Dear Saints in Santa Fe, and other far-off places— Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ! Vielen Dank!  Muchas Gracias!  Thank you so much!!! Jenny and I are back from our two-month vacation and study leave filled with deep thanks for your generosity in making this possible.  It truly was a trip of a lifetime. In the coming weeks and months, I will be sharing what I learned from our time in Australia, walking the Camino in Spain, and Germany.  But for now, here are a few insights...

Dear Saints in Santa Fe, and other far-off places— Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ! I write you from a cafe in the city center of Greifswald, a college town in northern Germany not far from the Baltic Sea. Justus, who some of you may remember when he lived with us as an exchange student in 2014-2015, is finishing medical school here and will be a full-fledged physician at the end of this year.  He and his family have been a big part of our family through the years and it has been wonderful to spend time with him again. So, Australia, Spain, and now our final destination Germany. ...

Dear Saints in Santa Fe, and other far-off places! Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ, who walked from town to town until he finally reached Jerusalem. Buen Camino! This is the greeting you will hear and quickly learn to say on the Camino.  It literally means ‘good road or path’ but it transcends such a simple definition to mean a wish of wellbeing among pilgrims (peregrinos) and an offer of a helping hand along the journey.

Dear Saints in Santa Fe, and other far-off places— Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ! The Camino de Santiago.  The Way of St. James. Like Iona, I am not sure when I first heard about this pilgrimage.  Perhaps it has been roaming around within me for years without any acknowledgment and suddenly it appeared and said it was time to go wander a bit, stretch your legs and your stamina.  And your heart. So here we are.  When you read this, Jenny and I, and daughters Gwen and Claire, will be arriving in Madrid ...

Dear Saints in Santa Fe, and other far-off places— Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ! Jet lag, church lag, and Pentecost. Before I go there, I want you to know that Jenny and I are home for a few days to regroup before we head off to Spain and the Camino, then on to Germany as the final stop on our vacation and study leave time. I am spending these days preparing for the last of my four classes in my Trauma and Spiritual Care course and will be up in the middle of the night attending class on zoom while we are in Germany. Two all-nighters, in fact. Thank you, time zones! ...

Dear Saints in Santa Fe, and other far-off places: Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ! We are in one of those far-off places. Margaret River, a four-hour drive south of Perth, then five hours by plane from Melbourne, seventeen hours from Dallas, and another couple hours from Albuquerque, then the hour drive home to Santa Fe.  Yes, it’s a far-off place and as “far off” as I have ever been.

Dear Saints in Santa Fe, and other far off places— Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ! Worship two ways. Last Sunday morning we attended worship at a Uniting Church in downtown Perth. The Uniting Church began in 1977 when Methodists, Congregationalists, and Presbyterians came together to form a new denomination based on social justice and inclusion.

Dear Saints in Santa Fe, and other far-off places, Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ! Photos and some random Aussie thoughts. Pictures down under paint 1,531.26 words (the conversion rate for 1,000) so I am sending some to you since it is such a great deal.  So is the exchange rate! Since I wrote to you last, we said goodbye to our friends in Melbourne but not before a big party of some 30-40 old friends who attended the Uniting Church in West Brunswick when Jenny did.  ...

Dear Saints in Santa Fe, and other far-off places, Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ. Australia, after eighteen years . . . Jenny and I have been in Australia for more than a week now, arriving without incident or delay after a 25-hour trip, from take-off in Albuquerque to touch-down in Melbourne. In some ways it is the same Australia we last saw eighteen years ago.... 

Dear Saints in Santa Fe, and other far-off places, Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ, who rose again this year. One mother of a junior high student made an appointment with me not long after I arrived at my first church in 1984, walked in, sat down, and asked if I was serious.  No, it was probably more like whether I was out of my mind. ...