Dear Ones of St. Columba's,

Oh my goodness it is good to be back! Last Sunday was, for me, a beautiful reminder of what a joy it is to be part of this community of faith and how much I appreciate the opportunity to be your Vicar. I am filled with pride, perhaps unearned, to see all that you have accomplished while I have been away these past months. And yes, I am talking about the memorial garden progress, and the new windows in our entryway and the beautiful tile project that Maeve and the sabbatical support team dreamed up and coordinated. But I am also talking about the new faces I met on Sunday, people who have been welcomed into this place in my absence, the ways in which you have continued to engage with our neighbors who struggle with housing and food insecurity, the care you have taken with the ongoing tasks of staying church, staying connected and taking care of each other. 

One reason sabbatical time is important for both a priest and her congregation is for each to be able to spend time at rest from each other. This is a good thing, especially when there is a lot of trust and love in the relationship, because we can come back together with new eyes, new energy, and new ideas for the future. I love all the tiles that you created and placed in the memorial garden this past Sunday. I know that as I visit that place to pray during my work week different ones will stick in my mind, and lay themselves on my heart. This week the tile that resonated was Carol Everson's, inscribed with the words "Always, We Begin Again." 

Coming back after time away is both a continuation and a new beginning. You have changed, I have changed, and the world has changed in the time we have been apart. 

This sabbatical I got to begin again with my family. We did our best during 2020 and the first half of 2021, and it was hard. Kids schooling at home, Andrew working the front lines of the pandemic as a respiratory therapist, and me doing my best to be your vicar, the bishop's canon, my kiddo's mama, and all the things while life marched onward. I know this is a thing that many of you can relate to all too well. To say my attention was divided would be an understatement. It was so good to have three and half months where I knew that when I woke up each day my first job was to connect with myself, my kids, and my husband. Full stop. The opportunity to begin again with getting to know my daughters, focusing on my marriage and being still enough to care for myself was life giving and essential. I believe the benefits of this will last our family for a very long time to come. 

And now as I return to work we get to begin again as well. This means I want to hear about what happened in our community and in your hearts while I was away. Meghan and I will begin conversations with our staff and leadership about how to begin again, staying open to new possibilities for how we work together, how we serve you, and how this community can and does function and serve each other. We all have information to share about who we have become and what we have learned these last few months, both about our roots and about what we are longing for in the future. 

Church, I am more certain than I have ever been that I am called to priesthood, and called to you. Let's share, and learn, and look to the future God is preparing for St. C's. Let's begin again. 

with joy and gratitude,

Alissa