Staff Blogger: The Rev. Dr. Ned Dewire, Director of Religious Life & Church Outreach
At the end of the summer, I will retire from my position as the Director of Religious Life & Church Outreach.
This is a bittersweet moment for me. Lakeside has graciously received my wife Shirley and me, and we have come to love the spirit of Lakeside. We were privileged to see the idea of The Memorial Garden at Chautauqua Park become a reality and I am thrilled to now see a portable labyrinth at Lakeside, with a more permanent one coming soon. And of course, we cannot forget to mention the life-long friends we have found here.
Within the past decade, both at Lakeside and on a more national scale, the understanding and nature of religion has changed significantly. Within American society, there is a dramatic decrease in attendance at ‘main line churches,’ or churches at all for that matter. A growing number of individuals have been hurt by religious institutions, and trust in organized religion is scarce; ‘spiritual but not religious’ has now become the norm. In an effort to provide the community with relevant spiritual programming, I found myself working to adapt.