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August anxiety is only a few days away. I’ve experienced this for as long as I can remember but have only recently identified it. It’s the anxiety that comes from the sense that summer is slipping by, far too quickly. I feel the need to be ‘out there’ taking in as much sunshine and summer smells as I possibly can. There are the aromas of fresh hay and verdant woods and cornfields and lake water and rain falling on dry ground

We can liken the work of pastors to those attendants who help a bride look radiant on her wedding day. In Ephesians 4, Paul uses the metaphor of growing up and maturing. The idea is that faithful shepherds and teachers are a key means by which God prepares the bride (the church) for her groom (Christ). Though I’ve never given a pedicure to anyone in my life, there is a sense in which I, as a pastor, can call myself a beautician: my job, in the Spirit’s power, is to help make the church beautiful for her groom.

I don’t know about you, but reading and watching the news these past few months has tempted me to despair. It is unrelenting bad news! No wonder the rest of the world feels like they are watching America implode.