It really began yesterday . Well, sort of. I managed to plow (slowly) through five more chapters of Pastoral Theology and actually made some useful notes. Since my handwriting (or printing for that matter) is pretty awful, I spent some part of the afternoon typing the notes in while I could still remember what those squiggles on the yellow notepad represented.
It was an interesting beginning to this journey as thoughts I encountered over 40 years ago leapt out in one “aha” moment after another. It is, at this stage, primarily a theological underpinning to why the Trinity Way of Life should exist at all and what I hope it will enable us to accomplish as a parish. (More on that later on in the sabbatical.) What I’m experiencing now is a renewed understanding of where the Way was coming from, and more excitingly, where it could go.
What is coming clear at this early stage is that our identity as Trinity Parish may be far more important than I’d hitherto understood. For the moment I will note that human history comes down to Jesus and from Jesus flows out in redemption and healing and justice for our world. I’m not saying that being Trinity Parish is the cornerstone of God’s great redemptive purpose! We are but one of thousands of Christian communities across the globe. But perhaps in discovering what it means to be Trinity Parish we may have positive impact on the community in which we live and may also encourage other Christian communities, even beyond the Episcopal Church, to find their own parish identity and thus become channels of God’s grace in a grace-starved world.
The Apprentice Priest 
Yes,
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