Dear Church,
I write to you on my first morning back from my sabbatical. What a gift it was to have three months of rest, learning, reflection and connection outside the usual responsibilities of my pastor role!
I think I’ll have more words to describe what my sabbatical was like when I’ve been back a little longer, but it was certainly a kind and vibrant space to learn more about my community, to connect with my beloved family and friends, and to ask, anew, what God is doing in my town and in my heart.
Since I was last at this desk at the end of July, I’ve spent time studying how our community works. I’ve seen the Statue of Liberty while praying about what it means to truly welcome the stranger. I’ve opened up my heart in the midst of earth’s largest known life-form, a 2,300-acre, thousands-year old fungus. I’ve dug a bit further into the history of my town and my neighborhood. I’ve been honored to study with native folx in the Northwest Indian College class I’m taking, Philosophy of the Natural World. And I’ve cried at books, movies, and stories of towns that come together for each other.
You’re invited to join me on the evening of November 30 at 7:00 pm, for a shared time of learning and reflection that arises out of my sabbatical journey. (I’m not quite sure what this will look like yet, but I think it will be engaging and rich. And probably fun.) But you’re also invited to keep listening with me: what are you hearing from your city these days? From your immediate neighbors and those farther afield? What does the great unseen network of the Spirit’s love call forth from you, and what is it waiting to bless you with?
I’m so glad to be back in the office, and I look forward to connecting (and re-connecting!) with many of you in the coming weeks. Next Thursday I’m heading out for another week of study with my colleagues at the Next Generation Leadership Initiative, a cohort program of young(ish) UCC clergy from across the denomination. (And I hope to get a bit more vacation time in before the end of the year!) But in general, I’ll be around, and eager to hear about what’s new in your life, and what’s familiar. What are you celebrating? What are you mourning? What’s growing underground that you are, even now, beginning to notice?
May God bless this next chapter of our life together in ministry.
Take care,
Davi
