Just this morning, as Trev was saying farewell, he was surprised to hear the person he was visiting say, "Are you looking forward to your four month vacation?!"
Time to talk about what a Sabbatical is, and is not!...
First of all, a sabbatical is a gift. It's possible that very few of us as pastors could ever say that we really, truly "deserve" a sabbatical. It's a gift of time and space and resources from the congregation... permission to step aside for a while to catch our breath.
In the early stages of our discussions with council, one of the elders ordered a book entitled: "Clergy Renewal: The Alban Guide to Sabbatical Planning." What a God-send that book was! In it, we read: "Sabbatical is a time to receive, to be nurtured, to dig deeper into yourself, your relationship with God, and your own roots and stories, so that you can be renewed, refreshed, and revitalized by the breath of God." Part of the reason we are going to Central Alberta is because that's the place where we started from. Both Trev and I were born and grew up in Alberta. We're hopeful that the wide open spaces will speak to our hearts and remind us of our deep roots, geographically and spiritually.
The term sabbatical seems to be a stumbling block, so some churches encourage the language of "renewal leave" rather than Sabbatical. Referring to our time away as "renewal leave" might be helpful since it communicates that while new learning and new skills are important, sabbatical leave should allow for renewal of the whole person.
Vacations do this too, in some ways, except that there is often a greater focus on entertainment and "letting loose" while people are on vacation. Sabbatical, on the other hand, is a time for learning or re-learning spiritual disciplines. People often complain that they need a vacation after their vacation because they were so busy sight-seeing and over-eating and running around that they arrive home exhausted! Sabbatical is a time to do the opposite of that: it is to exercise the discipline of not doing whatever is draining and instead to engage in and practice whatever is restorative and life-giving.
Several sages of the centuries have written that the real point of traveling is not to arrive but to return home.
Douglas C. Vest, On Pilgrimage
Finally, for now, the purpose of Sabbatical is return to First CRC of Vancouver with a renewed sense of our calling as pastors, with deepened hope for what God is doing in our midst, and an invigorated capacity to participate in the mission of God in our congregation and neighbourhood.
As always, there's so much more to say about this. But we'll come back to it and parse this bit by bit...
