A Word from the Pastor – Back from Sabbatical

Hello! I stepped back into work this week after an incredible three month sabbatical. I am so so thankful for the entire experience. Thankful that this church already knew sabbaticals are good for ministers’ stamina and sanity. Thankful for all the support that the congregation showed me by encouraging and helping me to go. Thankful for the staff and volunteers who stepped up and did extra work while I was gone. I’m thankful all around.
 
Both my preparation time in Durham and my Scotland pilgrimage were deeply impactful. So just be ready for all of my sermon illustrations to be about walking, pilgrimage, and Scotland from here on out! It inspired me, challenged me, and blessed me. The retreats I had at the start and finish of my pilgrimage include multiple daily prayer and worship times, which was the perfect bookend for my weeks of walking. (Hiking over the Scottish Highlands in heavy rain, 30 mph winds, no cell signal, and no other humans for miles gave me a new appreciation of 1 Thessalonians 5:16b, “Pray continually”!)
 
I was pleased to see some good new stuff that’s happened around the church since I was gone (the showers are done!), and I’m ready to help more good improvements happen too (sanctuary technology updates that have been needed for a few decades). So I’m excited for us to keep walking together into the bright future God wants us to reach. Even if some of the steps are steep and slippery, I’ve done lots of those. (As the Scots say, “It’s ne bother.”) So we’ll keep going forward, with God’s help, step by step.