Summer...

It's almost half over. Well, isn't THAT a depressing thought, especially for those of you who have already taken your vacation? Why is it that we go so nuts over Summer?

1. It goes back to our time as kids, when Summer meant not getting up for school, Monday through Friday. That was an exciting time, wasn't it? I was a nerdy kid, who would do things like go hang out at the public library, reading all kinds of stuff, but mostly books and magazines about science. Or, on Tuesdays, one of my fellow coin-collecting nerd neighbors and I would go on a "penny hunt." What's a penny hunt, you ask? Well, we would take two quarters and descend upon the local branch of Northwest Bank. A sympathetic teller would give us a roll of pennies for our fifty cents, and we would each take a roll to one of those glass-topped coffee tables they had in the "sitting area" where no one ever sat, and spread out the pennies, looking for the specific ones we were collecting. After searching each roll, and replacing any "finds" with an uninteresting replacement, we would re-roll them and ask the teller to exchange it for a fresh roll. We could do this for hours, and the regular stream of customers used to think we were "cute." We weren't cute, we were nerds, but we sure had fun, and added greatly to our collections. I remember one day when my friend found a German coin in a penny roll--you would have thought he had stumbled upon the Hope diamond. Penny hunts died a couple of years later when the banking industry started machine-wrapping the pennies into sleeves you had to crack like an egg to get open, and they didn't want the pennies re-wrapped into the old-fashioned, non-machine rolls. It was just as well, as our junior high years were approaching, and if we were still doing the penny hunts, I'm guessing neither Roger or I would have done too well getting dates.

2. It's the weather, stupid. Sun and gentle rains are wonderful things, especially for those of us who live in Western Pennsylvania, where they are usually an oddity, especially in the other seasons. Did I mention the sun? Walking, running, hiking, driving in a sports car, sitting out on the deck, cooking out--these are just a few of the things the Summer months make much easier and more desirable. Of course, with some of the unfortunate climate change we are seeing, the gentle rains are being replaced from time to time with "500 year" storms, flooding, and landslides, but we still can hope for "moderate" Summer weather. I love driving my Miata through North Park both coming to and going home from work, just to enjoy the park's beauty, and to watch all of the people taking advantage of this local treasure. I keep telling Dara that WE are going to use North Park more when I retire, and she just rolls her eyes, but mark my words, we ARE going there. I might even take up fishing, because it looks so peaceful. Do they make fishing lures without hooks? I think I would just like to cast out and reel in a lure for the shear relaxation of it, but I certainly don't want to catch a fish. I'm not touching one of those things.

3. It's the altered schedule. St. Paul's is an incredibly busy church, and during the "program year," between classes, meetings, and staff meetings, along with all of the "typical" pastoral care duties, the days can get very long. Believe it or not, there are actually less "crises" that seem to happen in people's lives in the Summer, including less elective surgeries, and people are on vacation, which means less counseling appointments. Meetings, other than ones that absolutely must happen, are on hiatus until Fall. Some of our staff gets ramped up for youth mission trips, CAT Camp, and Vacation Bible School, but once those weeks are over, we all start taking vacations, too. While I can't say the pace around here is "relaxed," it is just different, and different is good. For most of you non-church working people, I realize that your work schedule probably isn't much different  in the Summer (unless you are a teacher!), but vacations come into play, and evenings and weekends provide some "getaway" time.

So, that's Summer. As a pastor, I'm always saddened by how the Summer may impact church attendance, but over the years I have learned that, while weekly numbers may be less, people DO come to worship in the Summer. It's just that any given week, a few of "the regulars" are on holiday. St. Paul's offers a "Chapel in the Woods" service in the "green cathedral" in the woods on our property, and this is very popular. (It also boosts our attendance, for you statistics freaks out there.) It works in the Summer, but not so much in October. A couple of years ago, we tried to schedule a "Chapel in the Woods reunion service" in October and got either rained or snowed out. So, it will remain Summer fare.

I sure hope God takes a vacation. I know the Divine Presence is a 24/7 thing, but maybe one of the reasons we Christians believe in a triune God is so at least one person of the godhead can get away for a brief break. Jesus probably brought this idea back to The Realm from his sojourn on the earth, and when he used to go out on a boat with the disciples to "get away" from the throngs.

Enjoy your Summer, Dear Ones. Stay safe; travel safe; enjoy watching children who revel in this season. Shalom, Yinz!