The weather might say different, and the calendar is not quite there yet, but the summer is here. With the turn to June and school over many, the seasons have definitely turned. Some of y’all are already traveling and others have plans to do so. With vaccinations and low positivity rates there is real excitement for these next few months. 

Usually at COTC we left things lie fallow for a portion of the summer. Neighborhood Groups take a break from regular rhythm, and we pare back our calendar more generally. This gives staff and the many people who serve at COTC a needed time of rest. We’ll be doing that to some degree this year as well. However, we’re also placing an emphasis on being together and simply having some fun! With all the transitions of this past year, enjoying the goodness of God together feels like a balm and win. 

Some of this has already started! The picnic on Memorial Day was a blast and the women’s gathering earlier this week went really well. We have some additional events on the calendar already (Men’s hang toward the end of the month; and Eat, Pray Hike beginning this Saturday).  We’re also planning some other things that will be communicated in the weeks to come – a Round Rock Express baseball game, Parish House movie night(s), and the like. We’ll keep you posted. Keep an eye out, and join us! The gift of being together is one we’ve all come to celebrate a little more this season. 

I also wanted to highlight our last Theology of.. this Saturday at the Parish House at 11am. David Taylor and several of our COTC artists (Meena, Rachel, Stephen, and Phaedra) will be sharing. The arts are central in shaping our imaginations and affections, and thus deeply linked to our worship and experience of God. We are blessed with some amazing artists and thinkers who will be participating. Whatever your level of interest or knowledge in the arts this is a great talk to participate in! 

Related to creative expression I wanted to highlight two changes regarding our musical worship at COTC:

1. Will Clegg, who has been our faithful AV technician for the past nearly five years, is transitioning out of this role as he plans to go on tour in the coming months. Will has been a huge behind the scenes gift at COTC and we’re going to miss him. We’ll take a moment to celebrate Will this Sunday, including sending him off with a gift. If you’d like to contribute to the gift as an expression of thanks and blessing for Will you can Venmo some money to @Church-ofthecross (the last four digits of the church’s number are 3984). In Will’s stead we’re thankful to have Christian and Nathan joining us to make our A/V setup run smoothly!

2. Krista Vossler, who has been deeply involved in our musical worship since COTC’s beginning, is coming on staff as a Musician-in-Residence. Krista will be continuing to work closely with Andrew in leading, curating, and planning our sung worship, but now formally as a part our staff team. I know so many of you have been blessed by Krista’s thoughtful and heartfelt worship of Jesus, and I’m excited for this shift. Related to this change Krista’s pursuit of holy order as a deacon in our diocese. We’ll have more to communicate about this in the months ahead, but it too is an exciting development as the church affirms and Krista grows in her vocation unto the Lord!

That’s all for now, thanks for reading. I’m looking forward to worshipping with you 10am on Sunday in person or online. 

Grace and peace,

Peter+