by Winton Boyd
As I write this column, students and teachers and staff and administrators at all levels are beginning their new school years. While our “October like” weather over the weekend might tell us summer is ending, surely the beginning of school marks it definitively. Like many of you, I was fortunate to do some traveling over the summer months. My journeys took me as far away as Germany and as local as my first visit to the American Players Theater in Spring Green. I hiked trails in the Wind River mountains of Wyoming and I rode the nearby Southwest Bike trail for exercise and occasionally to enjoy the Monroe Street Michael’s Frozen Custard. We traveled with and hosted old friends, and as I shopped at the Farmer’s Market in the church parking lot (still going on through October!) I made new friends. I endured rain, sun, a little warmth (do you remember that one week in June that it was warm this summer?), and even bone chilling cold. I ate homemade German bread, freeze dried food in the mountains and locally grown fruit while sitting at Concerts on the Square.
As we turn toward the fall, and the program year at church, my thoughts turn from travel to our theme for this coming year, pilgrimage (See page 2 of this program guide/newsletter). We have many different ideas and experiences with pilgrimage in our lives, and this will be fun to explore. In short, however, I see pilgrimage as a spiritual journey that deepens our sense of the Holy in, and thus the sacredness of, our lives. Sometimes pilgrimage involves actual travel. Sometimes it involves an inward, and mostly unseen, journey of heart and mind. All of us are on many different journeys in our lives. Our worship series will seek to explore how we can understand our many journeys, especially the practical ones of our daily lives, as sacred and holy journeys. I am not kidding when I suggest that the changing of a diaper, the paying of our bills, the bedside attentiveness towards an ill loved one, or the ups and downs of family and relational life are all moments of divine encounter and holiness in our lives. It is my hope that through the exploration of this theme, we will gain new insight into the everyday lives we lead. I welcome your thoughts, your input, your quotes, your stories as we embark on this pilgrimage together.
To that end, on a practical note – I would love to have you send me a picture (digital or otherwise) of a special place you have been recently. It could be a local spot or some faraway special place. We’ll use these as part of the service on the 13th, so please get them to me early in the week after Labor Day.
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I also want to be sure you know about an important congregational discussion on Sunday September 20 (See page 1). We’ll be seeing ideas from Strang and Associates and our FIT (Facilities Improvement Team) for possible renovation, remodeling and expansion of our building. The ideas and hopes for such work flow out of the good work done in our Next Generation Initiative process. I think you will be excited and thrilled, as I am, to see ideas put into tangible designs. This is the first of two meetings. The FIT will be seeking input, questions, concerns, and thoughts from you. I hope you can make it to this discussion.
