May 1, 2025

May my teaching drop like the rain, my speech condense like the dew;

 like gentle rain on grass, like showers on new growth.    ~Deuteronomy 32:2

One of the most delightful aspects of seminary, for me, was the external processing of the things I was reading for and learning in class. I was just recently sharing that the feeling of digging into rich material (full of challenging ideas) and parsing it out with colleagues and classmates is invigorating.

Next Wednesday, May 7th is the first of a two part book study that kicks off our summer reading series. May 7th and 14th 7p-8:30p will be led by Dr. Greg Carey, a professor of New Testament at Lancaster Theological Seminary. He will lead us through the book, Baptizing America: How Mainline Protestants helped build Christian Nationalism. Dr. Carey has been a strong voice on the subject of Christian Nationalism and I encourage you to grab a copy and read; for in joining this book study you will find a fascinating conversation that engages accountability amidst the tenor of our current political system’s engagement of religion. Look further into this document for the registration information. The summer book series is free.

We’ll spend the rest of the summer reflecting on the topics of congregational development/social justice, community trauma, coping, healing, and creating a better world. The June, July, and August offerings are a single date (as opposed to the May book study.)

Opportunities like this allow for the conference, made up of a delightful bouquet of people with different experiences, gifts, skills and interests to sit awhile with topics we might not engage in a bible study or on a Sunday morning. Moses, in his sermonic instruction to the Israelites, speaks the words we find in Deuteronomy with the hope that they will be received with the same joy as a rain shower: soaking into the land and bringing the promise of transformative power. I pray the same for us this summer- that in our slower pace we might seize the opportunity to learn, engage, and transform this world into the kin-dom of God.