Our first familial reconnect was with our 20 year old, Zoe.  Zoe is in her 3rd year at Uni and we enjoyed spending a few days with her in what she considers her city,  

Wellington.  Zoe loves her academic work and she and her flat mates are well suited for one another.

We then spent a week in Dunedin with our son, Ian.  Ian is 22 and has started his first Post-Uni job.  His graduation was the main reason for the placing and positioning of our holiday.  Ian and his girlfriend, Kerri, plan to work in Dunedin for a year, save as much "dosh as poss" (money as possible) and then set out for their OE (Overseas Experience, something of a Kiwi Institution).   

As you might imagine, leaving Ian and Zoe behind in NZ has been exceedingly difficult.  We are comforted by the fact that they are doing so well.  And we enjoyed our brief catch up with them immensely.  Equally, we are grateful that we were able to spend time with old mates.  I will say, without exception, our Kiwi friends wanted to know heaps about where we have landed (I'll come back to that one).

In Wellington, Tracy and I stayed with a priest from my former diocese.  He shifted to Wellington right before we shifted to San Joaquin.  He talked about his work in his inner city parish, hence this brief ecclesial reflection.  Brian, a fine cleric over whom I think I had considerable influence, recounted his Holy Week experience of this year, specifically, Good Friday.  He decided that instead of having the same Stations of the Cross Service with the same 15 people in attendance, he would opt for a different approach.  Brian, along with various social and governmental agencies in his city, hired a bus.  The bus traveled to a series of stops throughout the city where well documented human rights/social justice events occurred in the past.  A reading was offered at each stop, along with a very brief reflection and a prayer.  This was a missional Stations of the Cross and the day before the service, Brian realized one bus simply would not do, a second bus was hired.  By far-and-away, the majority of people occupying spaces on those buses had never stepped foot in Brian's inner city parish.  And there is a very good chance that none of those occupants will step foot now.  But, I can assure you of this, they know something about the church they didn't know prior to their mobile SofC experience.  And when help is needed, someone on that bus will have an idea who to call and where to go.  Brian was prompted to recount this occasion after I told him about "Stories of the Bag" and "Tour against Trafficking" and other missional-movements in SJ.  Everyone who queried us about SJ was extraordinarily interested in the recent history of this diocese and "what we're up to" at present.

All this is to say SJ, I deeply believe, we are on the right track.  We are endeavoring to ensure that we are known in our respective communities.  We are endeavoring to make certain that an Episcopal Presence in known wherever we are.  We are endeavoring to develop a new (which is really old, actually) ecclesiology, one that has little to do with plant and property and far more to do with relationships, far more to do with being church and not simply attending church.

Again, SJ, it is good to be home.

Blessings
+David