Sab-what?
I still feel grateful to have started my ordained ministry serving with The Rev. Beth Fain as my rector at St. Mary's, Cypress. Beth was at St. Mary's for over 20 years, and she was there for so long, in part, because she follows that commandment about honoring the sabbath and keeping it holy. Not to the letter, but the spirit that "most often broken" of the commandments as she would say. (She now works on the Diocese of Texas staff, and still teaches about sabbath.)
We do not live in a culture that honors sabbath. As I've learned, it's about taking time to rest, reflect, and do those things that are restorative; it is spending time with God, in ways that support your own physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual health. For me, that is often running, surfing, writing, and playing music. After Eli gets out of school, it's playing with him. When Laura and I get to take a day together, even better. My sabbath-day happens to be on Friday, and there are times (for example, Good Friday) when I end up working. (The traditional Sabbath is Saturday, of course. Still strictly observed in some parts of Judaism. That was the seventh day, the day God rested from Creation. Many people don't keep traditional weekends, so it takes some creativity to carve out a day, or some portion of a day to offer back to God and to take rest.)
Another practice for this work of self care, and avoiding burn-out is sabbatical. I am, again, fortunate to be part of an institution that still offers sabbatical. My friend Taryn is an engineer, and she sought out and was granted a sabbatical when she found that she needed restoration and rejuvenation. She pioneered that practice in a career that doesn't have sabbaticals built in; and it has served her and her business very well.
Even within the academic and ecclesiastical institutions that offer sabbatical, many people neglect to take time to step away for rest, study, and activity that is restorative. In my corner of the Episcopal Church, we may take sabbatical every seven years, after at least five in one congregation. (So, even if ordained 7 years, I couldn't take a sabbatical after two years in a new placement.)
June of this year will be my 13th deacon ordination anniversary, and January will mark my 13th year as a priest. This August, I will have been at Trinity by the Sea for 7 years (normal years, I'm not sure how to count hurricane years.) So, I'll be taking a sabbatical next year starting at the beginning of Lent. I am ready for it; I want to take time to come back to this amazing place I am fortunate to serve, and they deserve a healthy priest. (More details on what I'll be doing later...)
The Monday after Easter this year, I got to send off a dear friend on his sabbatical. Kevin Schubert and I met when we were 8 as campers at Camp Allen. We served on summer staff together, went to college together at SWT, and were ordained a year apart. It was a great gift to me, as I look ahead to my sabbatical, to celebrate that time with him, stepping away from the day-to-day demands of parish life to go and be restored.
Keep Kevin in your prayers, and please pray for me, as I get ready for my sabbatical...I wonder if you have can carve out time in your busy week to spend with God; are you in need of time away to be restored with God's help? Whether you are part of an institution that supports sabbatical (and sabbath-taking) or not, you can probably get creative (asking help from the Creator) to take care of yourself. You may be surprised at the support you receive.
P.S. I intend to write more often in the next year, to prepare for a writing project I hope to take on during my sabbatical. So, here I am.
We do not live in a culture that honors sabbath. As I've learned, it's about taking time to rest, reflect, and do those things that are restorative; it is spending time with God, in ways that support your own physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual health. For me, that is often running, surfing, writing, and playing music. After Eli gets out of school, it's playing with him. When Laura and I get to take a day together, even better. My sabbath-day happens to be on Friday, and there are times (for example, Good Friday) when I end up working. (The traditional Sabbath is Saturday, of course. Still strictly observed in some parts of Judaism. That was the seventh day, the day God rested from Creation. Many people don't keep traditional weekends, so it takes some creativity to carve out a day, or some portion of a day to offer back to God and to take rest.)
Another practice for this work of self care, and avoiding burn-out is sabbatical. I am, again, fortunate to be part of an institution that still offers sabbatical. My friend Taryn is an engineer, and she sought out and was granted a sabbatical when she found that she needed restoration and rejuvenation. She pioneered that practice in a career that doesn't have sabbaticals built in; and it has served her and her business very well.
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| Kevin and I playing music |
June of this year will be my 13th deacon ordination anniversary, and January will mark my 13th year as a priest. This August, I will have been at Trinity by the Sea for 7 years (normal years, I'm not sure how to count hurricane years.) So, I'll be taking a sabbatical next year starting at the beginning of Lent. I am ready for it; I want to take time to come back to this amazing place I am fortunate to serve, and they deserve a healthy priest. (More details on what I'll be doing later...)
The Monday after Easter this year, I got to send off a dear friend on his sabbatical. Kevin Schubert and I met when we were 8 as campers at Camp Allen. We served on summer staff together, went to college together at SWT, and were ordained a year apart. It was a great gift to me, as I look ahead to my sabbatical, to celebrate that time with him, stepping away from the day-to-day demands of parish life to go and be restored.
Keep Kevin in your prayers, and please pray for me, as I get ready for my sabbatical...I wonder if you have can carve out time in your busy week to spend with God; are you in need of time away to be restored with God's help? Whether you are part of an institution that supports sabbatical (and sabbath-taking) or not, you can probably get creative (asking help from the Creator) to take care of yourself. You may be surprised at the support you receive.
P.S. I intend to write more often in the next year, to prepare for a writing project I hope to take on during my sabbatical. So, here I am.
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