From the Pastor: August 2025

Dear Friends, 

I’ll be taking the last week of August off, but Cindy and I are probably not going too far—maybe into the city for a show or museum.  Sometimes I go down to Tennessee or Arkansas if I’m feeling nostalgic for the oppressive, wet air from the hot and humid South, but no need this year—those oven-baked Dixie days came to visit me right here in New York, and seem to have settled in for a vacation of their own.  But I’m not complaining!  I love the summer—and for that matter, the fall, winter and spring, too.  You’ll hear me complaining when the summer is cooler than it’s supposed to be.



I hope you’re enjoying your summer days and nights.  Here at KPC there are fewer meetings and scheduled activities, but church continues, and our Sunday worship is just as joyful and welcoming.  True, we don’t see quite as many of our friends, because they’re on vacation or various summer sports, but it will be our turn next, so we say our prayers and add some for them, and everyone is with us in spirit.  I got curious about what the Bible has to say about summer, and here's what I found.  The seasons were given to us as part of the covenant with Noah, and each has its own unique personality:  As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease (Genesis 8:22).  Summer's particular offering, as far as the Bible is concerned, seems to be Summer Fruits, a delicacy not to be taken for granted in the days before Shoprite had kiwis and oranges year-round. Here's one of several references to the fruitfulness of summer: The Judeans returned from all the places to which they had been scattered and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah; and they gathered wine and summer fruits in great abundance (Jeremiah 40:12).  Of course, the reverse can be true, as this judgment warns: Upon your summer fruits and your vintage the destroyer has fallen.  Gladness and joy have been taken away from the fruitful land of Moab (Jeremiah 48:32-33).   Summer fruit was such a special seasonal gift of delight in those days that in the Bible it represented not just the literal harvest of summer, but symbolically a fleeting time of pleasurable abundance, uncommon joy and refreshment only available for a brief time each year.  

What does that mean to you and me?  Enjoy your summer fruits while you can!  The Bible says to gather in great abundance.  Go on vacation, seize the days, revel in the opportunity for play and pleasure.  The fruits are lush and sweet, so exhilarate, rejuvenate, and then come share your joy with us.  Just be sure you remember to hydrate, lest you find that your strength was dried up as by the heat of summer (Psalm 32:4).  See you on Homecoming Sunday September 7!

Love and light,

Martin