I spent several days this week at Serra Retreat Center in Malibu, California, for the American Baptist Ministers Council Executive Committee. If you’re tired of winter, click here to see some gorgeous photos and video of the retreat center and its setting. My favorite is #04. It was a real gift to experience some sunshine and the glorious view (not to mention my colleagues and our time together talking about how best to support ministers in their work).
I often think and write about the impact of past generations on the present — “the presence of the past” as scientist Rupert Sheldrake puts it. Someone gave that property I found such a blessing this week. Most of us in church life experience daily and weekly the blessings of the financial gifts of those who came before us, through church buildings, endowment funds, and ministries begun in the past. I’m grateful.