Settling In

One of the challenges of preparing for this journey was to decide just how much to “bring with.” I’ve been on longer holidays (oh no! I am already starting to sound like a native – well, not really) but never for more than a week or two. I’ve never had to plan to be away from home base for three months. Nor have I had to plan for the variety of activities involved in seven weeks of settled living followed by several weeks of pilgrim’s progress.

Market Square in Central Cambridge - What's old is new again.
Cambridge has been an important trading
center since the Roman and Viking eras.

Given the circumstances, I think I did well, with the help of several YouTube videos, Rick Steves travel guides, and conversations with friends and colleagues. I managed to arrive with enough to get through the first several days here at Ridley Hall but now it is time to really settle in. It is time to venture out and forage for supplies like tissues, instant coffee, some fresh fruit, toothpaste, shaving cream, and the like.

It will be good to be out. Yesterday was a foraging day of a different sort – a library day. The library here at Ridley Hall is modest. Yet, I found several valuable resources for the work I set out to conduct on this quest – to explore just how we can better integrate parish communities (like St. Luke's) into the work of forming ministers among the people of God.

Retired Dean Robyn Szoke-Coolidge of the Stevenson School for Ministry and I have discussed this challenge for many years and is one of the reasons this sabbatical has become so important to me. We genuinely believe that the context of parish mission and ministry is where the gospel becomes real – where all of one’s study, reflection, and thinking, takes on flesh – becomes, as we say, incarnate. It is where the world can see, and hear, and taste, and touch, and feel the Body of the Risen Lord – the Body of Christ – in us, the Church. If we genuinely believe this, then there is no better place for the spiritual formation of the future leaders of the Church, whether they be lay or ordained. Just how we work this out is what needs to be figured out. That’s where you, the People of God come in.

Meanwhile, I’ll be off to market!