The Rev. James Adelmann at the coffee hour prior to his sabbatical leave. The Reverend James Adelmann of the Garden City Community Church will be taking his fourth sabbatical since being called in May of 1980 .He will spend a few weeks at the Ghost Ranch, a Presbyterian-owned retreat center, in Abiquiu, New Mexico. While there he will participate in two courses of study. One is called "The Wisdom of the Desert." The early Christian monastics we now call the Desert Mothers and Fathers make up part of a great tradition of wisdom teaching that rose out of encounter with the desert, a tradition that still has great relevance for us today. This course will employ the sayings of the Fathers and Mothers and wisdom from other desert traditions to help participants along with their own reflections on simplicity, silence, self-examination, brokenness, grief, forgiveness, and community.

After worship on Sunday, May 24, the congregation gathered at the coffee hour to wish Reverend Adelmann well and to enjoy a delicious "best wishes" cake.

Beginning on Sunday, June 21 and continuing through September 13, Garden City Community Church will hold only a single worship service in the sanctuary at 9:30 a.m. Communion will be offered at the services on August 2 and September 6. The regular fall schedule will resume on Rally Day, September 20, with services at 8:30 and 10:30 a.m.

Garden City Community Church is part of the United Church of Christ. Worship services are Sundays at 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., with church school for children and a crib room for infants and toddlers at the later service. Garden City Community Church is located at Stewart Avenue and Whitehall Blvd. For more information, call 746-1700 or visit our website at www.gardencitycommunitychurch.org.