Weekly Greeting - August 22, 2025
The Old Farmer’s Almanac tells me that the Dog Days of Summer run from July 3 to August 11 each year. The term, it says, has been used for millennia to describe the hottest, most sweltering weeks of the Northern Hemisphere summer. It has often been viewed as a time of drought, disease, or unrest.
I think the Almanac gets the dates wrong in Middle Tennessee. We are past August 11, and the sweltering heat is just now subsiding. At my house, an air conditioner gave up, and it took about a week to replace. Then the main line to our sprinkler system blew out in the middle of the night and flooded and filled the gutter with a river of water that our landscaping and flowers depend on in this scorching sun and heat. Dog Days.
I look forward to the days that I work at church because it is cool there and because there is a whole community of people around. Aside from the staff and the students and teachers of the two schools that meet here, there is the constant stream of members who come by to accomplish something for their Sunday School class, or a children’s ministry activity, or a youth ministry preparation. And there are those who are driving nearby and just stop in. Not many Dog Days here. There is a vitality that prepares us to go back into the world where there are drought, disease, and unrest.
Sundays are especially respite from the Dog Days. The sanctuary is filled with people who bring freshness and comfort to my life. This summer we celebrated our preparation for Fish Fry, welcomed our new pastor Mary Beth, and were inspired and blessed by our Music Concert Worship series. Now every worship service we plan aims to be as energizing to our spirits as those.
Worship this Sunday offers us a familiar, cool, welcoming place and time to come in out of the heat of the world. We will focus on where we find relief in our weariness or in our lowest moments. The sermon “Table in the Wilderness” looks at Elijah’s story in 1 Kings 19:1-8 to inspire us as we continue our life journeys. The music, both traditional and contemporary, will be uplifting. And, most of all, we will have a chance to come together in worshiping God who gives us abundant life.
If you’ve been feeling the heat of your own ‘Dog Days,’ I invite you to join us this Sunday. Come find rest, renewal, and the joy of worshiping God together.
Blessings,
Terry Carty