W3 weekend away

A couple of hours ago we got back from the W3 pastorate weekend away. I am quite exhausted, purely from the drive back I think (as I slept fairly well on the weekend) but it was an amazing weekend. It was quite unlike any other weekend away I've been on. I'm used to, when you go on a weekend away, everything being very regimented in terms of timings and packing as much in as possible. But it was really refreshing to have a weekend away which was just that, a weekend away; where it was really chilled, with a retreat-like feel, where we could just have fun hanging out with each other and with God (I almost didn't know what to do with myself at the beginning, but then it flew by so fast!) We did have so much fun. I couldn't possibly do justice in summing it up, but some of the highlights included the drives down and back, the beach on saturday afternoon, the French evening on sat (some amazing costumes - photos going up on facebook soon), the worship time this morning, the duck race in Porlock (very funny), and just hanging out with friends. Basically, it was all great.

I love W3 so much and am so glad I joined this year. It takes a little while to feel comfortable anywhere, and there are still so many people I don't know too well, but at the same time, W3 does contain some of my best friends at church. And what I love most about W3 is just that sense of being family. That's what it felt like this weekend - just hanging out with each other as family. It got me thinking about how, it's not just a case of how W3 'feels' like family. Actually, we ARE family. We're all part of the body of Christ; sons and daughters of Christ (the whole Church - in the widest sense, not just W3). So we ARE family. That is our identity, whether we accept it or not. It's just a case of how well do we live out of that new identity, showing that it is true. (Something I've been thinking about a lot, not just in terms of family. Cause that's what a lot of the Christian life seems to be about - we HAVE been given this new identity; it's learning to live out of that and to live believing that it's true.) It's difficult being family a lot of the time. We can annoy each other, have the potential to hurt each other more as we're so close. But when it works, it's amazing.

Another hard thing about family is leaving. When I go home for a bit to see my family and then leave again, I feel SO homesick. Like a big part of me has been torn out. I'm beginning to feel that maybe this year, W3 and generally Woodies has been beginning to also feel a bit more like a second family. My wider family. I'm scared that if I end up leaving Bristol at the end of this year, I'll feel homesick in the same way; like a big part of me has been torn out. For that reason I find it hard sometimes to let myself get close to people, when there isn't anything I want more really. But I do know that, as people have said to me, that family is family. I'll still be welcomed back when/if I stay/come back. And there is a wider family I'm part of now, which I'll always now be part of. And even if I do end up leaving Bristol, that won't stop be being a part of that amazing family, and God will find me another part of his family to start to belong to.

I think being family with one another is something we're all learning how to live out and something which we will be working out for the our whole lives. But personally, I think the start W3 has in this area isn't too bad :-D