The Very Rev Alan Kelmereit
Newsletter Article
July and August 2010

“Summertime, and the livin’ is easy….” So go the lyrics, but I’m not so sure. The song’s about a land and a time far, far away. I remember summer as a kick back season, a time when there was not much to do but take it easy and have fun. Of course, I was in elementary school at the time. I’m sure you had more or less the same experience, and that common experience seems to have created a sort of cultural expectation that summer time is supposed to be less stressful, more laid back; a time when we take a few deep breaths while we wait for Labor Day.
Thinking of more recent summers, I can’t recall actually kicking back or taking many deep breaths. The same fast pace of winter seems to have just kept on. What to do, what to do! First, I highly recommend a vacation. Go somewhere where no one can find you. Leave your cell phone at home, or at least keep it turned off until you need to make a genuine emergency call. If you can’t go “away,” at least leave the house. Go to the beach, or a park, or a museum, or a double header at the movie theater, or something, anything, to get away from your routine.
My next recommendation is to take some time to reflect on how you’re living your life. This is a bit more taxing, at least mentally. Socrates is quoted as saying, ‘The unexamined life is not worth living.” He said that at his trial for teachings that challenged the accepted beliefs of the day, and rather than being sentenced to an unexamined life, Socrates chose to be sentenced to death. Fortunately, our choice is less dramatic than his. So, we might observe that the unexamined life is a monotonous, boring, unsatisfying life which could be a whole lot better is we would take the time to examine how we’re living and consciously discover ways to improve it.
That fits neatly into my final recommendation, which is consider where we’re going from here. Even in these difficult economic times, All Souls has an incredibly bright future. We have a clear focus on serving other people, and that is demonstrated in our community outreach. There is even greater need in our community, and we should be planning ways to increase the reach of our outreach. We should also be planning strategies for reaching further into our community with the good news that Jesus is alive and his kingdom is indeed at hand. Think about these things, and think about how you can be a part of the action. One thing I’ve learned about “church” over the years is that it’s huge fun to be part of a church that is going and growing, and that’s exactly what we will be. Come join the fun! Oh, yes – bring friends. Bring strangers, too.

Alan