With joy, anticipation, and a hint of nervousness, our family embarks on a three-month sabbatical. Thank you all for helping make this journey of faith possible. This sabbatical will provide opportunities for retreat, rest, renewal, pilgrimage, and will provide opportunity for ministry in other places. With a kind grant from the Lilly Foundation, I journey with the hope of returning a stronger servant of Christ for the ministry at Hopwood. For the first two months I will be out of touch and out of sight; but we trust in God who ever binds us together. You will be in my prayers daily. Let’s use this guide to travel together, to read the same scriptures through the summer months, to pray some of the same prayers. May God watch between us while we are absent from one another.
May 19-June 20, 2009 - Tim and Tyler’s Pilgrimage to the Namibian Desert
Since the early days of the Church, Christians have retreated to the desert to seek the Lord. Tyler and I fly to the Southwestern African country of Namibia (via Johannesburg, SA) and stay with friends who live in the back country of Namibia. I will use this month as a time of retreat for the purposes of prayer, reflection, and seeking the Lord. Much of the month will be spent camping in the remote wilderness of the desert and the Skeleton Coast. We will meet tribal folks, check in on a lion tracker (http://www.desertlion.info/index.html), do some ecological surveys of plants with our friends, and have time to gape, and wonder, and read, and think, and pray. I look forward to sleeping under the night sky, and to exploring the desert/ocean convergence. Pray for God to renew us and teach us his ways.
June 20-July 26, 2009 - Renewal of Friendships in Kenya.
We lived among the Maasai of Kenya from 1987-1995. This journey will allow us to return to visit the people we love and left behind. Andy, Kristen, and John will fly from Chicago to join us in Kenya. Marcia and Jill will join us on June 28. While in Kenya, I will teach a course to Turkana leaders (Acts) June 22-25, to Maasai church leaders (Church history) July 13-17, and to a large group of missionaries (Spiritual formation and team building) from all over Africa gathered on the coast of Kenya for a spiritual retreat July 20-24. We will be in our old home area June 29-July 12. Pray for Andy and Kristen and John as they check out ministry possibilities (Andy will teach two courses in prayer healing).
July 26-August 8, 2009 - Pilgrimage to Scotland-Iona.
On the way home from Africa, parents and kids will part ways in Amsterdam. The kids will come back to the US, Marcia and I will fly to Scotland to stay on the island of Iona. This corner of Scotland has been a historic center of worship and mission. The Hopwood congregation was blessed several years ago by a visit from John Bell, worship leader in this Iona community. We will also spend a few days visiting our ancestral home areas in Scotland. Marcia will fly home on August 1. Tim will explore the countryside for another week. http://www.iona.org.uk/index.php
August 8-17, 2009 - Pilgrimage to Taizé, France-Renewal through Worship.
I’ll fly to Paris on the last leg of the journey, and will meet up with Craig Farmer. Together we will spend a couple days in Paris and Normandy, before heading to the ecumenical community of Taizé. There he will experience the wonderful worship of this incredible pilgrim site. The Hopwood Church sings Taizé worship songs and we’ve been blessed by this community for many years. See http://www.taize.fr/en.
