3 month reflections on my sabbatical

Written April 4, 2024

My staff coordinator Renée sent me an email with some questions: Before we meet, it would be helpful for you to send me some of what you’ve been learning/experiencing on sabbatical as well as what you’re thinking is best for your post-sabbatical/post masters. Continue to work with Link? GBU? Full-time? Part-time? If so, where? What role?

Learning

I am learning a lot about my need for community. It’s the subject of my thesis, and I have come to the realization of how great a need I have for it. In March on a retreat at l’Abri, I had a good conversation about my longing for home and to be settled somewhere. Since being in the states, I have

experienced feelings of restless due to having my stuff in different places. I really desire a place to leave me stuff, but I also want this place to be shared space because people have modeled sharing their space with me. I really want to live somewhere and stay for a while, I’m tired of moving around.

Another thing I am learning is relationships are complicated and hard to keep. I don’t think I always understand people and I know they don’t always understand me, but I want to be intentional with the people that God has put on my path and love them as they are.

Experiencing

This has been a busy season despite the fact that I was hoping to rest. I planned to do much more than is possible. Working at an internship and writing a master’s thesis are a lot of work. Visiting my sister and her family has been nice but it’s tiring to go back and forth so I have tried to build community while living in Newburyport. I have experienced feeling like a foreigner in my own country. I feel the loneliness of not fitting in but I still desire to live in community.

I am very thankful for:

• My apartment with a view of the Merrimack River, it’s restful and peaceful
• The Makerspace, Mary the director and the people I get to see every week
• My niece Sloane, my sister and her husband, it’s nice to live near family and friends
• Old South Presbyterian church, I’m glad to have found a church in Newburyport
• Hilary who has been accompanying me through my Sabbatical

Thinking for post-sabbatical/post masters

I would like to continue working for the GBU/Link part time. I’m not sure about what I will be doing in the summer besides MPD and writing my thesis.

I enjoy the Makerspace culture, it’s an inviting place to create community and make connections. I would really love to set up a Makerspace in France, even if I just start to do art workshops in a borrowed space. I would love for this space to be a meeting place for people of all walks of life; a place where we can share our stories.

If so, where would you like to serve? 

I’m going to ask the GBU staff where I could be the most useful to serve. I really want to be in a place where I already know people, I really don’t think I have the energy to start again. I am not sure if I have enough deep ties to stay in Brittany, but I do love the region and the people. Ideally I prefer to be in a bigger city.

I have thought about going back to Nancy or maybe Nantes. Considering what I have been thinking, my only feasible options are Nancy, Nantes or a bigger city in Brittany. With what I know about the GBU there are needs in all those places but I want to talk to Marion and Yoh to have a better idea.

What role?

I want to be a person of resource to students and help them get new groups off the ground. I feel like I have done that without realizing it. I want to help where there are needs. I want to host and be hospitable. I want to welcome people outside the church “those on the outside looking in” and to be a friend to people on the margins. I want to work with artists and give them opportunities to grow and thrive in their art and spiritual life. I am really not sure what my role will look like, but I want to have more time and space to care for people.