Sabbatical Writings

Letters from the Rambling Rector

Monday, 4 December 2006

My Dear St. Mark’s Community,

Our 20 November flight from Johannesburg to Amsterdam was blessedly uneventful. (No matter how hard I try, I still find the flying experience to be anxiety producing, leaving me constantly aware of the distinction, indeed, tension between being safe, as Pontheolla always reminds that I am regarding flying, and feeling safe, which I, invariably, do not!) We spent the day in Amsterdam, taking one of the many boat tours through the picturesque canals.

On 22 November, we traveled by train to Munich, where we were one year ago attending Dorothee Hahn’s ordination to the priesthood. As last year, we stayed with Dick and Dee Pattee, members of Ascension Anglican Church (see below). Dick, a retired naval officer, and Dee have lived in Germany for over thirty years. It was so grand to see and to be with Dorothee and the Pattees again.

Dorothee is doing marvelously well, serving as the curate at Ascension Anglican Church, one of the congregations of the Convocation of American Churches in Europe (CACE), which is under the jurisdiction of our Presiding Bishop. The rector, Tom Pellaton, is a warm and wonderful person, with whom we enjoyed reconnecting following our meeting him last year. Dorothee also serves as the vicar of two English language Anglican communities, one in Augsburg and the other in Nürnberg. There is another Anglican-Episcopal community, Holy Trinity, at Ingolstadt, which is served by the Rev. Claire Ullmann. Together, these congregations constitute the Anglican/Episcopal Church in Bavaria, with Ascension as the chief and central community.

An additional note… Claire and her husband, Reinart, live in Salzburg. They graciously have invited us to stay with them the next time we’re here. As the backyard of their home is a drop-dead gorgeous expanse of alpine mountain range, we, no doubt, will take them up on their offer as soon as we can!

On Sunday, 26 November, Pontheolla and I attended the early service at Ascension, where Dorothee was the presider and preacher. Her sermon, based on the appointed readings, was a thoughtful, deeply nuanced, and challenging examination of biblical interpretation, both from the point of view of the ancients, our forebears, and of our time. Usually, when a sermon moves me or "speaks to me", I, quite unconsciously, will begin to respond vocally, which I did at several points during Dorothee’s sermon. (Dorothee also, at one point, during conversation, referred to me as a mentor. I must tell you that I felt proud, very proud to be considered as such by a so wonderfully gifted and capable person and priest.)

The main service of the day was the Holy Eucharist with Confirmation. With the permission of the Rt. Rev. Pierre Whalon, Bishop of the CACE, Tom had invited his friend, the Rt. Rev. Chilton Knudsen, Bishop of Maine, to preside, preach, and confirm the latest group of Ascension’s confirmands. Tom invited me to read the Gospel and to assist with the administration of Communion.

With the presence of Bishop Knudsen, this was a fortuitous moment for me. For many years, I had heard of Bishop Knudsen, but had not had an occasion to meet her. At this past July’s General Convention, we served together on the Consecration of Bishops Committee. It has been rare for me to meet someone and to find that my experience of the person reflects accurately the "advance press". In this case, so it was. Chilton was as intelligent and witty, sensitive and compassionate, personal and accessible as I had heard previously from many others. Hence, it was a delight to see her again. Her sermon – passionate and powerful – presented another immediate occasion for me to respond audibly! I also extended an invitation to her to preach at St. Mark’s, an occasion that I believe that we, as a community, will relish.

On Monday, 27 November, Dorothee’s day off and the first anniversary of her ordination to the priesthood, we took a day trip to Salzburg. Dorothee was our guide – and what a guide she is!

Ah, Salzburg. What a beautiful city. The home of Mozart, whose birthplace we visited. The place of open and inviting city squares, many of which were open for the business of the annual Christkindlmarkt, and impressive architecture represented, in part, by some of most unimaginably and impressively ornate church buildings. (Regarding the latter, I must confess, particularly immediately following the previous leg of our sabbatical journey, that I was thunderstruck by the dissimilitude between the grand size and exquisite detail of these houses of worship and the excruciating and wholesale poverty we witnessed in South Africa. It gave me pause, and not for the first time. How is it that we, the church, can erect such monuments to our God and, indeed, for our cultic practices of corporate worship, while the poor, whose needs we, as Christians, in our scripture and through our tradition, have been called to serve languish at our worldwide doorsteps? Perhaps I overstate the question. Perhaps the answers are hardly clear, much less uni-dimensional and far more complex and deeply shaded. Perhaps I know that. Perhaps I know that once a movement becomes an institution, its raison d’etre becomes less driven by mission and more by maintenance and self preservation. Perhaps, in another frame of mind, I can make a case for the church’s excesses and profligate expenditures of its resources on itself. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps… However, these days, where I find myself, the question looms large and the answers grossly insignificant and wholly insufficient.)

On Tuesday and Wednesday, 28-29 November, we visited Prague. We traveled overnight by train on a sleeper car, the bed of which was not fit for sleeping or, for that matter, anything else. Moreover, the entire 10-hour noisy and jostling journey, clearly, was over some of Europe’s most uneven train tracks.

Ah, Prague. Another beautiful – but terribly dirty – city. The architecture was sublime. The streets, however, were covered with the detritus and debris of human living. On the first day, we walked throughout the central city and, then, west over the magnificent Charles Bridge across the Vltava River. We visited the Church of our Lady Victorious and Infant Child of Prague – another most ornate building, which, I confess, incarnates in stone and mortar a spirituality, although deeply historically rooted, that is beyond my ken. Just north, we found the Church of St. Nicholas, the acoustics of which made it one of Mozart’s favorite places to perform. On day two, we took an organized tour of the city, the main stop being the Cathedral of St. Vitus and the Royal Palace, the latter housing the head of the Czech Republic.

Returning to Munich on 30 November, we celebrated Dorothee’s fortieth birthday on 1 December, then, late that evening took an overnight train to Florence – a far more comfortable and restful experience than before!

We are now in a villa apartment about 60 kilometers south and east of Florence in the Chianti region of Tuscany. (By the way, the driving experience here in Italy reminds us somewhat of South Africa – the drivers are speedy and daring.) Beautiful place. Softly undulating and multi-hued hills, lined with row upon row of grapevines and olive groves. Francesca, the caretaker, presented us upon arrival with a bottle of freshly-pressed olive oil from the estate’s grove. It is also quiet here, very quiet! Just what we want and need to recharge our personal life’s batteries.

Continuing, on a deeply personal note, Pontheolla and I have found it wonderful to be together during our sabbatical, renewing our relationship. Now, that we’ve recaptured the richness of our life together, I, upon return, need and must find ways to balance my vocational life within our busy community and my personal life with Pontheolla. Indeed, as I become a better person, whose primary vocation is as Pontheolla’s husband, then, I am a better priest. Moreover, as your pastor, I highly recommend that couples and individuals schedule regular extended and concentrated restorative times apart from life as it is daily lived. We are human beings, not human doings – the latter, at least, I have a tendency to become in the midst of the often hyperactivity of my working life.

Dear friends, this may be the last communication from us as we retreat for rest and recreation (unless, of course, as is my wont, I change my mind!). As we are so connected to you, our community, we couldn’t have been silent for the whole of the six month sabbatical. Hence, we have enjoyed sharing vignettes of our time away from you. No doubt, upon our return, there will be more, but, we hope, not boringly so!

Wishing you a blessed Advent, a joyous Christmastide, and a glorious entry into the New Year.

Love, always and in all ways,
Paul