We had a great time in Ft. Myers with family and are on the way now to Israel! Can’t believe this trip has finally arrived – I have truly wanted to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land since I was very young. I know from Lynne and many others what a great experience this will be and I am so excited that Jennifer can make this voyage with me.

Stay tuned for lots of pictures and reflections. I am keeping a diary as we go, and will share some of those thoughts as well. Also my plan is to continue saying Morning Prayer for the entire time of my Sabbatical, so if that is your habit as well (or if you want to start it), know we will be joining together in prayer each day.

My prayers for all the St. Patrick’s family continue. I do hope you are taking advantage of the workshops being offered. Blessings to all graduates, school teachers, Sunday School teachers and administrators as the school year wraps up.

And speaking of prayers – say one for our very own Clelie McCandless as she prepares to be ordained Deacon on June 4th. I do hope many of you can make the trip to the Cathedral to join with Clelie and her family on this special day. I am so proud of her!

Christ’s Peace to all – more to come from the Holy Land!

Fr. David+

We are having a great time decompressing on our trip to see family in South Florida. Weather has been amazing!
It’s good to catch up with family we don’t get to see as much as we would like to.

Thanks to everyone who helped with our great send off! Next week Israel!

Sunday May 15th I am celebrant and preacher at St. Patrick’s before my Sabbatical begins. We will have a party after church to wish us well on our time away. I am really excited, a little anxious, and looking forward to this adventure, a great gift and blessing.

Stay tuned on this blog for pictures and updates of our travels and adventures. God bless you all! You are in good hands, St. Patrick’s, while I am gone.

Oh and this is a picture of where I have been invited to preach – Keble College at Oxford University (the REAL Oxford!).

Another Holy Week is in the book – and it was very nice. While attendance for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services was down some from previous years (I really wish our local schools would not take spring break during Holy Week every year), we set a record for attendance at the Easter Vigil (and that was with no baptisms) and had a packed house today for Easter Sunday. The church looked great! We had a crew of twenty something folks buzzing around Saturday morning, mowing, power washing, weed eating, painting, decorating and cleaning. It was fun to see and participate in. The Easter Vigil was absolutely amazing – our story tellers really rocked the house this year! And the music – wow. Our Chamber Ensemble did 4 spirituals, one after each of the story teller’s presentations and they were outstanding, spirit filled gifts. Our music leader, John Westley Hodges, is really a blessing to our church. Our own seminarian, Clelie McCandless, preached the homily and we renewed our baptismal vows as I aspurged the congregation. A beautiful candlelit liturgy of the word led to the first Alleluia of Easter and then Eucharist.

Today was special also, with great music, high energy, LOTS of bell ringing and a church full of KIDS! So much fun. One of our families provided an Easter egg hunt before church which was awesome, and a wonderful reception after the service.

An extra blessing was having my two daughters home for Easter weekend and we all had a great time. And of course, following lunch and after all 3 kids got on the road – the post Holy Week nap! SWEET!

Now I move into short timers syndrome as the clock ticks down to my Sabbatical – starts May 15th!