“Most of us are more tired than we know at the soul level. We are teetering on the brink of dangerous exhaustion, and we cannot do anything else until we have gotten some rest…we can’t really engage [any spiritual disciplines] until solitude becomes a place of rest for us rather than another place for human striving and hard work.”
― Ruth Haley Barton, Sacred Rhythms: Arranging Our Lives for Spiritual Transformation
If you email me from Thursday, June 15th till Monday, August 21st, you will get an away message.
I am on a sabbatical.
What the heck is a sabbatical?
Biblically speaking, a sabbatical is an application of the scriptural principle of rest modeling after God’s 6-day work of creation and 7th day of rest. It is a time to deliberately learn to trust God with the unfinished work in our job. It is an act of faith; there is disengagement from regular work for the purpose of worship, rest, renewal, repair, and realignment. It is a radical practice of submitting ourselves to limits, recognizing that we are not in control and that we are human. We are made to work and made to rest. We are not widgets and need to refuel like everything in the universe. Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of Matthew 11:28-30 in The Message captures this thought:
Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me – watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and learn to live freely and lightly.
Matthew 11:28-30 – The Message Translation
ENP has recently updated its policy to allow every staff member upon 7 years of work to take a 2-month sabbatical. We believe that this is important for many reasons. Here are a couple of them:
Benefits to ENP, Staff, and Our Community:
- Creates a healthier staff culture that promotes longevity in our work versus a “sprint, crisis, recover” culture
- Empowering emerging ENP leaders to “fill the gap” raises their level of leadership while others rest, recover, and regain a new vision for the mission of ENP
- Allows opportunity for spiritual growth: passion, wisdom, humility, and understanding
- Vocational gifts are developed and enhanced
- My own family’s health and commitment to the mission is improved or restored
- Demonstrates to the community the love and trust ENP has for its leadership
This is my first sabbatical. I spent 8 years as a pastor at a local church and am just wrapping up my 7th year at ENP.
I look forward to a period of rest and recovery. Doing things that restore me emotionally and feed me spiritually. I will be spending time in nature and focusing on the practice of centering prayer.
I look forward to a time to reflect and refocus. Seeking God by asking, “Is there anything you want to say to me?” Pausing long enough to ask what has brought me joy and what is needed of me in this next phase of my life and leadership.
I look forward to a time of realignment. Time to review and reaffirm the calling to work I have and consider how I can best do this work for the long haul. I am sure there are many things that I will want to stop doing and some things that I will want to start doing. During this sabbatical, I am focused on asking the question, “How can I do this work long-term with emotional & spiritual health?”
I am fully aware of the privilege and opportunity before me.
Thank you for supporting this organization during this time and believing in the work that we are doing. I am grateful to work at an organization that is growing in its practice of well-being. Learning from and implementing the wisdom from hundreds of generations ago. As you read this, I invite you to consider your practices of rest and how you can build them into your family, community, and organization. Our city needs leadership for the long haul and not the sprint and this effort is an effort to sustain ourselves for the long path ahead.
I will see you in 9 weeks.
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