Renewal

Marcus and I took a weekend off between church appointments for a little renewal time. We took Nora and the dog, Sojourner, on a camping trip to Assateague Island National Park. It was the best of both worlds for us because Marcus loves to camp and I love the beach. And it was wonderful to have down-time together as a family. The first morning, Nora woke us up at 4:15 a.m. and, realizing that she wasn't planning on going back to sleep, we packed up and headed for the beach to watch the sunrise. (Marcus and I have always said we wanted to do this, but never managed to get up early enough--aren't children great?!) It was a gorgeous morning--clear and cool--and there were none of the mosquitos on the beach that we had at the campsite. Marcus made coffee and we ate peaches and raisin bran...what a gift.

Anyway, here are some pictures:

So Grateful

Today was one of the hardest and best days of my life. It was my last Sunday at Bethesda UMC, the church that I have been blessed to serve for nearly four years. We got to sing all of my favorite songs, baptize a baby boy, consecrate our youth work camp teams, celebrate a liturgy where I returned the symbols of my office to leaders in the church, and I preached about love—God’s love and the love we have shared and will always share, even as we part ways.

After the service, there was a program where a lot of folks, in a lot of different ways, blessed Marcus, Nora and I with well wishes and thanks. There were lots and lots of tears all around. It is totally humbling to realize that my presence, my preaching, my leadership, has really mattered to people and made a difference in their lives and faith journeys.

I am so grateful to all these wonderful folks for allowing me to be a pastor to them, and for loving me enough to send me forth with their blessings. I am so grateful to Rev. Ron, my co-pastor, for sharing leadership with me and trusting and believing in me. And I am grateful to God…for everything.