At this time a year ago, I was beginning a three month sabbatical. It was a wonderful and disorienting experience.
We had a wonderful celebration in worship, which included a special commissioning and blessing for the sabbatical time and a welcome for an interim sabbatical minister. There was a nice reception after worship. I came home. I sent a few last minute emails based on conversations from that morning to people in the congregation and uploaded and posted the recording of my sermon. When these things were done, I adjusted the settings on my calendar to not automatically include the church calendar and I turned off the notifications on my phone for my church email account.
Then I didn't quite know what to do. For years, my life has followed the rhythms of the church calendar. Each week and month, certain things happen and need to be accomplished. Even while resting on my sabbath days and during vacations, deep down I have known what work I had to do when I returned to the office.
Except for a few family obligations and planned lunches with friends, my calendar was empty. While I planned for the sabbatical to be a time of writing and study, there were no due dates. I wasn't working under contract, and I hadn't even promised the congregation that I would have something to hand them when I returned. So I didn't have to worry about how much I wrote or when it got done (or even if it got done).
The space and freedom was a great gift. I spent lots of time with my wife and son. We had the opportunity to see friends more. On Sundays, we went to worship as a family, often visiting our friends and colleagues in their home congregations, and then were done for the day.
Even more, the space and freedom not only encouraged rest, but it created a place for new ideas and new energy -- both for me as a minister and for my congregation. In the past year, our congregation has embraced some new ideas in our worship services, our development of spiritual practices, and the ways we approach planning and administrative responsibilities.
The writing projects that I worked on during the sabbatical are still incomplete -- though happily I continue to make progress on them, and I might even have a complete draft of a book by the end of this year. The fruits of the sabbatical have been abundant, though, for both me and for the congregation.
This is the promise of sabbath that God makes with us. So often, we are convinced that we just have to work harder and longer than everyone else to get ahead. God reminds us, though, that there is abundance in our lives that only reaches fruition when we stop our labor. Some of the most important things just need time and space to grow. And some of the most valuable parts of our lives have nothing to do with our work.
I hope that every congregation will support sabbath rest for their pastors -- not just by leaving them alone one day each week, but also by finding ways for them to experience the time and space of sabbath. Sometimes this can be a period of sabbatical given after so many years of service, but more creatively, it might include extra vacation or retreat time in other years. Or the congregation might work to ensure that the pastor has sufficient time away from meetings and other obligations to spend with family and friends.
Our time and space for rest is part of fulfilling God's promises for our lives.
We had a wonderful celebration in worship, which included a special commissioning and blessing for the sabbatical time and a welcome for an interim sabbatical minister. There was a nice reception after worship. I came home. I sent a few last minute emails based on conversations from that morning to people in the congregation and uploaded and posted the recording of my sermon. When these things were done, I adjusted the settings on my calendar to not automatically include the church calendar and I turned off the notifications on my phone for my church email account.
Then I didn't quite know what to do. For years, my life has followed the rhythms of the church calendar. Each week and month, certain things happen and need to be accomplished. Even while resting on my sabbath days and during vacations, deep down I have known what work I had to do when I returned to the office.
Except for a few family obligations and planned lunches with friends, my calendar was empty. While I planned for the sabbatical to be a time of writing and study, there were no due dates. I wasn't working under contract, and I hadn't even promised the congregation that I would have something to hand them when I returned. So I didn't have to worry about how much I wrote or when it got done (or even if it got done).
The space and freedom was a great gift. I spent lots of time with my wife and son. We had the opportunity to see friends more. On Sundays, we went to worship as a family, often visiting our friends and colleagues in their home congregations, and then were done for the day.
Even more, the space and freedom not only encouraged rest, but it created a place for new ideas and new energy -- both for me as a minister and for my congregation. In the past year, our congregation has embraced some new ideas in our worship services, our development of spiritual practices, and the ways we approach planning and administrative responsibilities.
The writing projects that I worked on during the sabbatical are still incomplete -- though happily I continue to make progress on them, and I might even have a complete draft of a book by the end of this year. The fruits of the sabbatical have been abundant, though, for both me and for the congregation.
This is the promise of sabbath that God makes with us. So often, we are convinced that we just have to work harder and longer than everyone else to get ahead. God reminds us, though, that there is abundance in our lives that only reaches fruition when we stop our labor. Some of the most important things just need time and space to grow. And some of the most valuable parts of our lives have nothing to do with our work.
I hope that every congregation will support sabbath rest for their pastors -- not just by leaving them alone one day each week, but also by finding ways for them to experience the time and space of sabbath. Sometimes this can be a period of sabbatical given after so many years of service, but more creatively, it might include extra vacation or retreat time in other years. Or the congregation might work to ensure that the pastor has sufficient time away from meetings and other obligations to spend with family and friends.
Our time and space for rest is part of fulfilling God's promises for our lives.
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