Here's the hand-out that I distributed. It was a way to report, share and be accountable for the time away. I also showed some slides (oooh, old lingo!) from some churches I visited and some of my adventures from Hawaii, New Zealand and Iowa, as well as Alaska adventures. If you've read the blog, you've heard some of this. But it's an interesting experience for me to process the experience now that more time has passed (almost three months) and it's time to think about what it means for our ministry at Central.
After the presentation, we had a time for small group discussion of the sabbatical themes and some brainstorming about mission, membership and vocation. It was a good time; thanks to all who attended!
Post-Sabbatical Presentation
June 24, 2012
The intention of sabbatical is to rest,
re-new and re-charge for ministry. It is a time to reconnect to God
and others. It's a time for new experiences and new ideas to re-fresh
and inspire. The Lilly grant I received asked applicants to consider,
“What makes your heart sing?” For me, it was slowing my pace of
life, travel, time with Erik and my family, being outside and active,
meeting new people, reading and learning new ideas.
Where I went:
Hawaii, yoga retreat
Byberg Preaching Conference, Issaquah,
WA
New Zealand, vacation
Iowa, family visit
Resurrection Pass, ski trip
Churches I attended: St. Mary's
Episopal and Trinity Presbyterian in Anchorage, Lutheran Church of
the Holy Trinity in Kona, St. John Lutheran in Iowa, Wartburg College
Chapel in Iowa
Pastors I visited: Two in
Hawaii, one in New Zealand, several at Wartburg College
Preaching: Byberg Preaching
Conference, guest preacher; Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity,
Kona; Wartburg College Chapel Service.
Books I read:
UnChristian, by David Kinnamon and Gabe
Lyons
Several of the Harry Hole crime novels,
by Jo Nesbo
Let Your Life Speak, by Parker Palmer
The Pastor, by Eugene Petersen
Theme: Faith stories, faith in
daily life, vocation
Congregational activities:
vocation study, Fall 2011; faith story project, Lent 2012; sabbatical
forums, Spring 2012; Women's Retreat, April 2012.
How I ordered my days:
Each morning I started with yoga,
meditation and centering prayer. Most days I spent time reading,
journal-writing or blogging or writing sermons. Those three sermons
gave me three Bible passages to sit with during the sabbatical. I
thought a lot about vocation. I learned about my grandmother's faith
story. I spent more time with Erik and matched my life to the rhythm
of his schedule. I cooked a lot. I cleaned a lot. I did household
projects.
What I learned about myself:
I am a busy person. For the most part,
I like it and it's who I am. But I need to continue to learn to slow
down, make space and rest. When my life slowed down on sabbatical, I
felt like I was a kinder and gentler person. I had more time and
energy for Erik and others. During sabbatical, I felt like I got
quiet on the inside, a feeling I haven't had in some time. I felt
like I was noticing the presence and work of God everywhere and
inside me.
I really liked blogging more regularly.
It was a good discipline and it helped me weave God into my daily
life. I got good feedback from the blog, many people said they were
reading it. It makes me think more about the blog as a ministry tool.
People have often told me they could
feel the prayers of others. I had never felt it before, until
sabbatical. I actually could feel the prayers from members of the
congregation. I could feel the presence of their love, support and
prayers. It's hard to explain, but I could definitely feel the
prayers.
What I learned about sabbaticals:
Sabbatical really works! I went a
little crazy at first, trying to downshift. I felt lost without a
hectic schedule. It took about two weeks to let go and I spent the
last two weeks ramping up again. The real magic of sabbatical
happened in the eight or so weeks in between. A sabbatical of at
least 12 weeks is essential. I could have taken 16 and it would not
have been too much.
What I learned about the theme:
I appreciated Parker Palmer's book
about vocation. It reminded me that you can't force your vocation or
call based on an idea of what you think you “should” be doing.
You have to listen to your life, let your life speak. One idea: look
at what you did, what you were good at, and what brought you joy as a
child. This is a clue to your true gifts and calling.
Vocation is not a goal to be achieved
but a gift to be received. (Palmer)
Another idea from Palmer is the Quaker
notion of “way will open.” The premise is that when trying to
find your calling, a way will open. One way to discern is to see what
ways have closed. When things just work out, that may be a sign. A
pastor I met in Honolulu told me about how he took the call there and
things just lined up. I felt the same way about the sabbatical. I
wasn't going to take it, but then the congregation was accepting and
welcoming, my husband agreed and then I won the grant.
What I learned about being a pastor:
Eugene Peterson introduced me to the
phrase “the unbusy pastor.” I'm busy a lot and I'd like to be
less so. I'd like to spend more time really being with and listening
to people. I thought about how to be a present pastor rather than a
busy one.
To write a good sermon, a pastor must
be engaged in the life of the congregation, doing home visits and/or
1-1 visits. I read this first in Peterson's book and then it was
reinforced and then heard it again at the Byberg conference. This
might be the single most important thing I learned. It might sound
simple, but it's easy to forget with programming and other busy-ness.
What I learned about preaching:
I got some great insights at the Byberg Preaching Conference. Here are a few of my favorites.
* Hearers want to know if we have seen
and know the Risen Christ? People must trust that you have
experienced and articulated grace before they will ever accept law
from you.
* Visitation is key to sermon
preparation.
* Getting congregation involved in the sermon (some ideas): email questions about the texts to people on Monday and weave their questions/ideas into Sundays sermon; lay people pray with pastor before worship; lay people give feedback about sermon.
What I learned about my call:
I felt re-affirmed in my call to
pastor, in part by the affirmations after the three sermons I
preached while on sabbatical. I also felt re-affirmed in my call as a
wife. I feel more and more called to love and partner with Erik as if
its my job. Because it is. It gives new meaning to the pot roast I
learned how to cook and the time I spent organizing and cleaning.
What I learned about church:
We may need to re-think what it means
to be a member of a church. I thought a lot about what my friend
Pastor Marty does when people join his church. He reminds them there
are four things members promise: to worship regularly, to find their
talent and use it at church, to pray for the church and leaders and
to be faithful in financial giving. Would this work here? Or should
we go the other direction and “de-centralize Central?”
From the vocation study last fall, I
thought a lot about how we can practice being church wherever we go.
I still don't know what we could do in worship that would help people
see that they are the church in the world. One problem I see is that
we don't always know what each other does in daily life, whether
work, family duties or volunteering. How could we learn about each
other?
One thing I'd like to do is visit
people at their places of work. It could be a tour of their job-site,
lunch in the cafeteria, or coffee nearby.
What I learned about welcome
One church I visited smothered me with
so much welcome that I ran into the bathroom to hide. At another
church, just a few people greeted me and that was much better. Every
church I visited followed up with an email. Two churches gave me a
“visitor welcome packet” that included helpful information and
some goodies. One announced that any interested visitor could hang
out under a certain banner for a “two minute conversation” after
worship, where someone was waiting with a little gift bag. I liked
this.
Many of the
churches I visited use a projector during worship. Some project the
entire service. One church had a play area for kids in the corner of
the sanctuary.
What's next for us as Central?
Is it time to re-do our vision
statement? Re-consider our role as a church in Fairview? The homeless
project was very energizing. What does this say about us?
What about marketing? Could we re-do
our logo? What about getting T-shirts?
Are we using social media in the best
way we could?
How will we utilize the new projector
that's set to be installed later this summer?
How are we doing at greeting visitors?
Following up with those who've been absent?
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