Dear People of St. James’,
I’m back! It is so good to be back in the office, and I cannot wait to see you this Sunday after three months of sabbatical.
Yes, I did enjoy the time away. To have the gift of unstructured time was pretty wonderful. I did the three things I set out to do on this sabbatical. Connor and I went to Spain, where we ate pizza in a house used as a refuge by the great poet and playwright Lope de Vega whenever he fell out of favor with the court. We climbed towers, explored old churches, temples and mosques, walked along a wall constructed by Visigoths, and ate dinner way too late at night. I drove out to Virginia to attend the Virginia Theological Seminary graduation and then to spend time with my parents and my sister Katelyn. I also got to do some writing with a friend in Houston. So, mission accomplished! As a bonus, I did a ton of reading of all sorts.
For me, the greatest gift of this sabbatical time was having the opportunity to take in and build a plan around a medical diagnosis my mom had received. You all know that this can be difficult at the best of times, so having time and freedom and flexibility to be there and to pray and think and have conversations was tremendous.
I want to thank everyone who kept praying, gathering people, caring for each other, welcoming newcomers, preaching, giving of themselves, inviting friends to church, and being the People of St. James’, for all that you have done. Our staff, our musicians, our Vestry, and our volunteers have done great work during this time, and I am so grateful for the way all kinds of things have come together!
As I return, we are celebrating the baptism of Samara, daughter of Natalie Adelaja and Ricky Green this weekend, and then ramping up for our St. James’ Day celebration on July 28. This is a particularly special St. James’ Day because it coincides with the 50th Anniversary of the ordination of the Philadelphia 11, the first 11 women to be ordained in the Episcopal Church (n.b. BEFORE the Episcopal Church was officially ordaining women!). Last year, a few of you mentioned to me that we should celebrate those trouble-makers, so I reached out to the Rev. Lisa Saunders Ahuja, St. James’ first female rector, and to the Rev. Carissa Baldwin-McGinnis, the first woman sent to seminary by St. James’, and they both agreed to come home and celebrate with us. As a bonus, the Rev. Sarah Mast, the most recently ordained woman from St. James’ will also be with us. Some of the music in the service will be St. James’ favorites, but we will also incorporate some of the music played at that history-changing ordination service 50 years ago. Wear red. Come ready for a picnic and surprisingly intense BINGO with fabulous prizes, and, yes, there will be water fun for the kids. This will be an amazing reunion, so don’t miss it!
I can not wait to see you and reconnect! If you need to get an appointment on my calendar, email me at rector@stjamesaustin.org and we will get something worked out.
See you Sunday!
Rev. Eileen
