In Gratitude for our Summer of Renewal
/by Rev. Kathy Cramer
Our Summer of Renewal is winding down, and I want to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all of you for making this such a positive experience. As I mentioned last Sunday, I have seen the Spirit moving through you during this time. It has been evident in the Sunday services, in your sharing, and in the way things have flowed. It has been a time of renewal for me as well, as I have enjoyed working with everyone and have tried some new things. Interestingly, since our theme is "What Makes Your Heart Sing," one of the new things for me was discovering songs and vocalists — I had a lot of fun picking many of the prelude and interlude pieces for worship. Another new thing was the Summer Renewal Group; I hadn't tried that format before, and it turned out to be very meaningful. I am so grateful for your support this summer.
As Jackie often says, "It takes a village." Much of this summer's success is thanks to the preparation completed before it began. I am deeply grateful for all the work that went into planning worship participation: to Rev. Jeanne for her input on guest preachers; to Kristina for following up with them throughout the summer; to Laurie for recruiting worship participants; and to Steve for organizing the list of available hymns and music. Rev. Jeanne also sent me a detailed explanation of each part of the service, which was very helpful. I am grateful to all of you who participated in worship throughout the summer. Special thanks to Jennifer, Steve, and Jackie, who led during the sermon time. Also, thanks to Steve for his instruction and patience in helping me with music sharing, and for sharing the music during service, and to Kirk, who filled in when Steve was away. And it was a joy to work with Jackie each week on the Order of Worship — I am always so impressed with the way she finds graphics and pictures to match the message in each part of the service.
It was great working with the Council; Kristina was able to keep us all on task. And it was so helpful meeting with the Pastoral Relations Committee — I really appreciated Kristina, Laurie, and Jackie making the time to meet with me. I also enjoyed being able to participate in the Healing Circle and Lunch Bunch during the summer — I am very grateful to Steve and Roz for keeping those groups running. Throughout the summer, everyone has been open to helping me and responding to questions. It was great to work with Ashley on the Updates and some technical questions. She was such a trooper this summer, as she was on the road for most of it. No matter where she was, she was there on most Sundays to host our Zoom services. She met with the Tech Team from all over the East Coast, from her son's camp, and from a variety of coffee shops. We did increase the Updates schedule a little this summer, and she handled it without a glitch. I know she also did a lot of social media work that, frankly, I'm not that knowledgeable about, which kept our online followers engaged.
I hope that you all found this to be a time of renewal for yourselves as well. Please remember to fill out the survey that was sent out earlier this week, as this information will be helpful in planning what comes next.
I wish you all the best in your journey ahead. I know that you have many resources in your community and trust that you will continue to make renewal part of your rhythm in the time ahead. Blessings to all of you.
