Yesterday, June 21, we officially began the season of Summer. As all of us have known since childhood, summer is a season of fruitfulness in the natural world around us, as crops grow and trees and flowers come into fullness.
Our scripture reading for worship this Sunday will be John 15: 1-11, a passage in which Jesus uses an image of a vine and branches and growing fruit to illuminate the Christian life.
As I prepare for this last sermon and service before retirement, I am thinking about the "seasons" of our lives, my call into ordained ministry, and the ministries we all share as "branches" that abide in the "vine" of Christ. I look forward to the ways this congregation will continue to flourish and grow in all the seasons that are ahead. Thank you so much for who you are.