Grace Notes (for the journey) Travelers Anne Kelsey Since December of 2001 I have been the rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in the Central West End of St. Louis, Missouri. Trinity is on the progressive end of things in the Episcopal Church which makes life always very interesting. I serve on the Companion Diocese Committee of the Diocese of Missouri and have made two mission trips to our companion diocese of Lui in the south of Sudan. In the late fall of 2009 with the help of several other missioners I gave art workshops to children in seven villages in Lui. I am married to Brooke Myers, who is the rector of the Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion in University City, just outside St. Louis. He is a musician, plays the guitar, and has set guitar chords for both the 1982 Hymnal and Lift Every Voice and Sing. At the moment he is learning oldies. He’s a devoted stargazer with a telescope parked in the corner. We are equally matched (mostly) at backgammon and are looking forward to finding a cafe in Istanbul with an available board. A caveat Though I graduated from an accredited seminary the opinions expressed here may be theologically suspect and even heretical. Given the current state of the church I might consider this a compliment. I’m an avowed liberal. I’d much rather have a bleeding heart than any other kind, which Isaiah had something to say about if I remember correctly. My opinions may also be politically incorrect. I’m sure my grammar will be corrected by my editor should I ever be lucky enough to publish a book, so in the interregnum you will just have to make allowances. I make no guarantees. About this journey In the spring of 2009 I applied for a Lilly Foundation Clergy Renewal Grant. These grants allow clergy to engage in work, travel, and relaxation that otherwise they would never be able to do. Much to my amazement I received a grant for study in 2010. The grant is given to the parish, which agrees to parallel study on the same issues or themes. The Lilly Foundation is committed to the health and well being of clergy and thanks to their generosity my husband and I will be able to travel and be on retreat together. The focus of my study is the relationship and meaning between nature, place, people, and God. If not God, then what points to God. The meaning of the word “sabbatical” is rooted in the word “sabbath”, the seventh day of creation when God rested and in doing so gave us a template for restoration. Everybody needs a break, even God, and sabbaticals give us the kind of sustained reprieve that clergy need. I’ve been ordained for twenty years and apart from six weeks study about twelve years ago this is my first and probably only sabbatical. I was born and raised in Ohio. Some of my earliest memories are of the acres of land which have been in our family for almost a hundred years now. My grandmother bought the property and took my father and his three brothers there in the summer. My grandfather came out on the weekends. There was a house with a huge screened courtyard with rooms arrayed around it like a Roman atrium. Gigantic windows in the living room looked out over the woods and the ravine. My four sisters and I roamed wild exploring the woods and catching crayfish in the waters below the dam. We learned to get leeches off our legs with a burnt match or salt, how to build a fire, and how to fish. The only thing we were forbidden was to go in the water by ourselves. Almost half the property is a fairly shallow pond, home to beaver, heron, muskrat, and all kinds of fish. There are snapping turtles at least fifty years old and Canada geese who come crashing onto the lake with a raucous honking and flapping. This small piece of land is the most precious and mystical place I know, the place I always return to. It is the foundation of every single bit of nature spirituality I’ve ever gleaned. And oddly enough the green of Ohio makes the desert fascinating. So now I have the astounding opportunity to explore desert and green, city and country for four whole months.

Grace Notes

(for the journey)

Travelers

Anne Kelsey Since December of 2001 I have been the rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in the Central West End of St. Louis, Missouri. Trinity is on the progressive end of things in the Episcopal Church which makes life always very interesting. I serve on the Companion Diocese Committee of the Diocese of Missouri and have made two mission trips to our companion diocese of Lui in the south of Sudan. In the late fall of 2009 with the help of several other missioners I gave art workshops to children in seven villages in Lui. I am married to Brooke Myers, who is the rector of the Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion in University City, just outside St. Louis. He is a musician, plays the guitar, and has set guitar chords for both the 1982 Hymnal and Lift Every Voice and Sing. At the moment he is learning oldies. He’s a devoted stargazer with a telescope parked in the corner. We are equally matched (mostly) at backgammon and are looking forward to finding a cafe in Istanbul with an available board.

A caveat

Though I graduated from an accredited seminary the opinions expressed here may be theologically suspect and even heretical. Given the current state of the church I might consider this a compliment. I’m an avowed liberal. I’d much rather have a bleeding heart than any other kind, which Isaiah had something to say about if I remember correctly. My opinions may also be politically incorrect. I’m sure my grammar will be corrected by my editor should I ever be lucky enough to publish a book, so in the interregnum you will just have to make allowances. I make no guarantees.

About this journey

In the spring of 2009 I applied for a Lilly Foundation Clergy Renewal Grant. These grants allow clergy to engage in work, travel, and relaxation that otherwise they would never be able to do. Much to my amazement I received a grant for study in 2010. The grant is given to the parish, which agrees to parallel study on the same issues or themes. The Lilly Foundation is committed to the health and well being of clergy and thanks to their generosity my husband and I will be able to travel and be on retreat together. The focus of my study is the relationship and meaning between nature, place, people, and God. If not God, then what points to God.

The meaning of the word “sabbatical” is rooted in the word “sabbath”, the seventh day of creation when God rested and in doing so gave us a template for restoration. Everybody needs a break, even God, and sabbaticals give us the kind of sustained reprieve that clergy need. I’ve been ordained for twenty years and apart from six weeks study about twelve years ago this is my first and probably only sabbatical.

I was born and raised in Ohio. Some of my earliest memories are of the acres of land which have been in our family for almost a hundred years now. My grandmother bought the property and took my father and his three brothers there in the summer. My grandfather came out on the weekends. There was a house with a huge screened courtyard with rooms arrayed around it like a Roman atrium. Gigantic windows in the living room looked out over the woods and the ravine. My four sisters and I roamed wild exploring the woods and catching crayfish in the waters below the dam. We learned to get leeches off our legs with a burnt match or salt, how to build a fire, and how to fish. The only thing we were forbidden was to go in the water by ourselves. Almost half the property is a fairly shallow pond, home to beaver, heron, muskrat, and all kinds of fish. There are snapping turtles at least fifty years old and Canada geese who come crashing onto the lake with a raucous honking and flapping.

This small piece of land is the most precious and mystical place I know, the place I always return to. It is the foundation of every single bit of nature spirituality I’ve ever gleaned. And oddly enough the green of Ohio makes the desert fascinating. So now I have the astounding opportunity to explore desert and green, city and country for four whole months.