For those of you who are new, I had the enormous joy and privilege of a five-month sabbatical and this is my first week back at work. It was so wonderful to see so many of you on Sunday, and I look forward to catching up with you! Please reach out to set up a time to meet with me.

I’ll be sharing more about the sabbatical time in the weeks and months ahead, but I wanted to start by sharing a few pictures. The first is from my wedding to Isadel in October, the second is from our honeymoon, and the third is from my sabbatical projects of visiting other churches and mindful fiber arts.

Here also is a bit about my new name: Isadel and I changed our last names to “Saunter,” a name we made up, and yes, we chose it because we love walks. Throughout our relationship, and especially through the pandemic, we have taken refuge in walks together Middlesex Fells near our house and hikes elsewhere. This is when we do a lot of our processing and meaningful conversation, and find joy and calm in being outside. I even proposed on a walk in the Fells. We liked the idea of choosing a shared last name that honors our walks, but too many people are named Walker, and there’s even already a famous Rev. Elizabeth Walker. As Isadel put it: “So, after months of discussions, attempts at rearranging the letters of our current names, hours with thesauruses, looking up “walker” in various languages of our ancestors, and, of course, last-name processing discussions walking in Middlesex Fells, we chose Saunter. Saunter, as in a relaxed walk or stroll.” You can still call me Rev. EB, though: I’m keeping Bukey as a middle name.

See you on Sunday or another day soon!
Rev. EB (Saunter)