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I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD."
Psalm 122:1
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
Genesis 1:1
"This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it."
Psalms 118:24
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And he shall direct your paths."
Proverbs 3:5
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Rector's Study
SUMMER IS NEAR
The calendar may say that it is spring time, and the leaves on the trees, the green of the grass, and the sneezes in the congregation might indicate that this is so; but it seems to me that the temperature indicates an early arrival of summer. Riding my scooter to and fro, making calls and keeping appointments, I am sensitive to the reality that the warmer, nay, hotter weather is very soon to be upon us. In addition to the black, priestly clothes I typically wear, I may soon have to unpack my travel wardrobe, the shorts and tee shirts in which riding is so much more comfortable.
Lately, I've been thinking about summer. I'm using lotion to moisturize my hands more than usual, as well as eye drops and lip balm to deal with uncomfortable dryness. I know that it's strange to think this means anything more than that the weather is hot; but I've been wondering what summer might mean to us spiritually. What may we learn of God from summer? The verse of Psalm 32, "my moisture was dried up as in the heat of summer," keeps echoing in my mind. So I looked it up and was reminded that the psalm is concerned with repentance and forgiveness. It opens with the lovely line, "Happy are they whose transgressions are forgiven, and whose sin is put away!" Indeed how happy are we in "this joyful Eastertide" that "Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again." Through his death and resurrection, in the hope of Christ's glorious coming to bring us fully into the Kingdom of God, we receive the forgiveness of sin. Our faults and failings are eternally done away. The promise of life everlasting resonates in our every "Alleluia."
But this is Easter, and the real summer is in Ordinary Time, the season "after Pentecost." Does God give us summer to communicate anything special? Again, I turned to Holy Scripture, and I found something interesting, even challenging. " A son who gathers in summer is prudent, but a son who sleeps in harvest brings shame" (Proverbs 10:5). Boy, I hope Kit and Spencer read this! I'll look forward to their caring for me through the abundance of their prudent labors. All right, that was a distraction. We are to be wise. To the Ephesians (5:15-17), St. Paul wrote:
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"Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise,
making the most of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore, do
not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is."
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I wonder if summer is a time for us to grow in wisdom, to consider how we may live more responsibly as citizens of God's Kingdom, to learn how we are direct our steps. So often I have prayed Psalm 90:12, "So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom." Maybe our pace is to slow down a bit in summer to allow us to reflect on our call to wisdom, maybe vacation time has Sabbath meaning, and maybe the Lord uses summer to call us into deeper, wiser, more responsible service to his purposes.
One more biblical consideration of summer may have something to say to us who seek the Lord in summer (as, of course, we do in winter, spring, and fall). I have in mind a parable if the Master (Luke 21:29-31).
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Jesus told them a parable: "Look at the fig tree, and all the trees; as
soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that
the summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking
place, you know that the Kingdom of God is near."
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I'll let you read the Gospel of St. Luke to learn what the "these things" that are "taking place" are. Suffice it to say that the leafing of spring tells the sensitive soul that summer is near. Signs all around us tell us God's Kingdom is near. I pray we will spend this summer prudently, responsibly serving the Kingdom of our God.
Yours in Christ,
Fr. Timothy P. Perkins  , SSC
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