Pastor Note for
June/July/August 2024

When summer is months away, we find ourselves nostalgic for the season. We think of the long, warm days punctuated by seasonally specific activities, attire, and outlooks. It feels full of frivolity and fun We find, however, once it arrives overcast by calendrical challenges. Weeks that once held so much hope are compressed and compromised in the realities of life. Opportunities that seemed a foregone conclusion at the beginning become impossible to realize in the end.

Just after the summer last year we gathered to dream of our future together at Christ Church. We collected all of those to guide conversations on strategies surrounding them as we continue to discern how we live into our vision. It is slow, but careful and prayerful work that will continue to shape us as a faith community. I would like to believe and hope that we would begin to see and experience some of the first fruits of this work during this summer or just on the other side of it. As is the case individually, I know the likelihood of our best ambitions being sidelined. In the meantime, I challenge each one of us to consider what we individually can do this summer to live the vision of ‘making connections and offering opportunities in faith, love, and service.’ While it is the guiding vision for this faith community collectively, each of us must find our own ways to live and express this vision with intentionality. Maybe that means reaching out to someone we know very little or not at all for a cup of coffee or lunch (making connections); maybe that is finding one way to volunteer a little time once this summer in some capacity (offering opportunities / service); maybe it is reconnecting to a spiritual rhythm of worship, prayer before meals, or exploring scripture (faith); or maybe it is providing a meal or baking some cookies to ease the burden or brighten the day of another (love). Build them into the ambitions and plans of the summer that they may shape some of the days that lie ahead.

On the other side of these summer months, let us share our experiences of individually living this vision. We may just find that it reshapes us and our perceptions of the season as it sharpens the clarity of our vision. Imagine looking back at these months and the promise they held and all that was not withheld by God’s grace!

Yours in Christ, 

Rev. Daven Oskvig