November, 2008 From The Grapevine: A Newsletter of the Cathedral

To some it may seem that I only just arrived to Hartford. I am still introduced by some as “the new dean.” But I can attest, and my graying hair and beard can prove, that I have indeed begun my fifth year at the Cathedral. Next year I have vowed to myself, my family and to God to do what I have not done in 18 years of ordained ministry: I will take a sabbatical. I have twice before taken new church positions right before I would have been given time away to rest, study, pray and travel. Not this time.

Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based, private philanthropic foundation created in 1937 by three members of the Lilly family through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company. “What will make your heart sing?” is the question the Lilly Endowment Inc. asks pastors of congregations all across the country every year. And every year for the past nine years their congregations have responded with proposals including remarkable ideas and plans for the rejuvenation of their pastors. During a typical year, about 125 congregations around the country (outside of Indiana) are given a grant.

In May of 2008 I worked with a small committee of Cathedral members to apply for a grant from the Lilly Endowment’s National Clergy Renewal Program, which seeks to “strengthen Christian congregations by providing opportunities for the pastor to step away briefly from the persistent obligations of daily parish life and to engage in a period of renewal and reflection.” In September I learned the good news that the Cathedral was awarded a grant of $45,000 – the only award this year to a Connecticut congregation of any denomination – towards my sabbatical next year. $30,000 will go towards my travel and study expenses, and $15,000 will be available to the Cathedral to pay for supply clergy and other pastoral assistance while I am away.

The title of the application is “The Urgency of Hospitality” and was inspired by my visit to New Orleans for a Cathedral Deans’ Conference in April of this year. What I learned was that in the weeks and months after the storm, there was a public awareness of the healing role that food, cooking and the sharing of treasured and once-guarded family recipes have played in the grieving, loss, celebration, rebuilding and hope of New Orleans and its proud residents. Among other things, my sabbatical will allow me to “sing a new song” and learn to depart for a time from my normal pastoral duties to explore and learn why and how food is so important to families, congregations and cultures. How does food break down barriers between people? Why is it vital to write down and share the family recipes that have been passed down through the generations? What role does food play in times of crisis and in the aftermath of loss? How does cooking and sharing a meal heal our souls?

I look forward to sharing with you more of my plans for this time away at a forum in May of next year. God willing, I plan to be away from July through October, 2009. And I hope to return refreshed, renewed and excited about our ministry that we share in this place in the years ahead.

Blessings, Mark+

Christ Church Cathedral, Hartford submitted a proposal in May, 2008 to the Lilly Endowment, Inc. Clergy Renewal Program for a grant for an extended leave for the Very Reverend Mark B. Pendleton, Dean, to allow him to take three months away from the daily routine of ministry. The time away will invite spiritual, personal, professional, and physical renewal by allowing Mark three months to rest, read, study, travel and to be more fully present with his wife Leslie and two teenage children, William and Lydia. Mark hopes to learn to cook and explore the importance of food and preserving cherished family recipes – especially in their relationship to community and congregational hospitality and healing. He will spend time at a cooking school in California, learn first hand about the role that food and recipes played in post-Katrina New Orleans, visit a monastery that is known for its bread baking ministry, and while at home, he will study and read the poetry of Wallace Stevens, so that he can be a better informed host to the many visitors who arrive -- often unannounced -- at the Cathedral’s rectory, the one-time home of the fabled Hartford poet.

After the completion of the three month sabbatical, Mark will return to his ministry at the Cathedral refreshed and renewed and with a greater understanding of the place of hospitality within Christian ministry and a stronger vision about how the Cathedral can extend its mission throughout the city of Hartford and the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut.