As we head into March and out of this once-in-a-lifetime winter I’ve been reflecting on the topic of seasons. I’ve certainly done my share of complaining about the winter we’ve had this year. But one of the things that I’ll often fall back on for those days when I’m walking my dog and can’t feel my face is to remind myself that, brutal as the weather may be, it’s only for a season. You see in 7+ years of living in Chicagoland I’ve discovered that one of our greatest blessings is how fully we get to experience each of the four seasons. Sure there are some days where I wish our church were located in Southern California, but I also know that they, and many other places in the world, don’t get to experience the full beauty and diversity of the seasons like we do.
Why all this talk about the weather though? Well the truth is that this theme of seasons applies to so much more than just the weather outside, for our lives have seasons as well, and so to does our church. No one expressed this truth better than Solomon, the man given the gift of wisdom by God Himself, when he so memorably declared,
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under the sun.”
There, in just a single sentence, Solomon has given us everything we need to survive and thrive as individuals, and as a church family; namely that we embrace, and do not run from, the seasons of our lives.
I bring all of this up because we are about to enter into a new season as a church family. I’m not sure if you’ve noticed or not, but things have been pretty “scaled back” around here since October or so. We’ve certainly had miniature seasons of great activity (Christmas, in particular, comes to mind), but in general our energy as a church has been focused internally. From Potlucks to Constitutions, we’ve spent these winter months growing together as a family. And these months, dreary as they’ve been outside, have been full of great blessing from God inside our church as we have grown together in grace, unity, and a commitment to do whatever it takes to glorify God in our community.
Yet still, for everything there is a time, and for everything there is a season. As blessed as this last season has been for us as a family a new season is on the horizon. While I’ll have much more to share on this new season in the months ahead I wanted to at least introduce it today. This new season goes hand in hand with the change in seasons going on outside. You see as we head from the dreariness of winter towards the dog days of summer we will have more opportunities than ever before to reach out to, and engage with, the community around us.
I mean let’s face it, not much happens in our community in the dead of winter, at least as compared to the warmer months. The “snowbirds” head south, and the rest of us turn up the heat and stay indoors as much as we can. But the six month stretch from April to September is a different story. Those months mark the season of festivals, fairs, and fun all in and around our community. The snow melts, the days grow longer, and our suburban hibernation period draws to an end.
The marker for the beginning of this season for us this year is Easter. Easter marks this shift in seasons for us as a church as we move from a season of “in-house” work to a season of outreach. This Easter has even more promise than most as it’s falling late enough on the calendar (April 20th) to serve well as a “Launchpad” into our summer outreach. It’s harder to get excited about summer when we’re stuck with an early Easter and there’s still snow on the ground. But that shouldn’t be a problem this year!
All that said, as we prepare for this change in seasons, we need your help! I won’t lie to you; we are going to ask a lot of our church members over the next few months as we reach out to our community. From stuffing 12,000+ eggs for our Helicopter Egg Drop in April, to volunteering to serve at our new and rethought VBS in July, to stepping up and helping plan and execute an event as big as Famfest, we can’t do it without you!
So are you ready? Will you join me in giving everything you’ve got in this new season to the Lord, as we work together to reach more people than ever before with the hope that we have in Jesus? Will you go “all in” on serving? Will you commit more than you ever have before in giving of your time, energy, even money, to share the good news of the gospel with a world in desperate need of it? If you will, I believe with all my heart that this next season will be our most blessed yet.
Journeying With You,
Pastor Grant