Our services this coming month draw us into reflection on love and kindness and how they are central to our lives including how we respond to evil and how we weave learning into the ministry of our community.

Ongoing learning and reflection on our deepest values is central to healthy, thriving ministries. It is one of the reasons that congregations provide sabbatical time for their ministers: to help them deepen their understanding of their ministry and reflect on the work that they are doing. It is an extended time for the minister away from the day-to-day work of the congregation for study, rest, reflection, and rejuvenation. This time away helps to decrease burnout in long-term ministries and give the minister opportunity for renewal.

And at the end of my fourth year as your minister in 2025, the congregation granted me four months of sabbatical, two of which I took in July and August of 2025. I will be away for the second half of my sabbatical this coming July and August. 

Part of my plan for sabbatical is to continue to deepen my connection to my own theological grounding in religious naturalism and having an embodied faith. I’m also hoping to explore ministry in the context of aging, dying, and grief. And I will, of course, be spending some contemplative time with the works of Ursula Le Guin and other speculative fiction authors.

During the time of my sabbatical, I will be fully away from the congregation and out of contact. The Board, the Committee on Ministry, the Worship Team, and the Care Committee have been in conversation about how the congregation will manage in my absence. To that end, the congregation has again hired a minister who will be available for pastoral care and who will preach four times in July and August (about what I would preach). 

I am delighted to share that we have asked the Rev. Ellie Kilpatrick to serve our congregation as Sabbatical Minister during my absence. Rev. Ellie lives in Escondido (north of San Diego) and has served congregations in Livermore and Solana Beach, California, and Pasco, Washington. She is a valued colleague and I know you’ll be in good hands over the summer with her. You’ll have an opportunity to meet her in June

Sabbaticals are wonderful opportunities for renewal for both the congregation and the minister who serves them. I am grateful for this time for rest and study—as I remain grateful to be your minister as we continue crafting this shared ministry together.

in peace and love

Rev. Ian