Happy 79th Birthday, Dad!

I made it to Goose Creek State Park campground to meet up with my mom and dad in order to celebrate his 79th birthday. My dad’s sister (my aunt Hope) and my cousin Rob were here camping also. My sister, Angel, and her husband, Jason, drove down from their house near Raleigh.  

Today was a beautiful ride day! I started off by attending worship at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Salisbury, NC. It was an Episcopal “standard” spoken Rite I service at 8 a.m. I call the 8 a.m. service one of the only sacred cows that the Episcopal Church has left. You can change the world, but don’t mess with the 8 a.m. service! I don’t care if you have 4 people there! (Just kidding!).

I arrived at Goose Creek SP at about 3:45 p.m. in time to gather with the family to celebrate dad’s birthday. It was pretty cool to have me and my sister there with him as well as his sister. I spoke yesterday of the importance of family connections. It’s pretty amazing how when you’re back together as a group, regardless of how much we’ve aged or how much distance there is between where we live, the family dynamics are virtually the same. My sister is still my sister. My Aunt Hope is still my Aunt Hope. 

Today’s scripture from the gospel according to John (vs. 17:20-26) is the part of the farewell discourse where Jesus prays for his disciples to be one as he and the Father are one. I’ve always wondered why there are so many schisms within the church. There is a saying, “the Church can survive heresy, but it will never survive schism.” I don’t feel that the fragmented church is Jesus’ vision of unity. If we are one in Christ, we should be able to be together and worship together without condemning one another. But, I digress.

In family systems, we focus on relationships with others by learning who they are. A parish is very much like a family system. If we get to know one another, we can build healthy relationships as we worship and grow in faith together. Hopefully that will lead to the unity that Jesus is talking about.

Challenge to St. James: Continue to build bridges inside and outside the church, especially with those whom you don’t know well. Continue to invite and welcome others into the fellowship of St. James.

Challenge to Self: It seems that even after 58 years, I am still learning my own family. It may be that we never stop learning. My challenge is to remain patient with them as I try to learn who they are and they learn who I am.

Salisbury, NC to Washington, NC

Ride: 234 miles

Sunny and 73°

Still reading Jesus and the Powers