Letter from Amy: June 17, 2026

A summer Wild Wonder scene from many years past!

Dear friends,

Happy summer! School is wrapping up and summer officially begins this Sunday. I’m ready for the long days, warm weather, and relaxed rhythms of summer — how about you?

Things relax at church, too. This is Ordinary Time, the longest season of the church year. “Ordinary” is taken from the word “ordinal,” as in the ordinal numbers (first, second, third, etc), because that’s how the church counts the long stretch of Sundays after Pentecost. No big feasts, no special seasons, just a long series of normal, numbered days.

We also sometimes call this season “Growing Time.” Its color is green, and its scriptures focus on the teachings of Jesus that nourish and grow us. Growth is often slow, small, and unseen. It takes time for seeds to germinate in the soil, to send up green shoots, and to stretch toward fullness and fruit. So this is also a season for patient hope in unseen growth. What are you patiently hoping God might grow in you in this season?

Between now and Sunday, we will also observe the national holiday of Juneteenth. Juneteenth remembers the day in 1865 when the last slaves in Texas finally heard the news of the Emancipation Proclamation, a full 2+ years after they’d already been declared free under the law.

I grew up in Texas, where Juneteenth was already a state holiday, and one of my most joyful childhood memories was our ragtag school gospel choir performing "Lift Every Voice and Sing," directed by our school janitor. (Definite All Y’All/Small Y’All Chorus vibes!) All these years later, it’s still impossible for me to hear the final verse and not tear up a little:

God of our weary years,

God of our silent tears,

Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way;

Thou who hast by thy might led us into the light,

Keep us forever in the path, we pray.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyZkRgQ4ZnQ

Juneteenth is a very Ordinary Time/Growing Time/Now-And-Not-Yet Time holiday. There was a 2.5-year gap between proclamation and emancipation, and the full promise of emancipation is still not fully realized in so many ways. There is much to rejoice, much to lament, and much for which we still wait and hope. These are weary years.

As Christians, we instinctively get this now-and-not-yet-ness. We live in the long lag between Jesus’ proclamation of his kingdom come, and our full realization of that kingdom still yet to be. In the meantime, we live in the ordinary in-between, and we feel the lingering captivity of sin and death in our world in countless ways.

But as the song says, the God who hast brought us thus far will keep us in the path. Ordinary Time is for that work of pathkeeping, for living faithfully and growing patiently in the long now-and-not-yet. We’ll talk some about this on Sunday as we wrap up our Ordinary Church series with “We are citizens of God’s kingdom.”

After that, I’m heading out on holiday for two weeks! My family is sneaking in a final vacation before Nadia goes to college later this summer. TJ, Josie, Emily, and Russell will capably hold down the fort in my absence, and I will be praying for you all while I’m away. In the meantime, there’s lots to look forward to this summer:

• Wild Wonder kicks off this Sunday, June 21, with epic poetry! Russell will introduce Galahad and the Grail, our summer book selection. (Tentative summer theme/running staff joke: GRAIL QUEST!!!)
  

• Join us in reading Galahad and the Grail by Malcolm Guite over the summer! On July 29, we’ll gather at Celtic House to discuss the book and read a few favorite selections aloud. For a stirring introduction that captures our reasons for selecting this book, listen to this podcast from the author. And let us never forget the best celebrity sighting awkward fangirl conversation  peak life moment  time I ran into Malcolm Guite outside a pub in London!
  

  

  Chance encounter with Saint Malcolm!

• We’ll hold a casual evening prayer service at Beverley Hills on Wednesdays, July 8 & August 12, at 6pm. Afterward, we’ll walk to dinner together nearby.
  

• Wild Wonder camp for ages 7+ will take place in Springfield from July 13-17. Wee Wonder pray-and-playdates for ages 0-6 will happen mornings of that same week, same location.
  

• We’ll enjoy summer potlucks after church on the last Sundays of July and August: July 26 and August 30.
  

• And I’m hearing rumblings of more casual summer gatherings . . . stay tuned!

It’s wild to think that a year ago, my sabbatical was already well underway! I’m grateful for the opportunity to step away again this summer. I look forward to seeing you all this Sunday, and then again after I return! Please let me know how I can be praying for you.

With love,

Amy