Message from our vice president of ministry

Julie Jennings

Vice President of Ministry

SUMMER. I LOVE IT.

It is the season of heat during which I work outside as much as I can and work out as much of the stress I carry in my body as I can. It is a season of forgetting the bitter cold of winter and the impatience of waiting for spring to arrive and— maybe stay awhile. It is the season of beach trips and getaways, of family vacations, and family reunions. Where I come from in the southern states of Alabama and Georgia, it is the season that lasts— well—darn near forever. So it always feels to me like the season of unending possibilities and light.

Summer is nally upon us, bringing at least more possibilities than we had last summer for working and “forgetting,” for family time and respite time, for fun, for relaxing, for anything, and for nothing.

This year, in addition to bringing back many of the “normal” summer attractions—backyard barbecues, concert series, and local fairs—summer brings something else. This year, summer also brings deferred rituals of goodbye, delayed mourning, and di erent rhythms of grief as families and friends nally get to memorialize their loved ones who died during the pandemic.

All that summer brings this year—the warmth; opportunities to gather more freely; return of recreational activities; the re-creation of mind, body, and spirit; and the marking of signi cant events— reminds us we are a species created for relationship and community. For being human together in joy and laughter and in sorrow and tears.

May summer bring all of this, and more, to each and all of us.