“The sweet June days are come again.” Green is my favorite color, and green is everywhere! I love the long days, the warmth (without it being too hot), the profuse flowers, and line-dried clothes.

With the end of the academic year, a portion of our congregation disperses for the summer. Sunday services are, consequently, smaller, less formal; often more intimate or interactive. In a way, it gives a midsize congregation like MMUUS a chance to be a small church again for a while. Check out the great line-up of programs planned by the Worship Committee, and enjoy the summer fellowship.

One of the goals for this past year’s MMUUS leadership has been to end the recent run of deficit spending — drawing down May Memorial’s capital fund to supplement operating funds. In this, unfortunately, we were unsuccessful. The budget which the Board and Finance committee are presenting to the congregation at this annual meeting is a deficit budget.

We all had hopes of attaining this year’s annual stewardship goal of $270,000. Had we done so, the budget would be balanced. But there are economic forces operating beyond our individual or congregational control. I’ve been extremely impressed with the dedication and hard work of Joel Hasting’s Stewardship team, and with the faithfulness of May Memorial’s contributing families. We are each doing what we can, in the faith that what we can do will soon be enough ... enough to realize dreams, to reward hard work, and to build for the future.

Use the summer as only you know how it should be used. Drink in the sweet June days.