PJ’s Page –
For many, many years my life has rotated around an academic calendar. When my children (and I!) were in school and when we were not shaped the way our days and weeks looked. When the children were little, our days were filled with lots of summer time activities, including Vacation Bible School. I often taught VBS and the kids loved going. For me, VBS smells like glue and popsicles, which are surely signs of God’s love for us!
This year, our Vacation Bible School experience at Luther Memorial is expanding to be four full days of Day Camp, staffed with our volunteers and the traveling counselors from Camp Lutherwood in Bellingham, a camp of the NW Washington Synod of the ELCA. There are many needs for volunteers, food, and support that are outlined elsewhere in this newsletter. I hope you will find the best way that you can support this ministry AND that you will invite a child (Grades 1-6) that you know. The cost is only $20 and scholarships are available.
Summer also invites us to a slower pace. Even the liturgical season is called Ordinary Time, that time when we rest rather than being restless and when we breathe into the longer days.
It is my hope, during these summer days, to pay attention to connections. I would love to get together with you…to hear about what’s happening in your life, to swap stories, to share a cup of coffee or tea (or a Diet Coke!) or to enjoy a walk. Won’t you invite me for an hour? Relationships within the community of faith are vitally important to our health as a congregation and our well being as fellow members of the Body of Christ.
Along those lines, if you see someone in worship that you haven’t seen in awhile, or you know of someone who has been absent from our fellowship, why not reach out and make that connection with them? Say Hello to someone you don’t know well on Sunday morning and do some of that story sharing.
It is a gift to be your pastor, to serve with and among you, this beloved community. Enjoy these summer days….invite a child to Day Camp, support it with your prayers and resources, get together with a friend or make a new one.
With thanksgiving,
PJ+