Sandy and I slipped into the Clergy Corner for a few weeks this month to cover for Talia while she is on vacation and Bromleigh is on sabbatical. Sandy preached on June 30, and I will be preaching on July 7. In between those times we are available for pastoral care concerns or anything else the staff needs a little help with. We are far from anything close to full time ministerial work, just standing by in case the fire alarm goes off and we have to slide down the ladder.
We love the work the worship team has been doing in preparing worship for the theme of “Spirituality, however known.” The guest speakers have brought their unique gifts to the services, and attendance has been great.
July begins with my service on July 7, our Independence Day Celebration with my sermon “Despair is not an Option” as we face the challenge of keeping the faith in a bitterly divided time. The service includes the All Church Band with “Stars and Stripes Forever”. And after the service is one of my favorite occasions at UCG, the ice cream social (bring toppings, UCG supplies the ice cream). I’m looking forward to the service on July 14, when the youth share their experiences of their work trip to Koinonia Farms in Georgia, a service coordinated by Talia Raymond and Chad McGinnis. Our youth always present moving spiritual experiences. On July 21, we will have an opportunity to hear a new Florida UCC Conference Associate Minister, Rev. LaTrell Harrison. It’s a gift to connect with our wider church and have a new staff member of the Florida Conference meet us. On July 28, My good friend and clergy Rabbi David Kaiman of Gainesville’s Congregation B’nai Israel will give the sermon. David is a gifted preacher who always brings a new perspective. We will also have a bit of a celebration of Camp UCG. Whew, these are great services. Excellence doesn’t let up here in the summer.
In the shift of this time into summer, we have opportunities to take breaks, to travel, to get away, to find each other in family members we’ve separated from for too long. And yet the struggles of illness and crises don’t take a break because it’s summer. Life continues. I commend the ending words of Psalm 46 as translated by Norman Fisher. In all that swirls around us this summer, remember these words as a mantra,
“Be still – be still
And know me.
Be still and know
That I am
That I am with you
In the silent center of things.”
Rev. Larry Reimer