Next Steps - The Trip Ends, the Journey Continues

So here we sit in the Newark airport in the we hours of the morning waiting for our flight home. We are tired and ready to be home.

We have had an incredible trip,
have seen so many holy sites,
have been challenged by wonderful speakers and situations,
have learned about the complexities of this beautiful land and its even more beautiful people,
have argued and cried together,
have renewed our baptisms and celebrated communion,
have been encouraged to transfer all we have learned into our daily lives.

We return home completely changed in ways we have identified but in many more ways that we are as of yet unaware. This trip, our fellow travelers, the people we met along the way, will continue to work on us for days, months, years to come.

And now, here is the challenge . . .
be patient with ourselves. The changes will not transfer overnight.
continue the process we have begun.
never forget.
This is a lifelong calling toward a lifelong journey of faith together. And it is only together with all of our perspectives; all of our experiences; all of our lives that we will find a way forward.

We are humbled by the presence and history of those who have gone before us.
We are encouraged by those who walk beside us.
We are reminded of the place and purpose we have in this beautifully complex and wonderfully messy world in which we live.
May we find the courage to be human together and appeal to our better angels to leave this world a more wonderful place because we have been a part of it.

Thank you for your prayers!
The trip is over, but now the real work begins . . .