A Day To Connect
The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body, so it is with Christ…Now the body [of Christ] is not made up one part but of many. 1 Corinthians 12:12-14
It was a beautiful scene… looking down the beach at St. Christopher and seeing nothing but St. Michaelites swimming, kayaking, making sand castles, playing volleyball, tug of war, but most importantly… CONNECTING!
Our primary goal for the Michaelmas Lowcountry Parish Day Away was for deep connections to be made, a day to look inward and celebrate the relationships that surround us so lovingly in St. Michael’s!
I will take away many memories of this grand day, but two stick out. The first was a tug of war match, involving adults. It looked pretty clear that one side had a “heavier” advantage and sure enough as soon as the tugging began they began to win. However inexplicably, within minutes the momentum turned and the other side began pulling their way to victory which they did! After tugging as hard as I could for the side that lost, I asked several on the other squad how they won. Turns out that as they were losing they decided to marshall all their strength and began to count..1-2 pull… 1-2 pull. That teamwork won them the match! What a great metaphor for the Gospel. When we mobilize together we can do so much more than we can simply as individuals.
The second memory in my mind comes from around 5:00 pm that afternoon. We had established a day with two tracks. The first track began at 1:00 pm with games in the gym, followed by games on the beach. The second track was for people who couldn’t be there for the whole day but wanted to come for dinner, presentations and singing around the bonfire with marshmallows and treats. So, it was wonderful as that second track came shortly before dinner, many of our more “mature” members evened out our age groups! After dinner Peter Moore, Justin Hare and I all talked about men and women who in our lives had connected with us in such a way that was life changing. As part of those talks, we invited our very youngest parishioner and our most mature! Infant Anders Larsen Turner, and Jane Thornhill both came to the microphone and Jane told some great stories of connection within the parish.
It was just a beautiful day top to bottom. Many thanks to our Chairs: Cindy and Sam Hines, and their Co-Chairs Ashley and Matt Severance and their teams! I’m thrilled to say that next year, the Hines and Severances will lead again as Chairs, their Co-Chairs will be Susannah and Matt Hubble. Mark your calendars now for next year and remember, it won’t be our day away, it will be our Weekend Away at Kanuga, September 9-11, 2012.
Thank you for your enthusiastic coordination of Michaelmas/St. Christopher day this past weekend. What a wonderful event.
I mentioned to you that 6 years ago, on my 60th birthday, Ann, Avery/Ben, & Cope and I traveled to the south of France. It was part of an event that changed my way of thinking about God through our “Passport Story” (not to be confused with the Passover Story). You can imagine that it was a wonderful time together, traveling through Paris and on to Provence where we rented a wonderful house, traveled extensively and enjoyed day after day of special meals.
You can also imagine my own initial enthusiasm (not!) for attending St. Christopher on another milestone birthday – my 66th. I looked forward to last Saturday with little excitement, thinking, selfishly, of my 60th birthday and what a letdown, by comparison, my 66th would be.
Well, how wrong could I have been. I spent a day with my St. Michael’s family – saw dozens of children, including my own grandchildren, run & play, yelp and laugh, and heard almost 200 of my church family sing “happy birthday” to me. Gathered around a campfire, my birthday ended with praise & campfire music, preceded by your wonderful message about “Connections”. Peter Moore, after I think he completed filming his Coppertone ad on the beach, also gave a wonderful talk about the 5 people he would like to meet in heaven. Seemed like heaven at the moment.
My Passport story taught me that God answers the smallest, often the most selfish of prayers. He also taught me that we are often led in directions we don’t want to go, only for us to find it was THE place to go. Thank you again for your vision that led us all to St. Christopher last Saturday.
Fred WIllis