Summer is just around the corner and oftentimes it’s seen as a period of freedom, playfulness, and rest. When I was a child my family and I would make our annual pilgrimage to Arcadia, Michigan and the small family camp there for a week’s vacation. It was the highlight, even the embodiment, of Summer for me. A week on the shore of Lake Michigan filled with hiking, games, and good food. It was in that same place that I first felt my Call to the Priesthood, though I didn’t know that’s what it was at the time.

The whole world seemed to breathe a deep breath and then relax along with me in those days and I cherish the memory of them.

As Summer approaches for us at St. Luke’s we find ourselves again able to gather together in ways that have been denied us for more than a year. The tasks of caring for each other through social distancing and careful avoidance have been loving ones. It has also taxed our hearts, tested the limits of our patience, and been deeply sad altogether.

This Summer the deep breath of prayerful worship will fill our lungs and, once again, songs will utter from our lips together in worship and praise. And that may be hard.

Hard to come back into proximity when distance has been our main defense for so long. Hard to adjust to what is different; a constant reminder that not all are yet safe. Hard to know if we still fit together after more than a year of growth and experience that has formed our lives while we were apart.

Summers in Michigan were a time for me to try new things on. Experiment with who I wanted to be. This Summer may feel much like that for us here at St. Luke’s. We will have moments of figuring out and of trying again. As we do, let us hold each other lightly and with gracious love. God has given us this chance to grow and meet together again. Let us live into this Summer with the hope of the Resurrection and the blessings of the Holy Spirit.

Preparing Joy,

Fr. Chip