Getting Together After Summer: What Changes? What Has Changed?

I hesitate to point out the obvious, but for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, summer is almost over (cue the throwing of rotten tomatoes). In many States, school re-starts next week, and here in Canada we are three weeks away from the start of a new school year. Families are squeezing in their last bits of vacation before returning to the "normal" rhythms and routines of life, until the cycle resets twelve months from now.

Cycles of work, rest and activity are built into the very fabric of creation. Though time moves in a linear fashion from one year to the next—e.g. we all get a little older, things change in irreversible ways—there is also a cyclical motion to time, recognized not only in the agricultural cycle, but the salvation-historical cycle as well. Old Testament feast days are proscribed to celebrate God's provision on both agricultural and salvific grounds as a means of turning the people's attention towards God's gracious acts in time.

Similarly, today, the church generally organizes its seasons and time around God's salvific acts through Jesus—the Incarnation at Christmas, Jesus' suffering during Lent, culminating in his death on Good Friday, the Resurrection on Easter Sunday, as well as Jesus Ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the church at Pentecost.

Many, if not all of these feast cycles include times or rest and rejuvenation, but most importantly, of worship.

With this background, I frequently puzzle over the oddity of the (particularly Western) practice of organizing our ministry calendars around the school year. Practically speaking, it makes a lot of sense since many of our churches' regular ministry are centered on our children and youth. Obviously, too, ministry does not stop altogether in the summer, but certainly takes a step back. This often provides time for leaders to recharge, as well as prepare for the upcoming ministry season.

Yet I have often wondered: what are we saying by what we're not saying? That is to say, if we organize our ministry calendars around the school year, what does that communicate about our values and priorities as churches? Similarly, when we take a break for the summer season, is it so that we can "rest from our work" (shut down) or "work from our rest" (i.e. focus on God in worship in order to re-orient and receive direction and energy from Him to fulfill the calling He has given us). Biblically, to "work from our rest" is the intent of the Sabbath, as well as the many feast days celebrated during the church year. It always calls us back to the One who made us and redeems us. Do we see "summer holidays" as fulfilling the same, or a similar, function?

As a pastor, I look forward to the end of summer, because it means that many of the faces I have missed over the past couple of months will be back in church. Attendance becomes more stable and predictable, and there tends to be a little more of a "buzz" in the building not only on Sundays but the rest of the week as well. New ministry years often bring new faces as children move up from one ministry to another, new families join, and new volunteers step into ministries as leaders or helpers.

Yet I also approach each new ministry year with a note of caution. Newness can sometimes wear off quickly, and the demands of life, family, work and ministry can become a challenge. This brings me back to my questions raised above: what is our vision of "rest" during the summer and how is it informed by Scripture and God's gracious activities? Is it more informed by our surrounding culture? If so, could this be a reason why we run into challenges finding volunteers or sustaining a certain level of excitement for our ministries? What if summer were more of a season focused on worship rather than "getting away"?

Now, please don't misunderstand me. I am not suggesting that we give up going away in the summer or taking family vacations. What I am questioning is how intentional we are (or should be) about using this given time of rest as a time of investing in our relationship with God and one another. This can be challenging if people are not all around and available at the same time—when we are not gathering consistently and intentionally.

I do not propose to have any answers, and I realize I am painting in very broad strokes. This is a question I wrestle with every year, and maybe you do as well. Perhaps your church has done some things to be intentional about how you use your summer holidays. I would love to hear some of your practices and rhythms shared in the comments section below.

Blessings