Recently I gathered with national leaders to think about missional leadership. It was good to meet old friends and make new ones. We gathered at the Presbyterian retreat centre at Crieff, just south of Guelph, Ontario. One branch of my direct ancestry settled to farm in that area, not ten minutes away, in 1836, after arriving from the little village of Cratfield in Suffolk, England.
I used to go and walk in the woods there, mostly in spring, summer and fall. I spent Thursday mornings too working on my post-graduate thesis in the restored milk house called 'The Hermitage,' for several months of 1993. I got to know the trails and idyllic splendour of the woods in all seasons - in trails and forest beyond the barn in the photo. There's a particular place where one trail would take me, to where I would sit - on a bench at the border of forest and field. There, outlined on a sturdy sign, were words which I absorbed and which I've often since used as a benediction at the conclusion of a service of worship. They have been a blessing upon my life - and I hope will be on yours . . .
High as the sun and stars above
are the Father's plans of love -
far beyond our comprehension;
No human mind could e'er conceive
the plans by which the Father leads
His chosen ones, His children . . .
Go then in peace
and the blessing of God Almighty -
Father, Son and Holy Spirit
be with you and remain with you,
now and always.
Amen.
I used to go and walk in the woods there, mostly in spring, summer and fall. I spent Thursday mornings too working on my post-graduate thesis in the restored milk house called 'The Hermitage,' for several months of 1993. I got to know the trails and idyllic splendour of the woods in all seasons - in trails and forest beyond the barn in the photo. There's a particular place where one trail would take me, to where I would sit - on a bench at the border of forest and field. There, outlined on a sturdy sign, were words which I absorbed and which I've often since used as a benediction at the conclusion of a service of worship. They have been a blessing upon my life - and I hope will be on yours . . .
High as the sun and stars above
are the Father's plans of love -
far beyond our comprehension;
No human mind could e'er conceive
the plans by which the Father leads
His chosen ones, His children . . .
Go then in peace
and the blessing of God Almighty -
Father, Son and Holy Spirit
be with you and remain with you,
now and always.
Amen.
