A Time to Mend
Wednesday, May 26, 2010 at 10:23AM Next week I begin a three-month sabbatical. That means that this week is insanely busy. Preparations need to be made. There are so many details - and yet the end is in sight.
I find that as I approach the sabbatical, it's easy to continue to think in terms of my ordinary routines. A sabbatical can easily become a different kind of rat race in which the same idolatries go unchallenged, and in which the same need for productivity continues. My sabbatical will not be an idle time, but it will be time for a different kind of work. It's the type of work that does not always have productivity as its goal.
Love this quote by Abraham Joshua Heshel:
...the Sabbath is not an occasion for diversion or frivolity; not a day to shoot fireworks or to turn somersaults, but an opportunity to mend our tattered lives; to collect rather than to dissipate time. Labor without dignity is the cause of misery; rest without spirit the source of depravity.
More excellent quotes on sabbath can be found here.
Reader Comments (4)
I pray your sabbatical is fruitful & refreshing.
I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer or anything, but I recently heard about John Piper taking nine months off for a needed sabbatical. I went into the kitchen and decided to talk to my wife about what she thought about that. I asked her what would happen if Steve, the president of the company where she used to work, sent out an email explaining that he was just worn to a thread and needed to really work on loving his family and would therefore be out for the next nine months. She laughed and said it could never happen. When I told her that a pastor had just done the same thing, she hesitated and said, "Well, I mean, I guess if God's leading him to do that."I don't understand why we hold preachers to different standards. I mean, my dad's worn out after years of driving a truck and, believe me, needs to work on his relationship with his family (and wants to!), but that will never happen for him because he works in the real world.
Joshua:You ask a good question.As for Piper, it's important to remember that he asked for an unpaid leave of absence. I know a lot of companies in the "real world" as you put it that offer the same thing. I think the church chose to pay him, but they didn't have to. In terms of what he asked for, it's not completely uncommon.But the issue of why pastors need sabbaticals is a real one. I don't know if I have the complete answer except to tell you that our elders wrestled with this, and believed they could make a case for the unique nature of pastoral ministry. That sounds horribly self-serving coming from a pastor though, so I'm not sure I will be able to successfully make the case.
Darryl, Joshua asks an excellent question, and I understand your hesitation as a pastor to try to explain/defend the unique strains and toll of long-term ministry. First of all, I commend you for staying in the ministry long-term. The attrition rate is incredibly high. I think that alone speaks to the particular stresses and demands placed on pastors in general. Very few these days stay at a church for more than five years, and many have left the ministry all together before long before the ten-year mark.I worked in the marketplace all of my life before becoming a pastor and a church planter, entering the ministry when I was 33. For twelve years I was employed in the financial securities industry - part of that time self-employed. I worked long hours. But nothing I did in the marketplace was as demanding as these last 13 years I have spent serving the local church. Like you, I won't try to write a thorough apologetic - the highs have been very high and the lows have been devastating. Still it's what I choose to do and I'm certain that if I was not gripped by "a call" to do this I would have dropped out a long time ago. For me, the marketplace was less demanding and much higher paying. That's not to say that people in other vocations and careers don't work hard. Some people work grueling hours in jobs they hate - and my experience in the marketplace was useful in exposing me to a side of life that many pastors know nothing about. I appreciate the people in my congregation who hold down tough jobs. I'm also glad that some of them care enough about me to demand that I unplug now and then for some essential restoration. Nobody loses when a pastor takes care of their own soul.