Minister's Musing

Rev. Mark Ward
Unitarian Universalist Church of Asheville

May 2010

Summer approaches – an odd thing to say, it seems to me, as I write looking out on trees that are still just leafing out and finding my garden not yet past the risk of nighttime freezing. But as always, May brings a time of transition for church life. Our Religious Education classes will be finishing soon, and we shift into slower rhythms with the warmer temperatures.

I had mentioned a couple of months ago that I was considering ending our practice of shifting from two Sunday services to one during the summer months to accommodate growing attendance during our summer months. Since then, I’ve rethought the need for the change. A number of our regular summer services – Choir Sunday and Poetry Sunday, for example – fit the one-service format best, and recruiting volunteers to support a two-service program, including greeters, ushers, teachers and so on, is more difficult in the summer. But most important, although we saw good growth in our Annual Budget Drive this year, there are higher priorities waiting for funding than two summer services.

So, I’ve decided to stick with the one-service format this summer. I’ll keep an eye on attendance and welcome your observations on how the one-service format works and whether we need a change in the future. That means that May 30 will be our last two-service Sunday for the church year. June 6, Choir Sunday and the date of our Annual Meeting, will begin single services with a starting time of 10 a.m. That format will continue until Sept. 5, Labor Day weekend. Then, on Sept. 12 we’ll move back to two services at 9:15 and 11:15 a.m.

So, with church slowing down, let me invite you to plan for ways this summer to feed your spiritual life. How might you bring intention to your summer hikes or your time in the garden in a way that reminds you of our larger connections to the living Earth? Why not take time for meditation in the cool morning hours, or a chalice lighting as you gather your family for meals? It is when we integrate our values into the routines of our lives that they become real. May you find many ways to make the hope we live here real in your lives.