Rev. Kristen’s 2025 Spring & Summer Sabbatical

Dear Mission Family,

It is hard to believe but I have now been serving at the Mission Cincinnati for 7 years.  It’s been a wonderful opportunity, filled with the joys and challenges of church planting and a global pandemic.  I am so grateful to have had this opportunity to serve you all over these many years now.  I am also now grateful that you all will be gifting me with a 3-month Sabbatical starting on Monday, May 5th.  Just as William’s Sabbatical was a blessing to him and his family last year, I know my Sabbatical will be a blessing to me, as well.  Thank you so much allowing me to enter into this time of rest and refreshment.

With my Sabbatical just around the corner now, I thought I would take a few minutes to tell you what I will be doing and to ask for your prayers.  So, starting with the month of May, I will have a couple of weeks at home to pray, pack, and hopefully purge my house of items I have collected over the years that I just do not use anymore.  I am grateful for my material blessings, but I also realize that too much stuff can be a distraction and can take us away from focusing on what it is important. 

Also during the month of May, I will be going to Disney World for a time of play.  The ministry life is most definitely a gift, but between my work, my particularly personality, and the reality of my singleness, I sometimes do not enjoy the lighter side of life as much as I could, and I actually believe that play can be a spiritual discipline that allows us to enter into the joy for which God created us.  So, with this in mind, I’ll be spending 9 nine days enjoying animals at the  Animal Kingdom Park and Lodge, enjoying a taste of different cultures around the world at Epcot and Animal Kingdom Lodge, and embracing imagination, whimsy, and fun at all the theme parks.

Then, for the month of June, I’ll be heading to Williamsburg, VA for a little over a month.  Williamsburg is where I spent all my summers growing up, where I went to college, and where my parents and my brother’s family live.  I am excited to go “home” and to connect with my family and friends there.  While I am there, I intend to attend Incarnation Anglican Church; perhaps see if I can volunteer with a ministry of our diocese that is in Newport News, VA; and read and work on writing my paper for my doctoral project. 

Then in July, I’ll head to Iona, Scotland for a little over two weeks.  Iona is a beautiful little island in the western part of Scotland where St. Columba led a Celtic monastic community in the 6th century.  From there, Columba planted around 300 churches.   So, first I’ll head on out to Iona, which will involve taking a plane, train, ferry, bus, and ferry to get there. Then, for the first week, I will be staying alone in a pod in the middle of a sheep field.  I will daily attend morning and evening Eucharist at the Bishop’s House, daily engage in practices through a week-long version of Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises, and will of course make time for afternoon tea!  Then, I will meet up with 6 other pilgrims and stay in Iona for another five days.  My intent during this time is to really draw close to Jesus.

Towards the end of July, I will return to Cincinnati for about a week and then I’ll be back at the Mission on August 4th.    So, it will be a full Sabbatical and I could not be more excited about it.  While I won’t be in touch with you during this time, I would appreciate your prayers – that this would be a time of deep refreshment for my soul, that I would draw closer to God, that I would have a sweet time with my parents and family, and that through it all, I would look and act just a little more like Jesus.  Also, I would ask for prayers to make progress on my Dmin work, which I have put on hold for the last year. 

And while I will not be looking at or responding to texts or emails during this Sabbatical time, I will post some pictures on Facebook.  If you are on Facebook with me, feel free to interact with those posts; I would welcome that.  So, friends, that is what I will be up to this Sabbatical.  Thanks again for making this possible, and I look forward to connecting with you on Sunday, May 4th before I head on out on my Sabbatical Journey.

In Christ,

 Rev. Kristen