After the recent rains and with the advent of sunshine, I have mowed my lawn twice already. This can only mean one thing: Summer is upon us. Graduations, PCS season in the military, and vacation plans are all percolating in our community. This is also the season when worship attendance goes down, so you would expect a pastor to write a blog post titled something like, “Don’t take a vacation from church community!” Rather than write the traditional advice, I’d like to invite you to think about three different communities and how you might be involved with them this Summer.

The first community is the community of those who don’t believe in Christ. How will you be involved with those who don’t believe in Christ this Summer? On the one hand, you could join them by blending in completely so that no one can tell the difference between the life of the believer or the non-believer. While it is true that there are many non-believers who live a more virtuous life than some believers, I hope that all of us at GCC will be involved in the community of those who don’t believe, but be involved in a subversive way. I pray that we will subvert meaninglessness in conversation by being ready to give a reason for the hope that we have (1 Peter 3:16). I pray that we will subvert stereotypes of Christians as either the “goody two shoes” or the “hypocrite” by living with integrity. Sometimes that means staying at the party. Sometimes it means leaving the party early. Sometimes it means taking the risk to start a deeper conversation. Sometimes it means staying silent the way Jesus was silent before his accusers (Mark 14:60-61; Acts 8:32-35). It always means that we pray for the Holy Spirit to give us wisdom to know the difference (Mark 13:9-11).

The second community is the community of those who believe in Christ and know you well. How will you be involved with believers who know you well this Summer? Notice that I didn’t just say the community of those who believe. Yes, this is the paragraph where I encourage you to keep attending church even on vacation, but more than that—don’t give up worshiping together and putting your heart and mind in the hands of a few other believers who know you well. Encourage one another as long as it is still called today (Hebrews 3:13). We all need those friends in Christ who can encourage us, counsel us, and call us out. There are a few in this congregation who serve that role for me. I am so thankful to have found them in the short time we’ve been here, knowing there are some who never experience this in their whole life. But I am also glad to go next month to our denomination’s General Assembly and see some pastor friends and mentors who will encourage my faith and I will encourage theirs. Where will you go this Summer? Will it be a place where there are others who know Christ and know you well? Who will you be involved with in the GCC community who loves you in this way (Proverbs 18:24)?

Here let me briefly encourage you to participate in June Group 6:30 to 8:00pm on June 8, 15, 22, 29. The whole church is invited because there’s something for everyone! There is a program for kids. There is nursery for the smallest ones. Youth will gather in groups, and adults will mix up together in groups to study the book of Jonah. Have you ever engaged the story of the man swallowed by the great fish with your adult mind? Have you ever had questions about its strange ending? Have you been looking to try out small group life at Grace without a lengthy commitment? Are you looking to meet and connect with others here in this community? You get my point. This is a great opportunity for the whole family and for our whole body.

Finally, the third community is the communion of the saints. What’s that? I mean the community of those who have gone before us in the Lord, that great cloud of witnesses that surrounds us (Hebrews 12:1). How can I be involved in that community? Read. You probably have books in mind that you will take to the beach, or to your vacation spot, or that you will leisurely take in on your back porch in the afternoon. I hope at least one of those books is by a dead Christian. Is that morbid? No. Sometimes we need to go back a little farther than our own experience, a little farther back than our own view of the world. We can receive great encouragement and have our faith strengthened by reading what believers in the past have written. Check out a biography of missionary Jim Elliot who said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” Grow in your ability to think by reading almost anything by C.S. Lewis. If you like history at all, you should check out primary sources of some of the early church fathers. Do you ever wonder how early Christians expressed their heart for Jesus? Read the Confessions of Augustine. There is also a very encouraging series of missionary biographies for children (that’s good for adults, too) by YWAM . If you want to know more about how to set up a personal diet of reading nutrition to strengthen your mind and heart I would love to help you! This Summer don’t overlook the community of the saints who have gone before us. (And if you’re interested in joining a Calvin’s Institutes reading group, please email me.)

Summer is my favorite time of year because even if I’m busy, the pace just seems more relaxed. I have more psychic RAM (to use the phrase by David Allen) to take in the gifts of God’s creation all around. I hope you’ll join me in considering the gifts of these three communities in this season and all that they offer to us.