July 7, 2022
Summer. It is a magical, mythical season. It is a time for play, think of Roger Kahn’s classic baseball book Boys of Summer, or your favorite amusement park. Summer’s a time for romance, think of your favorite songs about falling in love in the summer, or your favorite summer romance films. Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream covers all the bases: love, supernatural, and summer coalescing into one of Bard’s most beloved plays. Summer for we moderns is time away and time off—summer vacation. We created a break from year around schooling so children could help on their family’s farm. When then-President Nixon suggested this need no longer existed and proposed eliminating summer vacation for students, the pushback was firm and decisive. Too much of our culture (and economy) assumed a magical oasis in the warmest, brightest time of the year.
As a boy, one of my favorite authors was Ray Bradbury. Although known primarily as a fantasy and science fiction writer, his short story The Sound of Summer Running is an ode to summer, youth, and sneakers that will forever be in my catalog of emotional definitions of “summer.” It spoke of freedom, possibility, and how simple things can change your attitude, your opinion, and your life. Summer is a season that is an attitude and an emotional space in our lives.
Susan and I have just completed a year of living in Seattle and its cycle of seasons. I have heard a number of times how Seattleites endure three seasons of clouds and rain for one glorious season of summer. My experience has been one of appreciating all of the seasons, and the rain and the green they afford us, as the water that so many desperately we have in abundance. My old California neighborhood, I am sure, is much browner now than when we lived there given the severe limits on watering and use of water in general. California’s season of fires has been replaced by year around threats of fire. I have learned to appreciate what many in my new home have learned to tolerate, rain—even in summer. Truly we often think the grass is always greener elsewhere. But the truth is, the grass is just grass. We just aren’t content with our own grass.
I invite you this summer to consider the spiritual practice of contentment. To consider each day and what it offers to be both a gift and sufficient. And to celebrate even the summer rains as an additional grace, not a seasonal anomaly. It is said that in a society driven by consumption, contentment is a prophetic, radical act. Celebrate what you have. Count your blessings. Remember those you love and love you. And savor the moments of each day as grace. If we as a community were to do this, we would be a most exceptional group and obvious witness to the love and grace of our God.
One of the ways we will celebrate the grace of this season is to return to Coffee Hour outside in our alley. It demonstrates that the community in our church building is alive and well, allowing us to see and be seen by our neighbors, as well as to enjoy the warmth of the season. It allows us to both receive—and to be—a gift of the season to one another.
Another way we can celebrate the gift of life and vitality of this season is to promote life and vitality in others. At this time our blood supplies are very low. This puts people who have serious accidents or surgery at risk. First Covenant is promoting a Blood Drive through Bloodworks Northwest from July 18 to August 1. Details are below.
Last, as we practice being content with what we have, let us also consider how we can support those who have less than they need. There are many needy and worthwhile causes. But one I would like to bring to your attention again is the needs of the Tang family, whom we support as missionaries, and the debt they have incurred around the loss of their daughter. Please contact Arlie Swanson or me if you are interested in making a contribution.
July is underway. Summer is in full swing. Enjoy each day as a gift from God. Be a good steward of not only each day but the resources God has given you to steward. And in any case, be both thankful and content. There is always something more to have. But without contentment, there is no end to the pursuit of what you do not have, even more, sunny days.
Pastor Todd