The Joy of Spring
I hope our Holy Spirit teachers are feeling the love today! It is teacher appreciation week and Holy Spirit volunteers and school board members provided a wonderful breakfast for them this morning. At school Sunday this past weekend, I shared that becoming the rector of a church with a school entailed a whole new year-end routine.
My first year, I recall mentioning to Helen, who has since retired from the church office, that I anticipated things slowing down after Holy Week and Easter. She was very polite and shared that May is one of the busiest months at Holy Spirit. I have since learned to bask in the joyful glow of the school year coming to completion. School productions are presented (we will enjoy the middle school production of Willy Wonka this evening!). Academic and athletic banquets celebrate the accomplishments of our students. There are even fun fellowship events like Famfest which will take place tomorrow night (which is great fun for the whole family – you, our church community, are invited as well!). There is so much wonderful joy that comes with this time of the year.
Traditionally, we have all grown accustomed to rhythms and routines that carry us through the year. One of the difficulties of the pandemic has been the disruption of those routines and now that we have returned to the things that mark out our seasons, celebrations, and calendar, I pray that we will be ever appreciative of the traditions and events we share. As the Church, we are people who find meaning in sharing a common life and I pray that this special time of the year is a blessing to our whole community.