Dear people of St. Michael and All Angels,
Advent greetings as Christmas draws near! I think of you all so often, and pray for you each day in chapel. It is always good to catch glimpses of familiar faces on the livestream, too! Each quarter I send updates to those who are supporting my discernment journey. I’m very grateful that Mother Katherine invites me to share them with you– see below! May the candlelight and beautiful blue of Advent at St. Michael’s bring peace and quiet anticipation of Christ’s coming to you this year.
With much love, gratitude, and hope to be with you again soon,
Kelly
Since Holy Cross Day, I have:
- completed my first semester of seminary coursework and 4 of 5 exams!
- formed new relationships with seminarians, faculty, and community members.
- visited 12 (12!) different Episcopal Churches for Sunday morning worship as part of our pre-field education work. There is a lot to love about the Episcopal Church in every size, style, and culture, but I’m looking forward to settling into one worshipping community again.
- applied, interviewed and been accepted to CPE at Emory in Atlanta.
- visited Montgomery, Alabama with an Episcopal Church group from Nashville. It was a deeply impactful experience on many levels.
- participated in a solemn and beautiful intergenerational Dia de los Muertos worship service, co-led by the Hispanic Organization for Latino Awareness on All Souls Day. I’ve never participated in this third day of the three “days of the dead” before. I found it to be tender and meaningful in community.
- celebrated my brave kids’ accomplishments in this new place!
- roasted a turkey for Thanksgiving to celebrate with extended family– It is such a gift to be closer to family.
- celebrated 19 years of marriage with Jacob! We toasted at the Sewanee Inn.
- celebrated the marriage of a dear friend from childhood in Louisville, KY.
- been selected as one of four new sacristans for our seminary community.
- met the benefactor of my seminary scholarship. Her late husband taught homiletics at Sewanee and VTS.
- given thanks for the many ways my roles as mother, spouse, seminarian discerning ordination, friend, daughter, and baptized Christian have become more integrated in this place and season.
This quarter I am looking forward to:
- serving the seminary community as a sacristan
- discerning a parish and mentor for field education next fall.
- taking an ethics class with some of my favorite classmates.
- continuing my Hebrew studies.
- preaching again (in an intro to homiletics course with my classmates).
What I’d like you to pray for:
- The dean, faculty and staff of the School of Theology- we are embarking on an 18-month period of exile from our building while it is renovated and the difficulty falls most heavily upon their shoulders. Pray for patience, endurance, and new ways of gathering outside of familiar spaces.
- My mother, who is participating in a trial program for Parkinson’s Disease at Vanderbilt this winter.
- Jacob as he resumes a heavy travel schedule.
- Seniors gradually making their way to and from diaconal ordinations all over the country, and taking GOEs in January.
- Continued and careful discernment of things both small and large.
- Thanksgiving for such a clear sense of being in the place I’m called to be, doing what I’m called to do, and engaging with the work that is mine.
Post will be removed at 2:30 PM on Sun., Dec. 8, 2024.