Last month, Dennis St. Lawrence wrote a "teaser" about my three month sabbatical from June through September of 2006.
In the next months, we as congregation and pastor together will prepare for this exciting time of renewal and Sabbath-keeping.
Each month in this newsletter and periodically on Sundays, the Mutual Ministry Committee and I will be providing information about what this time will mean for us. Mutual Ministry is the group that provides support and feedback for pastoral ministry as it intersects with CtK's entire ministry. Mutual Ministry members are: Dennis St. Lawrence, Linnea Hallee, Eirik Esp, Kathy Philion, Jana Holst (council liaison), and Karen Ruder.
The Lilly Foundation has provided a grant for Clergy Renewal for Christ the King to enable me to take a journey of a lifetime, and also provides monies for pastoral leadership and congregational renewal during the sabbatical.
This month I am including the portion from our grant request that relates to a trip that Kari and I are taking to the Holy Land. We will enroll in a four-week program for clergy that is called the Tantur Institute for Ecumenical Studies based in Jerusalem. Deirdra Schmidt, our worldwide traveler, spent time there with her family in 1979. You can look for it on the web at:
www.come.to/tantur.
I invite your conversation about this exciting adventure, and your prayers.
Pastor Tim Keyl
NEXT MONTH: Who will provide pastoral leadership while Pastor Keyl is away?
First Part of Pastor Keyl's Sabbatical: Emerging and Tantur Institute
EMERGING
June 18-25, 2006 and June 25-July 1, 2006
"Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness" (Luke 4:1).
While currently filled of ministry responsibilities, I will begin to empty myself into the wilderness experience by packing and saying my goodbyes. I will fly out prior to the Institute to further empty myself from my ministry to my acclimation to another culture, time zone, and climate. I will explore on my own, and introduce myself to colleagues in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land.
TANTUR INSTITUTE
July 2-30, 2006
"Now during those days [Jesus] sent out to the mountain to pray" (Luke 6:12a)
Christ the King has made many connections to the global church, including support for a member who taught English at a Lutheran School in Slovakia, providing tuition for Liberian school students, and being the lead congregation for the annual CROP Walk. Christ the King has also been instrumental in establishing the New Hampshire Interfaith Youth Council, bridging relationships between Jews, Muslims, and Christians.
In the summer of 2003, Christ the King was instrumental in hosting a Palestinian Lutheran Youth who accompanied our youth to a National Gathering in Atlanta, Georgia. This brought flesh and bones to our "companion" relationship to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, which we have supported in sending school supplies, advocacy for the Augusta Victoria Hospital, and in constant prayer.
Through the program at the Tantur Ecumenical Institute, I will be able to encounter the "living stones" that are the people of faith in Palestine/Israel. I will see the current context for those who struggle to claim Jerusalem as the Holy City for people of three faiths, and make lasting relationships with Lutherans I visit, other students in the program, and others who form the fabric of life in the Eastern and Western Churches. Tantur offers a four-week program that balances learning, excursions, and time alone to explore, reflect, and study. It also includes worship with others from that ecumenical community, living, and eating together.
In the days prior to the beginning of the Institute and on weekends, I will acquaint myself with Lutheran congregations in Palestine and exchange gifts and greetings.
Christ the King Lutheran Church, 3 Lutheran Drive, Nashua, NH 03063 (603) 882-6142
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