This Sunday, June 18, we begin summer worship in Willett Hall at 10am (June 18-September 3). It’s the first time in three years that we’ll return to this type of worship and I have missed it greatly.
Why? For those of you who haven’t been, when we worship all at the same level, in slightly closer proximity and visibility, and slightly more informality, it connects us better. Personally, I feel more clearly the creativity of God, the human connection with Jesus Christ, the synchronicity of the Holy Spirit and our connection as the living, breathing body of Christ in the world.
Summer theme: Who is Our Neighbor? Throughout the Gospels, Jesus says that the most important commandments are to love God and to love our neighbor. These are the true fundamentals of the Christian faith. For this summer, we have invited several of our neighbors and community leaders to join us in worship and let us know what they do, why and how their spirituality and worldview shapes their lives and work — in ways that can show us how to strengthen and deepen our neighborliness. We’re still working out the schedule and will let you know as soon as it’s finalized.
We’ll lead off with Jesus’ own answer to the question: who is my neighbor? He gave a radical answer with the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Luke 10:25-37. We’ll reflect on which neighbors are easy to love, and which are difficult. How can we expand our understanding of neighbor and neighborliness? How can we be better neighbors, in the ways Jesus explains?
We’ll also hear music from one of our family string ensembles.
I look forward to welcoming you back to another summer of worship discovery.
In faith,
Kent
Image credit: David L. Ryan, Globe Staff, The Boston Globe
