Having returned from our family reunion, this year at Dauphin Island, I'm delighted that our family has been able to keep itself together. It's a real effort to gather everyone together because we are so separated geographically and at times spiritually. In spite of--or at times, I think, because of--our differences, the blood of us Harnacks runs thick and deep. As paterfamilias, I'm so privileged to have such a wonderful bunch of kids, grandchildren, nieces, and nephews. O yes, we argue a good bit (mostly about politics), but in the end there's always the huggings, the looking forward to seeing one another again, and the prayers that sustain us in our variety and differences. Some of us are politically conservative (yea, a libertarian!), others are liberal (listening, of all things, to NPR!), and others largely a-political. But in blood, and I like to think, in the blood of Christ, we are a real family. One, Carol, comes with enormous forgiveness in heart, and her presence is the light of Christ among us. Others come with professional preoccupations, overloads of work that don't disappear even on vacation times. Still others come as precious children, innocent of our family's history, but eager and willing to be lilke the children about whom Jesus says "are of the kingdom of God." For all who came to this year's week-long reunion, I give heartfelt thanks to God for their presence, their determination to keep the tradition going, and their holding of hands in prayer and in grace before our meals. It's all quite wonderful!