Pray and Paddle

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Pray and Paddle

Pray and Paddle is a Kayaking/Canoeing/Paddling Ministry of Rolling Ridge Retreat & Conference Center

06/11/2026

Last stop on our road trip is Charlottesville, VA home of U of Virginia and Jefferson's Monticello. Arrived early and being a Pisces and a Baptist I looked for water. On a sultry afternoon I took a long walk along the Rivanna River. In the midst of drought the river continues to provide refuge for turtles, fish and people.

Henry David Thoreau said, "It is an art to saunter." I'm doing my best!

06/10/2026

Kent's road trip marking our 250th year rolls on. A highlight is spending time in DC at the National Museum of the American Indian. Within this beautiful building stories are told of indigenous tribes who call this land 'home'.

Theirs is a story of persistence in the face of genocide. Fueled by colonizing forces under a banner of manifest destiny. Colonizers brought western disease (i.e. small pox), forced removal, broken treaties, forced reeducation of native children in boarding schools. And yet ...

And yet, Native American communities remain. Vibrant and thriving...rooted in the wisdom of their ancestors, connected deeply to the land. Living in the present and for the well being of those not yet born.

Offering essential wisdom to the majority culture.

Robin Wall Kimmerer a Citizen of the Potawatomi, PHD botanist and author of Braiding Sweetgrass, writes:

“Being naturalized to place means to live as if this is the land that feeds you, as if these are the streams from which you drink, that build your body and fill your spirit. To become naturalized is to know that your ancestors lie in this ground. Here you will give your gifts and meet your responsibilities. To become naturalized is to live as if your children’s future matters, to take care of the land as if our lives and the lives of all our relatives depend on it. Because they do.”

06/09/2026

Road trip for the 250th takes Kent to Mount Vernon, VA to the estate of George and Martha Washington. When George Washington died in 1799 at age 67, his epitaph read 'First in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen.' True. A tour takes you through their beautiful home, the gardens and vista of the great Potomac River. The plantation consisted of five farms over 8000 acres.

Behind their home are small brick cabins, 20' by 10' which each held up to 24 enslaved human beings. Who slept two to a bunk, worked six days a week, sunrise to sunset. The brick walls on a hot, humid southern day must have felt like an oven. As property they were deemed 3/5th human, with no rights and subject to physical punishment and sale.

It took 317 enslaved humans to allow George, Martha and their children to live the life of a plantation owner. This too is part of the story of our first President and of our nation.

All to say, the founding of our nation is complicated. A mix of great heroism and vision by our founders, alongside the ugliness of racism and economic gain on the backs of the enslaved.

As we look to who we are today and who we aspire to be, are there not lessons to be learned and work still to do? The preamble to the Constitution, reads "We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union..."

I think George Washington and founders understood that forming a more perfect Union, to be an ongoing work. A good and noble work for all who call this land 'home'.

06/08/2026

Road trip on our nations 250th continues, with Kent visiting the National Museum for African American History and Culture in Washington DC. Whose mission is to share the unvarnished truth of enslavement over the centuries and the triumph of the human spirit.

Around the beautiful building are pocket gardens which tell the story too of how connection to the earth in all its beauty inspires African Americans over the centuries. I thought of J. Drew Lanham, a Black ornithologist and professor at Clemson University in South Carolina.

He writes:
" I am a man in love with nature. I am an eco-addict, consuming everything that the outdoors offers its all-you-can-sense, seasonal buffet. I am a wildling, born of forests and fields and more comfortable on unpaved back roads and winding woodland paths than in any place where concrete, asphalt, and crowds prevail.”

06/07/2026

At Gettysburg, PA on July 1, 2, 3rd 1863 Union and Confederate armies massed. 50,000 casualties(dead, wounded, missing). To walk these killing fields is to feel the horror of war and lessons in courage and sacrifice.

A reminder to be wary of political leaders today who send soldiers into battle seemingly on a whim. Who may see war as a game rather than a matter of life and death.

One of the soldiers who survived the battles of Gettysburg was Corporal Jeremiah Bucklin of the Rhode Island Light Artillery, Company E. His company was in an epic battle at the Peach Orchard, where Union forces were routed.

