New Year, New Adventures

Everything is 2020!

I’m so excited to have two new adventures I am embarking on this year–two new avenues I’ll be keeping you up-to-date on as the days go by.

So what’s new?

First… a lifetime dream is coming true. Thanks to the expertise of Anna Weber Stearns at Voices in Print, I’ll be publishing my first book this year!

Seeking the Sacred: Finding Extraordinary Faith in the Ordinariness of Life is an anthology of my writings based on this very blog! The official launch date is May 31st… Pentecost, the day the Spirit makes all things possible, even my childhood dreams!

Secondly, I’ve been thinking a great deal about how to deepen my spiritual life. I’m not big on New Year’s Resolutions, but I knew that I wanted a theme to follow in this new year so that I don’t fall into the blah-ness of middle aged life.

I’m keenly aware of the fact that I’ve now been in full-time ministry for eleven years. While that means I’ve survived the dreaded turnover zone–in which female pastors bow out of the ministry, I also realize that it is beginning to skirt around the edge in which pastors begin to experience burnout and begin simply going through the motions of ministry life.

What better way to avoid burnout than to preemptively confront it. I decided that my five-year plan will include a pilgrimage along the Camino, but I wanted something that could deepen my spiritual life here and now.

Last month I took my nephew to see Welcome to the Neighborhood, the new movie about Mr. Rogers, starring Tom Hanks. Watching the man who inspired so much of my early-life compassion and empathy for others, and who would re-emerge in my adult life as a Christian inpsiration, reminded me that sometimes we just need to get back to the basics.

After all, didn’t Jesus tell us that we need to come to the kingdom as children?

So, this year I will be committing myself to living like Mr. Rogers… because he taught so many of us how to live like Jesus.

I’ll be writing frequently about this adventure and the experiences I have… and especially the lessons I learn, and re-learn.

I hope you will journey with me on this path!

Thank you for giving me the chance to share this time with you!