed.
May this be a season of deep gratitude and hope. For God is doing such amazing things, our worry, anxiety, and pace of life easily obscure.
Grace and Peace,
Drew+