Jeremiah Bucklin was my Great, Great Grandfather.

Yesterday i walked the fields and hilltops of Gettysburg. A place of natural beauty mixed with a deep sadness for all that was lost.

I walked too with a hope that the ideals for which Jeremiah fought, ‘we hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal’, will remain a cause worthy of our best efforts today.

06/06/2026

Kent coordinator for Pray and Paddle is on a road trip for our nations 250th anniversary to Pennsylvania, Washington DC and Virginia. Yesterday stopped by Longwood Gardens in PA, a 1000 acre arboretum.

Longwood features an exhibit by Brazilian garden architect Roberto Burle Marx 19019 - 1994, who focused on integrating nature with urban, often industrialized areas. He believed that nature restores the human spirit and is essential for living in harmony with oneself and with others. He writes:

"Nature is not something to be preserved or observed from a distance. It is something to be experienced and felt.

Every garden should have a sense of mystery, a hidden gem waiting to be discovered."

How do gardens enhance your quality of life? Enjoy these photos from Longwood Gardens (longwoodgardens.org) and if you can, add to your travels plans too.

06/05/2026

William Penn’s vision for Philadelphia's green spaces …a "greene country towne, which will never be burnt & always wholesome." To fulfill this goal, his city plan included five public squares to provide fresh air, prevent the spread of fire, and act as green oases. Penn understood parks as “the lungs of the city”.

On our last full day in Philly we explored how Penn’s vision lives on. Enjoy!

06/04/2026

On our second day in Philadelphia we visited Independence Square and the site where the founders debated independence and later the writing of a Constitution and Bill of Rights. The original 13 colonies were diverse with competing priorities. That our Union remains is the result of each generation recommitting to the ideals that shaped our founding...the checks and balances of power and a government of, by and for the people.

A few images reflect our ongoing challenge: Several months ago the Trump administration removed a tableau depicting the history and perseverance of enslaved African Americans. For President Trump this part of America's story didn't fit with the myth he seeks to create. The State of Pennsylvania brought legal action with a court ordering the tableaus put back up. In my photos, note a portion of blank brick wall, where removed depictions were damaged and not returned. This empty space tells a story .... an abuse of power, met by those who pushed back.

And another image, a young park ranger, tending to a sapling in front of Independence Hall. Planted in our 250th year. With the hope that when Americans gather for our 350th, our Union and core ideal 'we hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal' ... will continue to be strong.

No guarantee. As always the hope rests with ordinary people, like you and me. May it be so. ~ Kent Harrop

06/03/2026

Kent coordinator for Pray and Paddle is taking a week or so to visit historic sites as our nation turns 250 years. A worthy and ever fragile experiment in democracy. Along the way, Kent will reflect too on the health of our natural world.

Envisioning his new metropolis of Philadelphia as a "great nursery of both plants and ideas," founder William Penn was an avid arborist who famously grew tree saplings in bathtubs.

Today, that love of all things natural is found in parks large and small throughout the city… particularly ‘pocket parks’ where people gather.

06/02/2026

Ever feel like you're phoning it in? Perhaps not as 'alive' as you'd like to be? Such awareness can serve as an invitation to open up. To open one's heart, mind and imagination to being amazed.

Since childhood, the spiritual life has felt close by. A sense that the Creator who brought the cosmos into being is present. Mystics refer to 'liminal spaces' where the extraordinary and the ordinary meet.

Our old friend Henry was wired this way too. His life an invitation to see the miraculous in the everyday. All it takes he reminds us is eyes to see, ears to hear and a willingness to be open. Can it be that easy? Listen ...

"Talk of mysteries!—Think of our life in nature,—daily to be shown matter, to come in contact with it,—rocks, trees, wind on our cheeks! the solid earth! the actual world! the common sense! Contact! Contact! Who are we? where are we?"
~ Henry David Thoreau, "The Maine Woods"

Note: If you'd like to live like Henry, consider upcoming events via Pray and Paddle (June 20th Summer Solstice ocean kayaking prayandpaddle.org) or North Shore Sing (June 16th Summer Solstice hike nssing.org)

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