Generation to Generation

There sits the bishop who laid hands on my head and spoke prayers over me 15 years ago, making me a priest in Christ’s Church.

There sits the bishop who asked me to put my name in for priest-in-charge at the parish I now serve as rector. That was 13 years ago.

There sits the consultant who taught key parish leaders how to lead a capital campaign 11 years ago, which has ultimately resulted in paying down a $1 million mortgage debt.

There sits the couple who asked me to be Claggett summer camp director 9 years ago.

There sits the friend who asked me to be on the Board of the Claggett Center 6 years ago.

There sits the couple we brought to Claggett as co executive directors nearly 4 years ago.

We were gathered for an informal luncheon of the Cupola Society at the Claggett Center, and as the current leadership shared exciting developments in camp ministry and plans for the future, I understood that we were sharing more than sandwiches and chips. It was a eucharistic moment. It was a “Prayer C” eucharistic moment, where the mothers and fathers of one generation gathered to celebrate Christ’s presence with the generations to come, and with those who have gone before.

Those who have gone before

As Bishop Eugene Sutton and others recalled to our memories, there were those who came before us who fished and gathered on this land, and then were displaced by European settlement. There were those whose lives were stolen through enslavement as they worked the ground beneath our feet. There were the boys who lived int the Buckingham School, who worked in the barn and out in the fields, and studied away from home because their families were too poor to feed them. There was Bishop Powell, who in 1952 insisted (to the chagrin of some Episcopalians in the Diocese of Maryland) that the summer camps at Claggett remain racially integrated.

So many have made sacrifices throughout the generations to lay a foundation for the transforming presence of camps and congregations. Some chose those sacrifices with open and generous hearts. For others, the sacrifice was demanded of them.

So many have led us through challenges, and continue to lead us through this pandemic reality, in ways that continue to serve the needs of God’s people.

So many will pick up the mantle of leadership and carry on the good work in ways we cannot today imagine.

God uses real people in our lives to draw us to this table, real people who invite us to participate with our full selves. God uses you and me to gather others, to break bread and work together, until we become one body, one spirit.

Lord God of our Mothers and Fathers: God of Sarah, Ruth, and Rahab; of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ: Open our eyes to see your hand at work in the world about us. Deliver us from the presumption of coming to this Table for solace only, and not for strength; for pardon only, and not for renewal. Let the grace of this Holy Communion make us one body, one spirit in Christ, that we may worthily serve the world in his name. Risen Lord, be known to us in the breaking of the Bread. Accept these prayers and praises, Father, through Jesus Christ our great High Priest, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, your Church gives honor, glory, and worship, from generation to generation. AMEN.

-Eucharistic Prayer C, found in the Book of Common Prayer, 1979. (pages 369-372)

“Putting Claggett on the map” with newly hired Co Executive Directors Lisa Marie & James Ryder in 2018 at the General Convention of the Episcopal Church held in Austin, TX.