I am writing this article while on vacation at
Kanuga, a church Conference Center in Hendersonville, NC. In many ways I spiritually grew up in this
place, and I continue to encounter God on each return visit. I return year after year seeking his face,
the touch of His hand and the sound of His voice. I seem to always find it. As I have shared with many of you at Holy
Trinity, there is a particular place on the trail on the far side of the lake
that I consider, as the Celtic Christians say, my Thin Place; that is, it is that place for me where the fabric between
heaven and earth is drawn so thinly that it seems I can almost reach through
and touch the face of God. What happens
instead, however, God always reaches through and touches me first.
This year among all the years has a special
significance. My son, his wonderful wife
and my two extraordinarily perfect grandsons (a grandfather’s perspective) are
here with Nancy and me this year. It is
a special time because I was coming here with my parents when I was my
three-year-old grandson’s age. Nancy and
I summer after summer brought our children here. Now our son is bringing his children
here. This week at Kanuga thus represents
four generations of Hartley’s who have been blessed by this place. Kanuga in that sense has become part of my family’s spiritual
inheritance.
As I was walking to my Thin Place before Eucharist yesterday morning, it came to me how
extraordinarily important it is that we indeed pass on to our children and
grandchildren their spiritual inheritance.
I am not just talking about a spiritually significant place like this
place; I am talking about something much more important. I am talking about handing down the Faith to
the next generations- telling them that Old, Old Story, introducing them to
Jesus, witnessing to the blessings of the Christian life. This is their true spiritual
inheritance. Perhaps as you are reading this you are
thinking that your spiritual heritage got short-circuited somewhere along the way, or never
existed in your family to begin with, but it is not too late for you to make your
Faith your children’s and grandchildren’s inheritance. Father
Rob
