It's OUR Renewal Time

As all of you know, our church has been working on a proposal for a Lilly Endowment National Clergy Renewal Grant. The purpose of this grant is to offset the cost of a sabbatical/renewal time for both me as your pastor and you as this congregation – and our grant proposal is now finished and has been submitted. We will hear whether or not we will receive an award in late November.

Your Renewal Committee has been working on sifting through all of the ideas that you came up when you answered a survey, participated in a facilitated discussion during worship, took part in mid year and annual meetings, and had one-on-one conversations with Committee members. The task of the committee has been to work with me on outlining my renewal plans and then to put together a program of activities that reflect your ideas, will be fun and renewing for the congregation, and will complement my renewal theme of “Creating and Exploring Sacred Space and Worship.”

The Renewal Committee’s plan includes four major activities:

1. An intergenerational workshop on creative worship using drama, story-telling, music, etc. led by Valerie Tutsen, whose ministry is story-telling and energizing congregations to tell their own stories. Valerie and the workshop participants would then lead worship using the techniques they learned. This would complement my travel to the Iona community, known for its music and creative liturgy.

2. An expedition to Peru, Maine to experience the sacredness of our own Maine woods and a chance to participate in an outing designed to help everyone in the church to reconnect – as well as give families an opportunity to spend time together. They’ll be eating (of course!), swimming, and hiking, and we’ll rent some canoes and kayaks for the afternoon. We hope that our Youth Group will go for the weekend as a fun retreat. This would complement my expedition to the country of Peru with my whole family where we will explore ancient Incan sacred sites together.

3. A workshop on labyrinths as worship tools and a chance to walk one or two. This will complement my project of working with a labyrinth designer and creating an outdoor labyrinth on our property in Naples.

4. An opportunity to envision what our sacred space at the church might be and how our property might better meet the needs of our community. There will be an opportunity for an outdoor vespers service as well as a chance to dream and vision with a landscape architect about possibilities for the most effective use of our space (from gardens to gazebos – who knows?). This will complement my reflecting and experiencing various kinds of sacred spaces on my renewal journey.

Be sure to talk more with your Renewal Committee – and feel free to join in on one of their meetings! After all, this is not just MY renewal time. It is most definitely OUR renewal time!

What I Have Learned From My Puppy

Many of you know that we are now a three dog family. On Saturday, March 27th, Chloe joined us from a rescue in New York State. Paddy and I picked her up along with her sister (Paddy’s dog, Bailey) at an Adoption Day in Burlington, Vermont. Chloe is short for Chlorophyll , so named because of her love for just lying in the grass in our field, occasionally munching a few greening blades, in the warm sunshine.


Chloe is part chocolate lab and part boxer. She has eyes that are most of the time green but sometimes blue depending on the lighting. As I write this, she is about 12 weeks old, and our lives are reminiscent of the years when our own children were babies and into everything!

Chloe enjoys her store bought toys but tearing up the newspaper has a certain allure as well. And she prefers live dogs and people to any action toy you might come up with.

We can learn a lot from our pets, and here are some of the things (in no particular order) that I have learned from Chloe:

1. Life is a game – and the trick is to get everyone playing it with you

2. The best place to sleep is next to someone you love

3. If someone tells you “no”, they usually have a good reason for it – though you may not understand it right away

4. It’s best to get outside and exercise every day

5. Everyone should be able to take a nap when tired

6. Homemade toys and gifts are often more appreciated than store bought ones (shoes, slippers, empty water bottles, etc.)

7. If you take it slow, you can even befriend old cranky granny dogs

8. Take time to smell the roses – or lie in the grass in the sun

9. Curiosity can sometimes get you in trouble, but, that being said, explore everything you can – who knows what new things you will find

10. Playing by yourself is OK sometimes, but nothing beats having a friend to hang around with