Sabbatical Soundings

“Where two or three are gathered in my name…” or… Where did Pastor Matt go to church? December 20, 2017 So, one of the things I was looking forward to being able to do during this sabbatical was to visit other churches for their worship services.  Obviously, we who are pastors are typically rather ‘busy’…

Berlin October 28, 2017 Guten morgen!  I write this morning having just arrived in Leipzig yesterday evening, after spending the last 4 days in Berlin. Visiting Berlin brings with it a rather profound experience of contrasts and juxtapositions.  You simply cannot escape the reminders of both the Nazi / World War II history and the…

And our mouth shall shew forth thy praise October 17, 2017 A significant aspect of my time here in Cambridge has been singing with the choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge.  Selwyn is one of the 31 constituent colleges that make up the University of Cambridge.[1] Founded in 1882, it is not one of the “old”…

With whom do you go to church? October 13, 2017 Apologies for the delay since my last blog entry… it’s been a pretty packed schedule over the last week-and-a-half, between trying to get in a good bit of sight-seeing before Adam had to return to the US and the schedule of commitments involving the choir…

Edinburgh October 3, 2017 It’s a lovely, clear, and sunny Tuesday morning here in Cambridge, where the university students are having their first full day of classes for the fall term (the “Michaelmas term,” as it is called here).  I passed my audition for the Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge, yesterday and had my first…

Have your boarding pass ready… September 28, 2017 Just a quick update to say that in just about an hour and a half, we’ll be headed out to the airport for our flight to Edinburgh. It has been 15 years since I last traveled internationally (excepting Canada), and I’ve never tried getting ready for a…

A Rather Radical Monastery September 21, 2017 As I wrote in my previous post, I traveled out to the Madison, Wisconsin, area last week.  The trip was primarily for the purpose of spending time in retreat at a place called Holy Wisdom Monastery. Getting away for intentional retreat time is something different even from simply…

Landscaping September 19, 2017 I just got back on Sunday night from a week out in some of my old “stomping grounds,” so to speak—namely, northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin.  The main purpose of my travels was to spend a number of days in retreat at Holy Wisdom Monastery near Madison, Wisconsin, and I’ll write…

How do you say…? Over the past number of weeks, as one form of preparations for my travels, I have been using a couple of apps on my iPhone to learn a little bit of French.  Geneva, where I’ll be staying from November 2nd to the 13th, is in the French-speaking portion of Switzerland—although, admittedly,…

What will I be doing? [an earlier version of this entry also appears in the late August – September 2017 issue of The Carillon, our congregation’s newsletter] Hello!  I know that many people are interested to know just what it is that I’ll be spending my time on during these 4+ months.  So, here’s the rundown…