June Note from Dri

The Green Season

Summer is my favorite season. I know, I know. I’m going to get some hate from all the hot-blooded readers who melt in the heat and dislike the sweating and the humidity. But I find the sunshine and the green everywhere to be life-giving. It reminds me that the cold months have an end and that it won’t always be, like Narnia, always winter and never Christmas. The soggy spring soil gives birth to little shoots that bring summer fruits. 

There is a freedom in school being out and the days growing longer. A welcome break from technology at the pool because of its incompatibility with water. And it’s here! I’m like a kid on Christmas morning. Sunday we’ll be celebrating Pentecost so the white paraments have switched to red for this week only. Then the church calendar returns to Ordinary Time and the color green. That green has deep meaning for the church and has for centuries.

Green represents life and growth. It is a time of living out our lives as disciples of Christ. It’s a breather from the High Holy Days of Advent, Lent, and Easter. And now we get to live out those things God taught us during those intense times of purpose. It’s a time to look forward to what comes next. To retool and restock. While one season ends, another is just beginning. Summer probably means a change in routine for your family too. For some it’s a welcome change of pace, while others are mourning the loss of a comforting rhythm. Or if you’re like me, it’s a mixture of both. Regardless of where you find your family, I hope this season will be one of rest, retooling, and growth.

That’s why we limit our Christian Education events and classes throughout the summer months. It’s not that we think learning during the summer isn’t necessary, or that the work of the church stops. But, in fact, we give space for a different kind of work. A work of green growth that often goes unseen. It’s the work of growing in fellowship with each other, of reaching out to our neighbors, and living out the daily life of a disciple of Christ. So I invite you to participate. Picnic with us at the park. Bring your neighbor. Swim with us at the pool. Leave your phone behind. Play board games or lawn with us. Laugh together. Worship together each Sunday and draw near to God. For as the otherwise dismal teacher of Ecclesiastes says, “There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens.” And soon will be the season of green.