July ’22 Rector’s Message
Summertime. What do you like about summertime? The foods, the fruit, the lack of cold, the pooltime? Two things leap to mind for me fresh fruit and water. Watermelon and strawberries and peaches and cherries, oh my. Freshness and brightness and memories of younger days, bicycles and fruit juice covering my chin, a zillion hours in the pool until my eyes were red and my hair was green. In church life we have entered the ‘long green growing season’ of the ordinary time after Pentecost. It is a season that is like a watermelon: green on the outside, but red like Pentecost on the inside, and rimmed in Easter white. This church season is about what the world outside is about: growth. What does the fruitfulness of spiritual growth look like and feel like and taste like? And is it something you have ever considered as being as important as physical fitness?
If you are going to feast on watermelons, if you are to know that refreshment that is for you and absolutely must be shared with others, you begin by planting seeds in the ground: this is the first stage of spiritual growth, one of exploring the relationship with Christ, being nourished by communal worship and sacraments, and in beginning activity of service. The second stage of watermelon life is sprouting, and the same with spiritual growth where in what was a seed begins to flourish and stretch above the ground, meet challenges of weather and impediments. The third stage is blossom, the part that leads to a fruit. In our journey with Christ this is where one becomes authentic and seeking challenges in their prayer, study, and service. And at the end, which is also a beginning, we have beautiful fruit that is centered on Jesus and his ways, that is abundant with good things to share that move the world and our hearts toward peace.
If your relationship with God and neighbor through Christ was to be a stage of watermelon life, what is it: seed, sprout, blossom, or fruit? Do you hear the still small voice of God inviting you to new duties, to lending a hand, to diving into texts? Or is it something else? Will you bring the spiritual growth of yourself and the community to prayer this July? Imagine the watermelon, the brilliancy of the Spirit, the resurrection of Easter, and the foundational sign of life created by God: green green green. What can you do to move toward the big fresh fruit phase? Can you pray this prayer for yourself and for CCRP and the Episcopal Church this month?
God of all fruitfulness, may this summer be a space of discovery, where the possibilities that sleep in the sand of our souls can emerge to deepen and refine our vision for all that is Yet to come. May this be a time of courage where healing and growth are loved, where dignity and forgiveness prevail. A time where the destination is never lost, though the growth can be difficult and slow. May we have the heart to see that no one arrives without a gift and no one leaves without a blessing. To the honor and glory of your Name, now and forever. Amen.