When I was a kid, I remember summer holidays feeling like endless weeks of unstructured time, full of possibilities. There were the chances to play with friends in the neighbourhood, invent games to play or adventures to undertake. Along the way the weeks were sprinkled with family vacations and trips to see out-of-province relatives, weeks at various Bible camps in Alberta or local sports, music or city recreation camps. I even remember going to Vacation Bible School at my home congregation many years. 

Summers were a strange and wonderful time where we got to be free, to try new things, and to make new community – even if only for a while. 

There was of course a lot of boredom and aimlessness too, I am sure our parents found us insufferable at times. 

As an adult, it seems that summertimes have morphed into different experiences. I am sure many of us still try to find that unstructured freedom with vacation time, but the chores and responsibilities of life don’t take a break. Family vacations can feel like as much work as time off.

Summers the past few years have been even stranger than ever, with pandemic limits on the community gatherings that we Canadians save up all winter long to over-indulge in through the warm summer months. 

After the busiest school/program/work year of the 20s (are we allowed to call this decade the 20s?), I have been relishing the chance to find some balance and calm this summer. Even with Barbie and Oppenheimer movies, global heatwaves, wildfire smoke, the Prime Minister’s marriage ending, traffic tragedies in Manitoba (at the same Carberry intersection!), along with the usual war in Ukraine, the confounding economy and the ever dramatic US political soap opera all still newsworthy… Even with all of that, summer has been somewhat of a break from the usual burdens of a busy life. 

While there has been some rest to be found during this time, the reality check of Summer 2023 is that it is unlikely that the those summers of my childhood are going to be making a comeback. Our world has been changing for a long time, but the last few years have shown us that there is no return to the way it was. Navigating the challenges of being a community, being a society is only going to get harder. 

The Church has not been immune to change either. The communities that we once were are unlikely to return, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t important work for us to be doing. In many ways, there is even more need for the Gospel message now. Congregations offer a different vision of what it means to live in this world, to be in relationship with our neighbour. We tell the story of a God who declares us to be beloved children and brings us into the One Body of Christ as a community. Church communities stand as a direct challenge to a 21st Century way of life that tells us we are only the sum of our productivity and achievements. Trusting ourselves to God’s care contrasts the failing capacity of modern society to keep juggling all the balls of a complicated and rapidly changing world. 

I suspect that the rest and renewal to be found in 2023 is one rooted this good news of Jesus. Here in this odd community of believers called the church, there is refreshment to be found as keep telling the Good News story that doesn’t mesh with what the rest of world is telling us the other days of the week.

With lots of summer weeks still ahead, I hope that church and the story of God’s love can be for you a place to find rest this year.