The Months Ahead

Dear Friends,

I can’t believe this is my last newsletter opening before our Sabbatical—like so many things that are planned and anticipated for a long time—it went from months and months away to—6 weeks.

We’ve been trying to share dates and plans over the past few months, but my guess is many of you are wondering—when will we leave? Where are we going? When will we be back? What will be happening at Trinity while we’re gone?

The answer to the last question is shared on a different page of the newsletter— (page 5) but—here are the basics of our plans:

Sunday, May 1 will be our last Sunday in Worship. We plan to preach a “co-sermon”—because of course neither of us could let the other have the “last word.” We’ll walk in the CROP Walk that afternoon, and then we are very much looking forward to the “Send-Off” party at 5 that afternoon (page 5 of the April newsletter).

We’ll be hitting the road pretty fast, leaving for Ireland the evening of May 3. We’ll spend the next 5 weeks in the British Isles, visiting a retreat center on one of the Aran Islands, walking the Kerry Camino, staying a few nights at Solas Bridhe, a retreat center with both Christian and Celtic Spirituality roots based in the tradition of St. Bridget; a week at Iona in Scotland, then time on the Isle of Skye, and finally down to England, where we’ll visit the home of St. Julian of Norwich and end our trip in London, visiting with Kelsey Jessup, and flying home for a few weeks in June.

We’ll spend that June time in the Adirondacks, some with family, and some hiking in “thin places” there . . .

And then, back across the Atlantic to France, where we’ll visit the beaches of Normandy, spend a week tenting at Taizé, and then a few days in Paris, visiting “thin places” in that city. Then we’ll fly to Rome, where we’ll stay a few days before going to the Palazzo Grande in Umbria, Italy, near Assisi; this is a bonus part of our trip, a villa turned hotel owned by a friend of my cousins, where we will be able to stay for free for about a week, and then take side trips to various thin and beautiful places. I will spend my birthday in this beautiful site—can’t believe we are so lucky to have this opportunity.

Back again to the states for some family events and Tim’s annual Festival of Biblical Storytelling, and then the final leg of the trip—to Spain where we are hiking one of the Caminos del Santiago—the Camino Primitivo, which is said to be the first of the Caminos, dating to the 9th Century when Spanish king Alfonso II walked the Camino in the IX century to commemorate the discovery of the remains of apostle St. James in Compostela a couple of years earlier.

Home again in time for Labor Day weekend, when we’ll celebrate Keith and Jess’s wedding here at Trinity, in the Pines, then we’ll have a week for “re-entry”—unpacking, laundry, etc.—and we’ll join you all at Camp Fowler for the weekend of September 9-11 for a “Welcome Home Retreat” to be led by Rev. Lynn Carmen-Bodden, a good friend and Pastor with experience in leading transitional events.

From then on, we’ll be truly “back”—with our first Sunday back in the pulpit to be on September 18.

We will miss you all when we are gone, it will certainly be odd to be away for such a long time—but we trust that you will take good care of each other (and, we know we are leaving you with good Pastoral leadership in Rev. Jonathan Vanderbeck) and that we’ll have lots to share with each other the weekend of the retreat, and beyond. We hope to come back refreshed, spiritually energized, and that along with what you all learn together while we are gone, we’ll all head into the new program year with renewed spiritual depth and new ideas for our life together as a community.

By the time you read this, we’ll have about a month left! Lots to fit into the time, including Easter and the joy of resurrection! Hope to see you all during this month, and wishing you blessings for the time we are apart.