Summer Time and Staying With It
by Rev. Alan Rudnick

As part of “Generation X”, the generation who were born in the era after the “Baby Boomers” roughly between 1965 and 1980, we grew up with a pop culture song Summer Time by a musician known as “The Fresh Prince” also known as Will Smith. Will Smith is known today mainly because of his acting career in television and movies, but before his acting career he was a pop/hip-hop musician. His song, Summer Time was a catchy hit and a Grammy award-winning song about the reminiscent nature of the summer. When the song was released, parts of the song seem to hit a note with everyone, regardless of age. There is a segment of the song that goes:

School is out and it’s a sort of a buzz
A back then I didn’t really know what it was

And as I think back makes me wonder how
The smell from a grill could spark up nostalgia
All the kids playing out front

Summer, summer, summertime
Time to sit back and unwind

Will Smith seem to encapsulate what summer was about: memories of an easygoing time to relax. Summer, the occasion when things seem to slow down and we take vacations. We often have fond memories spent with friends, family, and loved ones. We slow down and unwind. The days of summer are long and warm, but the memories from summer stay with us.

As I start my sixth month in Ballston Spa, I have been very encouraged by a number of signs that the church is moving in a fruitful direction: 11 new members, worship attendance averaging about 110-120, people responding well to the Wednesday evening Lenten series, a growing Baby Box, increased giving to the general budget, the Church Mouse 40^th anniversary, and just a sense of excitement about the future of the church. The congregation is moving in a great direction!

We are above the anticipated giving projection, but often summer is a time when giving is low. As mentioned in the May congregational meeting, there were several one-time expenses in the beginning of the year that made for a tight first half of the year. However, God saw us through but we will still need faithful giving. I encourage all of us to stay with our commitment to The First Baptist Church in our presence and in our gifts.

You might be asking, “I understand the need for consistent giving, but why does Pastor Alan put so much emphases on worship?” Friends, worship, our corporate worship on Sunday mornings, is critical to our community here at First Baptist. Evelyn Underhill, a deeply spiritual Christian writer, gave an essential insight to worship:

Thus, worship purifies, enlightens, and at last transforms… It does all this because it wakes up and liberates the “seed” of the supernatural life, in virtue of which we are spiritual beings, capable of responding to that God who is Spirit, which indeed gives humanity a certain mysterious kingship with Him. Worship therefore is in the deepest sense creative and redemptive. Keeping us in constant remembrance of the Unchanging and the Holy…¹ (my emphasis added)

We need worship, constantly. We need to worship together, constantly because, as Underhill pointed out, it transforms us, renews us, and gives us a kinship with God.

We all need rest and relaxation. Let us not become complacent with our spiritual life. Will Smith, who has said he is a believer, did not include reflecting upon church in his song about summer but it is interesting how we do not equate summer time with church. Summer is a time “to sit back and unwind” but it is also a time to “stay with it”: in our commitments to our congregation and to God. Enjoy the summer, but also keep in constant remembrance of the Holy.

Grace and peace,

Pastor Alan Rudnick

P.S. Starting June 21^st, we will suspend Sunday school and move worship to 9 a.m.

Also, I will be attending the American Baptist Churches Biennial Meeting June 24 to 29 in Pasadena, CA. In addition to representing our church as a voting delegate, I will be attending the various workshops and conference sessions that seek to equip pastors with the latest training for ministry.