Dear Friends

Having not qualified for today’s Boston marathon, Kathleen and I are departing on our own marathon, a cross country and back, long awaited, retirement road trip. It will be a chance to see family and friends, historical sites and parks, and, of course, the sights and sounds and smells and tastes of our country, “the land that we love”.

Thankful that family is close by to regularly check on our home, we will be gone for a few weeks, with no definite timelines, but heading to Florida first to see Kathleen’s 98-year-old mother. Then it will be up the east coast, including a stop for lunch or dinner at the Open Kitchen, in Charlotte, NC, the site of our first date 48 years ago. We plan to go to church at our National Cathedral in DC, and eventually reach Belfast, Maine, to see dear seminary friends, just an hour from Acadia National Park. Then, it is wandering back to California. I want to stop at Field of Dreams in Iowa. Kathleen wants to stop at Skeins of Yarn in South Dakota. We’ll figure it out.

We are so thankful to be able to do this now, recognizing there will be a day when we can’t. Having finished another wonderful retirement ministry at St. Andrew’s in Fullerton, we had to take advantage of this open window before my next job in June and July at St. George’s in Laguna Hills.

The Hetch Hetchy water bottle is a reminder of my marathon hike---7 days and 47 miles to help raise funds for Restore Hetch Hetchy. The Cross Country sweatshirt is a reminder that I used to be able to run several miles at a time! The green sweatshirt I am bringing was my dad’s, including the name tag sewn in when he was in skilled nursing at Plymouth Village. We will be traveling with him in our hearts, along with my dear mother and sisters, dear Christopher and Emily, remembering all the wonderful road trips, near and far, we enjoyed with them.

And now, following a family tradition of late starts, it’s off to our first stop. We missed the Coachella Festival, so it will be Hesperia, Barstow, or Needles CA, or Kingman AZ!

Thank you for your prayers as we embrace and/or dodge whatever weather may come. I’m sure Kathleen will be posting pictures along the way.

John 

 

Holding onto and spreading Hope

 Dear Friends

Sadly, all the understandable attention on "Individual 1" has pushed aside something we should not forget. Thanks to the students protesting in Nashville, for bringing our attention back to something that happened just 10 days ago.

It took me a moment to see that above the horrible headline banner announcing the latest mass shooting, there was a sign announcing Easter services at Covenant Presbyterian, Nashville. And then, looking more closely, I saw the police vehicle labeled “Rescue 1”.

I will let the juxtaposition of the headline and these two images speak for themselves---breaking news that is becoming normal, but also the hope we are about to celebrate on Sunday, hope we cling to, sometimes with shaking hands, even as hearts are breaking again.

Lord, be with all who continue to suffer for so many reasons, in so many places. Lord, help us hold onto and share our Easter faith with others, even in the most difficult times. Lord, make me an instrument of your Easter peace and healing and yes joy, after the long night gives way to the sun, and the Son rises again.

As we complete Holy Week, let me share this blessing I recently became aware of, by Father Potter Of Peckham:

A Holy Land Blessing

May the babe of Bethlehem bring you peace;

May the child of Nazareth bring you joy;

May the man of Galilee bring you strength;

May the Christ of Calvary bring you courage;

May the risen Jesus bring you hope;

And the ascended Christ, a foretaste of His glory. 

God bless you this Easter and always! 

John