Where did the summer go?
Dear friends,
Where did the summer go? I have to say, the speed with which summer passes has only been a recent experience for me. As a kid I can remember how long it seemed to take for time to pass. I asked questions like: How much longer are we going to be in the car? Igroaned at the thought of having to practice piano a mere 5 minutes more. And no matter how many summer activities my parents scheduled for me, I still managed to have time to say, ‘I’m bored!’ and ‘What’s taking so long?’ But now that I’m older, I rarely find myself asking those questions. Minutes fly by; hours seem to be in 20 minute increments instead of the usual 60, and seasons pass me by in a blink of an eye. For adults time seems to be finite; yet time for the very young seems infinite. And such is our time as God’s servants.
I sometimes wonder how God would feel were we to act like a young person who calls from the back seat of the car saying: I’m bored. More than likely, God would say that there is no reason for us to be sitting idle. Goodness knows there is much to do here in our world and at Grace Church. There is a lot of work that needs your help and there is plenty of room available at our table; we always have room for one more.
As the old adage goes, many hands make for easy lifting. Look around at all of our hands (on our official roll we have about 850+ hands in our parish); how can we learn to use more of them? From the excellent work this summer in our Picnic Raffle, to the year-round work for the Harvest Fair, to all the other ministries of the parish, now is the time to get all hands on deck.
The start of our Program year is just around the corner, beginning officially on Sunday, September 11. Even as we remember with sadness the events of 9/11/2001, with Christian hope and charity we will set our faces toward Jerusalem and continue the path of Christ—serving God and our neighbors, praising God and offering ourselves as living sacrifices to a world in need. Don’t be bored, for the world is waiting for us to do God’s work. This year we will be doing many of the same things we’ve done, continuing our programs and ministries, and we will begin new ones—all of which can be found in the newsletter.
So I commend you to put your restless hands to good work. Read this newsletter and find your ministry in this Parish. Find your place at this great Table and be filled with every blessing in doing God’s work for the coming Kingdom. Are we there yet? No, but with your help, we’re one step closer.
Faithfully, your rector and friend,
Josh
(The Rev.) Joshua D. Walters
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