Summer offers time for renewal that no other season affords in quite the same way. We slow down and spend more time outside. We break our regular routine with travel and adventure. We play more. While attendance in church wanes a bit as people come and go, these changes in the rhythms of how we spend our days invite a different kind of opportunity for holy reflection.
Bengali poet of the last century, Rabindranath Tagore, reflected upon this summertime invitation in one of his poems writing:
Today the summer has come at my window
With its sighs and murmurs;
And the bees are plying their minstrelsy
At the court of the flowering grove.
Now it is time to sit quiet
Face to face with Thee,
And to sing dedication of life
In this silent and overflowing leisure.
My own season of overflowing leisure will begin in late July when I take my leave for several weeks, but before my family gathers in a far off place for vacation, even now, I am consciously welcoming the summer at my window and finding time to sit quiet and face to face with God.
If you are in town in the coming weeks, I invite you to worship for a leisurely stroll through First and Second Samuel as we consider the narrative of King David and God’s steady hand upon him. In spite of his wayward wanderings and bold sinfulness, David continually dedicated his life to God.
This coming week, if you happen by the church, there will be over 200 children, youth and adult volunteers at play in Vacation Bible Camp engaging every sense to reflect upon Jesus growing up in Nazareth just like we grow up in a family of faith.
In your comings and goings, I hope you will welcome summer at the window and reflect upon God’s holy presence in the living of your days.
Grace and Peace,
Agnes
