Sabbatical Journey For Pastor Norman

Where in the world is Norman?

I began this website to as I went on Sabbatical to update those interested in my journey. The story of the sabbatical journey is still on the website. I have now returned from the sabbatical and three years later I realize that my journey continues,, just as it must be with all of us. Each of our stories continue to develop. Much of my story is the ministry in which I engage with at First Presbyterian Church in Moscow, ID, USA. So while I am not literally traveling as I did on sabbatical, I am still on a journey of faith. Realizing this, several years ago I added my Doctoral Project . Most recently I have added a few post of sermons and other writing I do for the church. Perhaps these descriptions of my ministry and journey of faith will be useful to you. I welcome you to read them and see if I offer any insights that may prompt insights for you. May the grace and peace of Christ be with you.

Taize

About

L'Abri

As proposed, my sabbatical journey allowed distance from the rigors of pastoral ministry, and refreshed and reinvigorated my relationship and communication with God. I began hoping to purposefully observing aspects of intentional communities that allow them to bond in faith, persist through time, and thrive as the world about them evolve.

I am now back home in Moscow, Idaho and do believe the faith journey continues. I am living, ministering and engaging with faith in community of folks that do the same for me. We live in the confines of our particular context and reach toward God with as much hope, love and faith as we can muster and are continually dependent on the grace of God in Jesus the Christ I hope the musing of my journey are valuable to yours. For I have just added a blog to this site and invite you to read, ponder, and respond if you'd like. Below is bit more about that sabbatical journey..

My sabbatical became a soul-nourishing time in intentional community; free time to explore the landscapes, cultural uniqueness, and history of other countries; and new sources of ideas and practices for the church. Capped by an immersion in spiritual exercises at Manresa Spiritual Center in Dublin, the program is unparalleled in my life to date as pastor.

Below are some photos of places we visited and to the left are links to pages on this website that I wrote while on the sabbatical journey. I would also note that as mentioned above and below my journey continues. Look below the pictures on this page for more on that journey. Thanks.

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The Sabbatical is over but the journey continues.

I have returned from the sabbatical and have returned to my work as Pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Moscow. I will use this site to occasionally post further aspects of my life journey. Another journey I have undertaken has been the docotor of ministry in Christain Spirituality cohort track at Fuller Theological Seminary. This journey has lasted four years. The formal part of this journey is coming to a close. I have found the experience moving and insight producing. Most of this experience is much harder to share. I was privileged to share this experience with a wonderful cohort of other students and to be guided by a number of sharp and insightful teachers. And I must thank Dr. Tony Jones for put it all together in a way that encouraged and enabled this learning experience to be so meaningful. As I noted, the expereince is not one I can share easily with those that did not participate, yet, I do have one product of this journey I am able to share. This is the final project in which I explored some thoughts and insights I feel I discovered along the way. If you are interested in this project and would like to read it, click on this link: Norman's Project to get the pdf version of the project.