Pastor's Note
"I am about to do a new thing; now it springs firth; do you not perceive it? ' Isaiah 43:19
As summer gives way to fall, I find myself looking back with a grateful heart at all that God has been doing in and through Cape May United Methodist Church. Summer may be a season when many people slow down, take vacations, and enjoy some needed rest, but God's Spirit certainly did not take the summer off! !
This summer has been filled with grace, growth, celebration, and new beginnings.
Among our greatest joys was welcoming the births of Elizabeth Sean Gannon and Oliver Graham Dougherty "Ollie". Few things remind us of God's continuing work quite like the birth of a child. Their arrival reminds us that God is always bringing forth something new and that every new life is both a gift and a sacred trust. We celebrate with their families and pray that Elizabeth and Ollie will grow surrounded by love, faith, and a community that will continually point them toward Christ.
Our church was also alive with the sounds and excitement of Vacation Bible School. Through Rainforest Falls: Exploring the Nature of God, our children learned more about the God who created them, loves them, and desires a relationship with them. I am especially thankful for the volunteers who gave their time, energy, creativity, and love to make VBS possible. When a congregation invests in its children, it is not simply preparing the church of tomorrow—we are nurturing disciples who are part of the Church today.
And, of course, summer would not be summer at Cape May UMC without our beloved Cove Services. Once again, we carried worship beyond the walls of the sanctuary and gathered beside the water, surrounded by the beauty of God's creation. Thanks to ALL the volunteers who made these services possible.
This summer at the Cove, we journeyed together through the Fruit of the Spirit, remembering that Paul speaks of fruit in the singular. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control are not separate spiritual options from which we choose our favorites. Together, they describe the kind of life the Holy Spirit desires to cultivate within us.
Our congregation is growing in another exciting way. We are preparing to receive new members into the life of Cape May United Methodist Church in mid-September. What a blessing! Church membership is more than having one's name placed on a roll. It is a covenant of discipleship—a commitment to participate in the life and mission of Christ's Church through our prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness. As we welcome new members, may those of us who have been members for many years also hear an invitation to renew our own commitment to Christ and Christ's Church.
Throughout the summer, there were other moments of ministry that may never appear in a newsletter article: prayers offered quietly or in a corporate setting, visitors welcomed, meals shared, phone calls made, people encouraged, grief carried together, Bible studies attended, hands extended in service, and countless acts of kindness that only God may fully know.
That is the Church.
The Church is not merely what happens for an hour on Sunday morning. The Church happens whenever the people of God allow the love of Christ to move through them into the lives of others.
And now, as summer gives way to fall, we do not simply "go back" to our routines. We go forward.
We go forward carrying what God has taught us this summer. We go forward welcoming new people into our fellowship, nurturing our children, inspiring our women and men. We go forward caring for one another and reaching beyond ourselves into our community. We go forward trusting that the same God who has been faithful through this summer is already waiting for us in the season ahead.
Thank you to everyone who prayed, served, volunteered, gave, attended, welcomed, encouraged, and helped make this summer's ministry possible.
What a summer it has been!
But I believe God is reminding us that the best testimony of a fruitful summer is the fruit we continue to bear in the seasons that follow.
So, Cape May UMC, let us keep growing. Let us keep serving. Let us keep welcoming. Let us keep loving. Summer may be ending, but God's work among us is not. Thanks be to God!
Pastor Peggy