And then someone gave me $10,000.
Seriously. Well, sort of. Not to just me and not all right away. But
definitely $10,000. Here’s the story…

A few months ago, a friend floated a
grant application my way. (I’m always amazed at free money). These
particular grants are given by the Presbyterian seminary in Austin,
Texas. Meant for small groups of clergy, the grants offer
on going learning and support over the course of two years. The
seminary provides financial support for up to $10,000 for each small
group. Each small group sets their own course for learning.

We quickly assembled a group of three
Lutherans and three Presbyterian pastors and brainstormed ideas. We
finally arrived at the theme: Belonging. What does it mean to belong?
To the Body of Christ? To a church/faith community? What does
“membership” mean and does anyone even care about it anymore? We
six are in very different contexts—and the sense of belonging for
people in our churches varies widely.

Pastors also have such weird jobs that
it’s hard to know where we belong. Want to kill conversation? Have
your pastor walk into your next social gathering. We often carry the
secrets of our communities—it’s part of our vocation. Add odd hours
and weekends and you have some fairly isolated oddballs.

We proposed that we meet for a monthly,
twenty-hour retreat. We have a book list related to our theme. We
picked a retreat space that will feed us good, whole food…with
trails for walking and solid beds for rest. We also picked Wed/Thurs
time frame so that we are forced to stop other work to attend to this
work.

Guess what? We received a grant that
will fund these monthly retreats. Seriously. And then in October,
they fly our entire group to Austin to meet up with the other grant
recipients and more time for learning. I have just the boots for this
occasion! Keep Austin Weird, love.

I am profoundly grateful for these
strangers and their belief in what we do.