Rejuvenated

Sometimes when it’s winter and icy and ridiculously cold and you are longing for springtime with all of your heart, it is hard to imagine that you will ever want to see winter come again.  But the magic of being seasonal people living is seasonal climes is that our moods so often move one step ahead of the cycle.  Yes, when it is winter, even for those of us who love the winter, there comes a time when we’ve had enough and we begins to pine for the days of tulips and crocuses.  And then amid the rainy unsettled spring days we begin to long for the real heat of beach times and barbecues and campouts.  Then, unexpected as it may be, as the dog-days of August drone on, at least I begin to hunger for a chill in the air and I look yearningly at sweaters.  How can this be?  In March I would have killed for a summer day and now, inexplicably I’m ready to move on and snowfall actually begins to seem like a lovely thought.

And it’s not just the weather.  I remember being a kid and growing so desperate for the last day of school and summer vacation to begin.  And I wanted that summer vacation to last forever.  But by some miracle, when Labor Day weekend arrived, the excitement grew for a new school year and I couldn’t wait to buy a new pencil box and book covers and notebooks. 

Last spring, I was desperate for some time off.  I thought I would rather die than try to think up one more sermon.  I had begun to hate going to committee meetings.  I was ready to strangle people who came to tell me about their problems (I’m slightly overstating this for dramatic effect).  I longed for empty days devoid of responsibilities and barren of purpose.  Sure enough, those days came, they felt good, and then they dragged on, became boring and then tedious.  Now, miraculously, I am thrilled to be back at my desk.  I want challenges.  I have ambitions.  I actually want to hear your problems—we will solve them together.  I can’t wait to create new sermons and go to long meetings and even write newsletter articles.  Let the new church year begin. 

Now, I hate to mention it, but some of you have not ben in church for a while.  Lots of you have taken the summer off.  I have encouraged you not to feel guilty about it, and you shouldn’t.  However, we are now approaching Rally Sunday.  The new church year is about to begin.  We have a lot of things planned.  We have new ideas, new programs, and some new people.  And so I am hoping that the magic of this new season is happening in you.  I am hoping that some sabbatical weeks away from the rhythms and routines of our common worship lives have left you yearning to come back, rejuvenated, with new energy for our church’s new year. 

The Greek word for having the spirit of God in you is “entheos,” (literally, God within) which is where we get our word “enthusiasm.”  Enthusiasm is what we need together.  It is what makes our life together have vitality.  So let us ask for that gift this fall, for each of us and for our whole community.  We are about the work of the spirit.  We are a community in the business of nurturing, spreading, and living out the spirit of God.  That’s exciting.  Enthusiasm should mark all that we do. 

So, welcome back.  It is a new church year.  God is still speaking and working in our midst.  We’ve had some time off.  But the seasons have changed and so have we.  With enthusiasm, lets get back to work, to worship, to each other.