When he was five, the Rev. Canon Paul D Edwards, now 93, looked at a tree and saw that it was alive with light and life. He picked up a branch, and it shone like the sun. When he came to Christ as a young man, he remembered his vision and associated it with the power of the Holy Spirit. It made him a charismatic for life in his Christian and liturgical practice. The Spirit still brims in him. When I arrived in Yorba Linda for a visit Wednesday afternoon, his son and caregiver George had to drag him away from his computer, where he was working on the text for a Facebook post.
We talked for 90 minutes in George’s kitchen, enjoying his famed pigs in a blanket and fresh fruit. Canon Paul has a bracing vision of a vibrant Episcopal Church, including clergy with modern, culturally relevant training who love Jesus and the people of God. When he writes, and he does often, he still teaches and preaches. He asked his readers yesterday, “What does Jesus call to you as he comes to you?” Among the many disciples he’s helped launch into the practice of mature and lively faith is the Rt. Rev. Mary Gray-Reeves, retired bishop of El Camino Real and former vice president of the House of Bishops, whom Paul sponsored for the priesthood.
When Bishop Eric Bloy sent him to Fullerton as vicar in 1963, the congregation was still worshiping at the local Y. They had a brand new church by 1970. A retired high school auto shop teacher, George still attends Emmanuel, where his father served as rector for 32 years until he retired in 1994.
George’s daughter Cassidy, an art teacher, joined us during our storytelling. Cassidy and her brother and sister grew up around church. She became a teacher in Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, which helps children identify the presence of God in their lives. She has also taught at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church in San Juan Capistrano, where her uncle and George’s brother, the Rev. Canon Rob Edwards, is the longtime rector.
Service and lovingkindness are in the family’s veins, like the living light in the roots and branches of Paul’s tree. The U.S. sent his brilliant father, also George, to West Germany after World War II to help rebuild the economy. After college and seminary, Paul served as a military chaplain, including in Korea, before moving to California, home state of his spouse, Anita. For many years, my host today, George, has had his heart and hands full with caregiving and mourning — first the father of his own spouse, Kelli, who lived with them until his death. His mother and Paul’s spouse, Anita, died in 2022, then Kelli the following year. Paul recently moved from Fullerton into George’s home.
Sustained by his faith and the spark of love that is so lively in this family, George does his ministry cheerfully and wonders what he’ll do with himself when he’s done caring for others. Talk about a disciple’s question.
(Photo: Cassidy, George, and Paul on Wednesday in Yorba Linda)