June 26, 2024
Grace and peace to each of you wherever you may be this week. As I write, I’m looking forward to gathering this afternoon with our vestry, nominating committee, and Canon Sally Ulrey from the Diocese of Atlanta.
On the agenda will be a review and discussion of the interpreted results from the Congregational Assessment Tool (CAT) survey. The nominating committee will use these results to create the Parish Profile, and the vestry will utilize the CAT results for long-range strategic planning purposes. This is a key moment on our journey toward calling our new rector. I am so very proud of the good work you are all doing in this season.
Thank you, to each of you who have contributed to this survey, and in all the ways you serve Holy Family…including our intrepid Grounds Crew working in the summer heat and humidity; and our Flower Guild, Choir, Outreach, Hospitality, Worship, and Parish Life committees, and on and on, all the many ways you give so much to our beloved parish. I’ve been thinking lately about all those who came before us at Holy Family, with its rich history of both trials and moments of uncertainty, as well as resilience, grace, and a strong and steadfast spirit. I am so grateful for our Holy Family, and I am hopeful that the good work we have been called to do in this moment will bring us into a hopeful future.
Jesus encouraged us to become like little children,
June 19, 2024
Juneteenth, which we observe today, is a day of remembering and rejoicing. On June 19, 1865 after the Emancipation Proclamation was effective on January 1, 1963, enslaved persons in Texas finally heard the news! Declaring Juneteenth a national holiday does not, of course, solve our issues, but it can help us to “re-member” and live into the hope it represents.
The sacred lifework of racial healing is far from done and requires courage to foolishly live in the way of real Love that transforms, heals, reconciles, and brings peace. We are God’s partners and the time is now. Upon receiving the National Medal of Honor, Congressman John Lewis said “I want to see young people in America feel the spirit of the 1960s, and find a way to get in the way…To find a way to get into trouble. Good trouble, necessary trouble.” ~John Lewis
Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States. Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19th that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. Note that this was two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation – which had become official January 1, 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation had little impact on the Texans due to the minimal number of Union troops to enforce the new Executive Order.
June 12, 2024
Yellowstone Musings – Deep time
Psalm 77
77:17 The clouds poured out water; the skies thundered; your arrows flashed on every side. 77:18 The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind; your lightning’s lit up the world; the earth trembled and shook. 77:19 Your way was through the sea, your path, through the mighty waters; yet your footprints were unseen. 77:20 You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
Vicky and I recently hosted our older son and his family, visiting from Montana where they have lived for several years. We delight in having our twin 7-year-old grandchildren, born in Montana, here in the Southern Appalachians, a biome quite different from theirs! They refer to our home as being in the “forest” and are fascinated with the profusion of green this time of year. We also enjoy visiting Montana, which we have come to love.
A while back, we visited Yellowstone Park, and our journey from Billings to Yellowstone took us into the Beartooth Mountains by way of the eponymous highway, a spectacular drive. The Beartooth Mountains are composed of Precambrian and metamorphic rocks, dated at approximately 4 billion years old. Expansive plateaus are found at altitudes in excess of 12,000 feet. With miles of alpine meadows where no meadows should be—a lovely plateau atop a mountain range—one begins to sense that the normal “rules” of geology don’t apply here. The Beartooth have over 300 lakes and waterfalls.
June 5, 2024
After the Boston Marathon bombings several years ago, a friend asked me whether, as a veteran of the marathon, I would make a public statement about the events there, and whether I would return to Boston. And, she asked me if the bombings would deter me from running the Peachtree Road Race that year. My response to both questions was the same. My “statement” was to get out with friends the next day, and run, and to run on July 4th.
In Paul’s letter to the Galatians, we are reminded that “For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Galatians 5:1, 13-25)
We live in a complex world that is always changing and the response of any system—whether a family, a business, an economy, a church, or an ecosystem—to the shocks and disturbances of change depends on a number of factors. One of the adages of my band of trail runners is “Conditions may vary.” In other words, we seek to be prepared for the inevitable changes of the trail conditions, weather, and our own minds and bodies as we venture forth,