OK, first of all, we are still alive - if any of you are still checking this blog, after what is, we admit, quite a lengthy period of silence. Secondly, there may be a way of placing pictures somewhere other than at the beginning of a blog entry, but we haven't mastered it. We realise that putting a picture of Chris with a gun next to the opening words, "doing what we have talked about for so long" may not have given the impression we intended...
Be assured that no guns were fired during the period this post describes. Your challenge in this blog entry is to decipher who is writing any given sentence! From Minnesota we travelled west to Seattle and arrived in beautiful sunshine with stunning views of the Cascade mountains from the air. We spent the weekend with Karen Ward and the crew at Church of the Apostles (COTA). Karen kindly gave up her bed for us and we spent several days learning loads about the emerging church movement from Karen and other guests.
In some ways COTA and hOME have lots of similarities (ancient-future exploration, music, visuals, icons, prayer stations) and in other ways they are quite different. After the COTA service Chris and I looked at each other and said 'at the end of the day, it's just church!' ... we meant it in a good way, there was a sense of the congregation seeking after God very sincerely. It might have felt more traditional than usual 'cos it was a confirmation service with the Bishop preaching and Karen was in robes etc. The congregation definitely appreciate Karen's humble leadership. She got a standing ovation after the Bishop told them that Brian McClaren (of a 'New Kind of Christian' fame) had told the Lambeth conference that COTA was the place for Anglicans to go check out the cutting edge of the emerging church movement. We were intrigued to notice that Karen was a black woman in her 40s leading a congregation of 20s and 30s white folk. Quite unusual.
While in Seattle we looked up my (K's) friend Kathy from Miami days. Seattle is her home town and she was a generous tour guide taking us all over town, starting with a great brunch at a typical diner. We saw the salmon running upstream to their spawning grounds. Took in Pike place market and the first ever Starbucks coffee house, enjoyed a trip across Elliott Bay and multiple amazing views of the city. Thanks Kathy!
We have been glad to find that people on the West Coast of the U.S. enjoy coffee, wine and beer as much as we do (and maybe more)!! Most of our good conversations have been accompanied by at least one or more of those items!
After Seattle we headed north to the San Juan islands. Having decided that our money had been disappearing more quickly than planned (as ever), we concluded that camping was the answer and went out and purchased a tent, sleeping bags and roll mats. Our strategy since has been to camp as much as possible and at least until we are too smelly and tired to go without a shower and a good night's sleep in a real bed!
We took the ferry from Anacortes to Orcas island and discovered an area of breathtaking beauty. The combination of ocean, wooded islands, snow-capped mountains and clear blue skies were glorious. We camped by a lake, hiked up a decent hill (1509 feet) to an incredible vista and kayaked in search of whales...who were a little elusive that day. We enjoyed seeing bald eagles, porpoise, harbour seals, kingfisher, woodpecker, chipmunks and squirrels. I think it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. The fog came down on the ferry on the way back to the mainland...I probably wouldn't feel quite the same way if I was there during the months of the year when it is foggy and rainy for days on end! So we were very grateful to clear sunny days.
After that we headed on and arrived in an area called the southern Cascades, south east of Seattle. After a couple of nights' camping during which our backs took a bit of jip, I came up with a cunning plan: the problem seemed to be that on a bed or something with some give, one's bum sinks down to some degree. On a firm surface this does not happen as much as it should, so we had the (we think - ingenious) idea of burrowing two sort of bum dents in the wood chippings we were camping on. You will be pleased to know that we both had good long sleeps that night! Feel free to try this method yourselves...
We had seen on the map a mountain in a beautiful part of the country which we thought it might be good to investigate - Mount Adams. On closer cartographic inspection, it became evident that said mountain was indeed, a mountain (and not a hill, as in the UK - four times Scafell Pike's height as a matter of fact) and so our hiking did not get us anywhere near the top, though we did reach 6,000 feet (OK, we started at at 4,000...). It was a really beautiful day and the sun shone through the pine trees until we reached horseshoe meadow, where we got a clearer view of the mysterious peak. We walked for four hours and met only one other person during the whole time. It was wonderful to be away from civilisation and it was such a still day that when we stopped we could here absolutely nothing at all. The air was dry, thin and, for want of a better word, woody. We would have liked to hike further but knew we had to be in Eugene, Oregon by 7pm to visit some members of the Church of the Servant King. Despite not factoring in Friday tea time rush hour traffic (it's sometimes difficult to remember what day it is travelling - in fact for most of the day I thought it was Saturday for some reason, and when we stopped briefly at an internet cafe to print off our directions to the community, I was disappointed not to find Saturday's footie results...)
Anyway, to Church of the Servant King. What's in a name? Well, I have to say, from start to finish of our stay, these lovely people served us. Serving one another, and hospitality are some of their major emphases, and we will never forget their kindness, all carried out without great ceremony and very naturally. They have about seven houses which the members of the community live in and we were given a very comfortable room in one of them. Different members of the community each gave us a meal, and answered all our questions as well as showing real interest in us, our trip and our lives. We were also taken walking, and even wine tasting!
The connection with Church of the Servant King came via K's fuller flatmate and friend, Gail, who together with husband Chris and twins Alexander and Oliver, lives in Eugene and has many connections to the folk in the church. It was fab to see the Spinks family (now twice the size it was when we were last together!) - thanks guys for great food, wine and chat!
I, Chris that is, think the highlight of our time with COSK was the gathered worship service on Sunday evening - preceded by a meal for all - more than 40 or so. I won't describe all the service, but communion (actually in a sense it was all communion) was beautiful with the wine served to one another with the opportunity to tell the person you were serving something affirming. It was a privilege to be with people who have chosen to live together and love each other for the long haul. If you join, the expectation is that you will commit for life - in some ways, an incredible undertaking, but even in our brief stay we could sense the the depth of relationships and the shared journeys that this type of discipleship fosters. If you are reading this, CoSK folks, thank you again for giving us food, drink (Brits, the beer here is actually really good!) - both physical and spiritual, something of yourselves - and much to ponder. You have challenged and inspired us to think about what it means to be the body of Christ on this earth. We will miss you and would love to think that we might see some of you again.
Hopefully we'll upload some photos soon.
