For much of the community around us, August brings a dramatic change. Schools, which have been being prepared by teachers, administrators, maintenance workers, and landscapers will soon be filled with children. Athletes and student leaders have started arriving across the street, joining the faculty and staff preparing for the arrival of new and returning college students. All of these changes point to the end of summer and the beginning of the academic year.
Even with all of these changes in our midst, the work of the church remains the same. We are still called to follow Jesus by loving God with all that is in us and loving our neighbors as we love ourselves. As we continually examine who is to be considered our “neighbor” and measuring that against all whom Jesus considered neighbor, we perpetually extend the bounds of our welcome until it matches the boundless welcome of Jesus.
This work to which we are called does not happen only on Sunday mornings, nor only at 1610 Russell Avenue, nor only at church functions. It is work that we are called to press into all parts of our lives – all of the mornings, all of the places, all of the functions. That, of course, means that as we see and engage in the changes of August, our calling goes with us into those spaces. Whether we are directly engaged with the changes the academic year brings or if we are simply aware that they are happening, Jesus’ calling is the same for each of us.