SailingActs Book

SailingActs: Following an Ancient Voyage, is now available! Released in October by Good Books, this is the complete story of our adventures and discoveries, following St. Paul by land and sea.

You may order copies directly from Good Books at www.GoodBks.com or www.amazon.com.

Janet and I have been extra busy this fall, giving presentations on SailingActs, book signings, and teaching. In addition, I am planning a 3 week seminar “Leadership on a Sea of Change” in May 2007 by land and sea along the coast of Turkey.

For information about SailingActs presentations, you may contact
ChurchRelations@emu.edu or 1-800-368-3383 at Eastern Mennonite University.

LIFE ON THE LAND

The transition from life on the Mediterranean to the solid land and dizzying pace of life in Harrisonburg, Virginia started the moment our plane touched down in Washington, D.C. on August 10 and still continues. Janet and I immediately plunged into the fall teaching and administrative schedule at Eastern Mennonite University, reconnecting to people (friends, family, church community, and colleagues) and life in America.

But just as we could not bring ourselves to part with SailingActs in Italy, it seems “sailing Acts” will keep us moving in America as well. We have been presenting the story of following Paul in the Mediterranean ever since we returned, making over 20 presentations during the past 3 months in churches, schools, organizations, and retirement communities.

Sept. 5 Eastern Mennonite Seminary Harrisonburg, VA
Sept. 18 Immanuel Mennonite Church Harrisonburg, VA
Sept. 27 World Vision Washington, D.C.
Oct. 2 Crossroads Mennonite Church Broadway, VA
Oct 2 Dayton Mennonite Church Dayton, VA
Oct 15 Virginia Menn. Retirement Comm. Harrisonburg, VA
Oct 19 Virginia Mennonite Mission Board Harrisonburg, VA
Oct. 27 EMU – Student Missions Group Harrisonburg, VA
Oct. 30 Ridgeway Mennonite Church Harrisonburg, VA
Nov. 12 Missiology Conference, AMBS Elkhart, IN
Nov. 18 Western Mennonite School Salem, OR
Nov. 19 Zion Mennonite Church Hubbard, OR
Nov. 19 Portland Mennonite Church Portland, OR
Nov. 20 Salem Mennonite Church Salem, OR
Nov. 20 Albany Mennonite Church Albany, OR
Nov. 27 On Eagles Wings Pentecostal Elkton, VA
Nov. 30 Virginia Menn. Retirement Comm. Harrisonburg, VA
Dec. 4 Unitarian/Universalist Church Dayton, VA
Dec. 4 Edinburg United Methodist Edinburg, VA

Janet and I will be in the Middle East with a group of EMU students from January through April, 2006. During the summer months in 2006, we plan to return to the Mediterranean to sail from Italy to Turkey, exploring additional sites and returning to places in which we had too short of time during the sabbatical, doing further research into Paul’s missionary journeys.

By early fall of 2006 the book, Sailing Acts, is scheduled to be released by Good Books of Intercourse, PA. We are planning to continue the Sailing Acts presentations when the book is published in the fall. If you would like to schedule a presentation in your church, school, or organization, please send an email to: stutzmal@emu.edu.

The second book Kingdom, Power and Glory: What Christians in Globalization can Learn from Paul in the Roman Empire, is planned for publication several months later.

Back on land in a world that feels increasingly like the sea I find comfort in Paul’s words to the Roman Christians that nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

HOME

The past few days have been filled with the activities of taking down sails, putting up tarps, washing ropes, cleaning, sorting, and packing. During the last number of days in Tropea I have made steady progress on the manuscript of Sailing Acts and am only hours away of being ready to send it to a publisher as soon as we find one after returning home. It feels good, having completed all of the sabbatical writing goals.

This afternoon we will finish the last tasks of getting SailingActs ready for winter. We are quiet and subdued, knowing that one of the most challenging and rewarding periods of life has come to an end. Tonight we will take the overnight train to Rome, and spend tomorrow day wandering about through the diminished power and the faded glory of Rome, that greatest of all first century cities. Early the following morning, on August 10, we will board the Lufthansa flight to Munich, Germany where we will connect with our flight to Washington, D.C.

I do not know what Paul felt like when he finally left Rome after his two year house arrest with which the Book of Acts ends. I can imagine leaving Rome was for Paul a mixture of celebration and sadness.

I do not know what we will be feeling when we leave Rome. We have sailed only 16 months with Paul through the Roman Empire, on the Mediterranean, but it seems so long, the return trip so short. We will be leaving Rome, once the most powerful city on earth, and flying to Washington, D.C. presently the most powerful city in the world. Like Paul, Janet and I are citizens of the most powerful Empire on earth today. Like Paul, we are aware more than ever that this great nation, like the Roman Empire, is not the Kingdom of God.

I realize with sudden delight that our experience of sailing with Paul is not ending, for we are still not home.

May God bless all our journeys home.

See photos from Aug. 9

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I will be teaching this fall semester at Eastern Mennonite University. Janet has a position with the EMU advancement division. In January we plan to lead our fourth semester-long, cross-cultural study group to the Middle East.

This fall I will also be giving presentations about our experiences of sailing Acts, and insights about Paul, the first century Roman Empire, and the implications for today’s world. For information you may contact me at stutzmal@emu.edu.