Dear friends,
As I travel from home to the church and back again, I find myself in awe over all that I see:  the beauty of the flowers in many different colors, the lush green of the trees and lawns, an occasional animal scampering from place to place.  When I arrive at the church, I am still adjusting to the empty parking lot, but I am slowly realizing that school is out for the summer, and that it will be several weeks before cars will, once again, be parked there, and that I will see students from the vantage point of the windows in my office.
As the seasons change and we move from spring to these lazy, hazy days of summer, the landscape also changes.  Earlier we saw the blaze of yellow that heralded the lovely forsythia.  Then, the lovely lilacs made their unmistakable fragrance known.  As I see all of these wonders of nature, and experience the change of seasons, I recognize them as God’s gifts to us to enjoy.
In this season of summer, I truly delight in more daylight hours and seem to accomplish a great deal in them; however, despite the fact that there is much to do, there is a certain slowing down of pace during this time of year (at least for some people). And, I find myself sitting quietly, thinking ahead of what God might have planned for this faith community.  It is really an exciting time!  We know that the Search Committee is doing their work, and one of these days Marc Herring will stand up in church and announce that a candidate has been chosen to serve here as your settled pastor.
In the interim, something that I will be introducing soon is what is called a Third Sunday Celebration. (It can also be called something else). On the third Sunday of July, we will focus on a particular theme, and the music, the message, readings etc., will revolve around that theme.  If you have an idea of a theme that you would like us to use, or if you would like to be a part of the team planning the next one, please contact me.  The church’s phone number is 485.9639 and my home number is 746.5189.
Enjoy these lazy days of summer!
Love and Peace,
Pastor Betty