Looking Back, Planning for Joy
Beloved -
This time of the year always feels like a space to look back and pause, to see what God has been doing, and to look ahead to the next season around the corner. For us, our kids will be done with 10th and 5th grade and their first year in Chicago public schools, tomorrow! I know many of you are changing to summer schedules, and we're celebrating several of our graduates this upcoming Sunday at LaSalle, as well as some beautiful baptisms and how God works through these signs of new life in our community! Summer is already here - and the fall will appear way too soon I am sure - but for now I want to pause, look back, and then prepare to look ahead to spaces of connection and growth that the coming season gives us more room to explore.
For years when the kids were smaller, we'd make a "Summer Fun List" and cross it off with bright markers together. We parents would often list standbys like "pool, library, soccer games, movie night, backyard bonfire" as ways to get to cross off things that we were going to do anyway 🙂, but then we'd also ask the kids to list ideas and we'd push ourselves to come up with new things that we wanted to look forward to and to make intentional effort to experience. One summer I wrote down, "take Sam on a trip with me" and it didn't fit in the summertime, but that winter it resulted in her first solo airplane flight to join me at a conference in Colorado. Another year Graham got really excited about swimming and wrote down "join the swim team," and when we didn't find a team it meant we found friends and pool schedules, so that almost every week we'd load up towels and sandals and wet suits and goggles into a carpool and head over to his fave rec center. Even when the hopes and plans of the summer fun list got shifted, changed, or delayed a bit, the list helped us by pointing to what we wanted more of, what we enjoyed and found life from, and what we wanted to stretch and reach toward in the future.
This summer you're likely shifting schedules and priorities too - I'd love to hear what rhythms or ways you encourage more room during this season; how do you rest, or recharge, or retool in the summer? What do you try to prioritize, even if things shift or delay, so that you get more life during these warm months ahead? I'm encouraging our church staff to shift rhythms a bit so that we can focus more on relational connecting, being less online, and enjoying one another too. We're also shifting toward more prayer, building new skills around trauma care and embodied leadership, and also preparing for the fall ahead. This coming week we'll also look back as a team at our ministry school year to note all the places where we've seen God at work, and where we've seen our values show up in one another (values like honor, authenticity, staying rooted, having fun, and being integrated and innovative.) By making the space to name and celebrate one another, we help make visible the faithful work that's been done all year without rushing to what's next. We also make room to hear the Holy Spirit encourage and refresh us, and notice - what do we want to make more room for? What do we need more of to bring us, and our whole Body, more life and joy up ahead?
This past Sunday was a beautiful day of worshipping and looking back together. We heard about God's steadiness as we wrapped up our "God Is" sermon series, made space for celebration and lament, and welcomed in six new members to LaSalle. We also took some time to look back during our Annual Meeting as we gave updates on the life of the church (things are trending up!), shared goodness around grants coming up and ministries growing, and also made time to thank our elders going off the board and the literal hundreds of volunteers who helped make this past year at LaSalle happen! Even just the practice of thanking our leaders, noting all that elders/property and finance/nominating committee members do to serve, and hearing the litany of names who volunteer in some capacity, is a way to remind ourselves of all that God's been doing. It makes visible the many hands, gifts, hours, prayers, and generosity of the congregation. THANK YOU again for all the ways you've been involved, present, giving, speaking, listening, praying, and following God this year at LaSalle!
Looking out ahead, this summer we've created a few new ways for LSC to both connect and develop some skills together. Note the summer socials happening (first one this Sunday!), the family events, and the new Coffee Connects and Supper Connects you can sign up for to meet with me! Save the date now for June 23rd when we'll have both a folks of color gathering, and a "Whiteness, Culture and Leadership" skills training to better prepare us all for what's to come up ahead. Other skills labs, social spaces, spots for young adults, and more are on the events calendar - check for more and to rsvp here.
I am praying that as we begin June, you find spaces to look back, to plan for more life and joy up ahead, and to feel refreshed. As we notice, and name, and make room for feeling the things have gone well, the things we've missed, and the potential up ahead, may it encourage us each to be more intentional and more alive. I've still got to help our family make our Summer Fun List for this year, but I know it will include some new and some familiar spaces to make room for more this season, and it will help focus us during this season. And I hope to see you at our LSC places of connection and growth this summer soon!
With gratitude - RevLiz