Summertime at Hope

Summer is always a strange time for us at Hope. For many people it is "vacation time," and they spend a lot of time away, especially on the weekends.

Yet for others, it is "business as usual," a time when there may be an occasional part, reunion, or significant gathering, but for the most part it is a time when people keep doing what they've been doing, except perhaps coming to church.

Typically, most churches eliminate a service during the summer or, in a case like ours, change the entire Sunday mroning schedule to accomodate the "slower" worship attendance pattern. This is particularly helpful when the pastor is taking a full month's vacation and visiting preachers are needed to fill in on Sundays.

Here at Hope, however, summer is an active time. This summer we have three or four summer day camp programs being offered, and we also have our one-week, half-day Vacation Bible School run by a host of volunteers from the congregation and the community. In addition, we have a Tuesday night service led by the electric guitar of Carl Werkheiser who is accompanied by his wife Laura's singing and special instruments.

Sundays in the summer are important because we do tend to listen better, and often we will see visitors checking out the church prior to the arrival of fall. These are good days for informal fellowship and sharing, and occasionally people will hang out together after services rather than going home for their normal routines.

I have ejoyed this summer because I decided to experiment with my preaching by developing textual, Bible-based sermons that make use of the assigned lectionary texts. Since the second lessons during the summer are serial lessons, it gives me a chance to look at them and think through their subtleties in a continuous manner. As a matter of fact, I've spent a lot more time preparing for these messages than what I normally spend in preparing for other types of preaching.

In any event, this is a good time of the year. For those who take a vacation from church, I invite you to think again about that and use the opportunity summer affords to allow yourself to encounter God's presence in a new and refreshing way.