“Keeping Your Cool”

I am not a fan of hot weather. Hot weather makes me want to pull out a fan, find a swimming hole, hide inside air conditioning, and avoid the sun. However, I find myself reflecting on my experiences through the years. Like many of you, I didn’t have air conditioning growing up – we used box fans in the windows. It wasn’t pleasant, but it was livable. Likewise, I remember one summer I worked as a camp counselor at Camp Overlook. We had no a/c in the camp and we used box fans. By Friday every week, I had adjusted to the heat, but I spent the weekend in a/c – by Monday, I wished I’d just stayed in the heat!

Don’t worry – I’m not arguing that a/c is bad or that we should live under the stars. I will still find every shade I can when I’m outside, and I rejoice when I can be cool inside on a hot day. Rather, I am noting that some of the things we think we need or require for a good life may not be as necessary as we think.

Let’s remember what we have been through in the past several years: We experienced COVID-19, disaffiliation, all the challenges of aging, and we are slowly beginning to see signs of the future of our church in the guests we have welcomed and who have chosen to become part of our congregation, many of whom are youth and younger adults. All of these things have changed us and challenged us.

Like the hot days we spent outside in our youth, not every experience is pleasant, but every experience teaches us, fundamentally, that our God provides for us and for God’s mission in the world. Heat conditions us for heat, and while we have to be careful to stay hydrated, especially as we age, heat reminds us that we have bodies that can adjust to unpleasant things.
Challenges in how, where, and when we worship and gather are not all pleasant, but they remind us that God meets us when we set aside time to be present with God and each other. Saying goodbye to old friends and meeting new friends is not easy and it brings us grief, but it also gives us an opportunity to do ministry in new ways, and to revive some of the old ways that served us in the past. For instance, when we said goodbye and God bless you to Pastor Tommy (not a forever goodbye, but for the role and place he’s had among us for decades), it hurt, but God provided Pastor Becky, who brings a different perspective, set of skills – and to add icing on the cake, Becky is restarting some of the ministries Pastor Tommy had done so well.

One of the blessings that comes with the summer heat is often a change and slowing down of our schedules. Whether we are traveling, staying home, or just doing things differently, summer often gives us some breathing room. Please enjoy that breathing space! Garden, visit your neighbors and family, relax, and when the heat gets to you and your body gets tired, rest! And I encourage us particularly to take time to notice – what’s happening in our lives that we haven’t seen? What’s happening in our neighbor’s lives we haven’t noticed? What’s happening in the community that we didn’t see yet? And how might God be calling us to act?

So, this summer, I encourage us all to enjoy some extra space and time to rest, to take Sabbath and keep it holy. We do not need to be always busy to be productive, and we do not need to be productive to be accepted in God’s eyes. Rather, God asks us to relax as well as work, to take time to be holy, and not always be doing something “important.”
When the summer begins to end, kids head back to school, and our church calendar starts to fill again, I want us rested and ready – not just to make the Pumpkin Patch strong, and not just to start all the meetings up again – but ready to engage in the hard and blessed work of being the body of Christ for our neighbors, for ourselves, and for Christ’s mission!

As always, I am privileged to be your pastor and a fellow servant of Christ alongside you!