Homecoming

I have not been in my office since April 30th. I will not officially be back in the office until September 5th. That's a total of 128 days including 18 Sundays. I have a deep fear that I may not know how to go about doing what I have done for 24 years. I have missed so much of the life of this congregation: funerals, hospitalizations, people falling in the parking lot and a lot of other things I have not even heard about yet.

When one has been away for awhile there is this wonder if anyone will miss them, or if things will change. It is nice to see, for example, some of downtown Bothell being freed from construction.

But one thing that has not changed, one thing that has not lessened, one thing that has been true since God breathed on that formless void in the beginning and that sustains us this day and into our future is the immutable, self-emptying, love of God. And that same love has kept us connected even when we are apart.

Molde Domkirke

While our government was veering toward a nuclear showdown with North Korea Susan and I were in Scotland and Norway praying with communities like ours for peace. While racial tensions were on the rise, I was on retreat in Minnesota with my pastor friends learning how to speak about white privilege and what is the role of the church in all of this. This time away was a reminder that there is no way to escape the work that needs to be done as God's hands in the world. And that this work has always been there.

This sabbatical has been a chance to remember our past; how we struggled through bad times together. Our time with our brothers and sisters in Molde, Norway we learned that their whole town was bombed by the Nazis. The town was almost gone from the map. And yet, 77 years later we gathered in their cathedral and sang hymns of praise to our God of love and peace. Our God of the future, where our hope lays, draws us from chaos into a new creation where peace and love will reside. The faithful people of Molde is a good example of how God continues to be the God of a new creation. I hope we will be able to learn from them.

The above is just a few of my thoughts about this sabbatical, there is so much more! I so look forward to being with you all again and hope to see you on Sunday, September 10 at either 8:30 or 11:00 am worship and again at our big party at 1pm. I have so much that I want to share with you; but I also desire to hear what has been going on with you as well.

In the meantime, peace.