Honestly, I have a festival of ambivalence in my soul this time of year. I kinda like shifting into summer gear, having things slow down, having a chance to rest up and recover. As the spouse of a public school employee, the end of the school year is really welcome. So I like “summer break.”
Having served churches in two communities known as recreational destinations, Watkins Glen and Penn Yan, summer is the busy season. Traffic increases tenfold in those towns, maybe a hundredfold on NASCAR weekend, and the places are crawling with people enjoying the lakes and the scenery. Downside: most of the residents (and churchgoers!) are so busy they work Sunday mornings, which means attendance drops somewhat despite the hordes of people. But it’s exciting over the summer there.
Two other jobs were in cities from which many of those summer folks came, Elmira and Corning. After the huge influx and high energy of the lake communities in summer, I was actually sorta surprised at how things just dropped off the scale as people left town… and church. One elder in Elmira asked (I think jokingly), “aren’t we excused over the summer?” And you could watch the plastic bags blowing down the city street in silence after school ended. I felt lonely, and the sanctuary was nearly as vacant. Things are dull over the summer there. So that part is not so great to me!
Many ministers and church newsletters have, about this week of the year, a reminder (or plea maybe) that “God doesn’t take the summer off,” hinting that we shouldn’t either. Count this as my reminder (or plea maybe) that the life of faith doesn’t end on the last day of school. But I’m practical as well, and instead of whining about everyone going to church here all summer, I’ll just point out that most places you might travel in the next couple of months do, in fact, have worshipping communities you could pop into. Staying current with your giving (or daresay, paying ahead?!?) will soothe the finance committee’s minds. In any case, I hope you open Highland Highlights every week to keep up with our ongoing life as a congregation. We also have the full audio of the service posted on fccithaca.org so you can hear the service and the assorted guest musicians even if you are elsewhere or otherwise busy. A quick look at a Bible or a devotional booklet every day might be good for your spirit. And I highly recommend some of the online devotionals like the UCC’s Still Speaking series for a little refresher for your soul during a long hot summer.
So I wish you a recreational and re-creational time, balancing it with spiritual well-being, no matter where you may be any given Sunday, but remember we’re still a full service congregation open all year round. Maybe we’ll see you!
In Christ,
David
*With apologies to Alice Cooper
And I love to see bulletins from your travels if you save them.
Texts For Sunday Worship:
From the Hebrew Bible Genesis 21:8-21
From the Epistles Romans 6:1-11
From the Gospels Matthew 10:24-39
No comments:
Post a Comment
Share your thoughts on this post in a spirit of love for God, yourself, and each other. All comments are checked before posting. While you may post anonymously, we encourage you to leave your name!