Recreation

I’m leaving on vacation tomorrow and so I’m in a terrifically good mood, even though the weather is cold and rainy.  Of course, Maureen and I are heading to Ireland, where the weather is always cold and rainy and yet we still go back there again and again.  But, the terrible weather not withstanding, spring is here.  I can go on vacation here in late May because the church is already beginning to slip into our summer semi-hibernation mode.  Our early services are done for the year, chicken pie dinners are taking a break, committees aren’t meeting very often, there are no adult education classes, no Originals, Sunday school is over, youth groups are done, most activities are on hiatus, and soon, church attendance will drop like a stone. 

Ministers that I talk to who are not from New England are amazed by this pattern.  In no other part of the country is church life so completely seasonal.  But here in Maine we take the spring and summer months very seriously.  With a long and brutal winter behind us, recreation becomes the theme of the season and church becomes a secondary concern for many.  People go to camps or cottages, travel, head for beaches and lakes, or simply garden and spend their time out of doors.  A fewer and fewer people go to church. 

While it would be easy to feel like this is not a good thing and that people should continue to want to be in church each Sunday, over the years, I have learned to appreciate this time.  All of our summer pursuits are indeed “re-creation.”  This is true Sabbath time in our lives.  While it is sometimes discouraging in the summer to preach a good sermon and realize that 80 percent of the congregation will never hear it, I believe that something sacred is happening in all of the lives in our church who are not gathered here.

There are holy moments to be had watching the sunset from the end of the dock, or walking through the deep woods, or gazing out at a restless ocean, or plunging your hands into damp soil, or playing charades with the kids around a campfire.  We “re-create” ourselves with such moments.  We are reminded of how often the spirit of God speaks to us beyond the confines of our church sanctuary, as we find “sanctuary” in some quiet corners of the world around us.  Worship is not just about sermons and prayers and organ music, it is about being mindful and open to the glories of creation and the rhythms of nature and the way our own souls long to take it all in.

So, please drop by to worship here a few times in these next months (especially when we are all in the Treworgy Gardens) but even if you don’t, I know that your spiritual life goes on and is in fact more alive and responsive in this “churchless” season than ever.  Keep your eyes open for wonders, wherever you go.  Keep your ears open for the sounds of God’s grace.  Keep your imaginations open to the spirit all around you.  And keep your hearts open, for God is in your midst wherever you go.

On my way out the door,

David