Sabbatical, part 3

Hello Emmanuel,

If you pay too much attention to the road, you might forget where you are going.

A couple of weeks ago I shared what I would like to learn while on my 6-week sabbatical (July 1^st-August 11^th).  This week I want to share with you that I want to be reminded what I already learned.  The busyness of church has its ebbs and flows for everyone, but especially for pastors.  I have seasons of the year when I know my calendar will be packed with meetings and conversations which brings with it a certain degree of stress and pressure.  I also have seasons when I know my calendar gets a bit lighter…. Giving me a chance to prepare myself for more meetings and conversations… which bring with it a degree of stress and pressure.

Sabbaticals are often times used for rest and refocus.  This will be my major goal for those 6 weeks.  I don’t want to pay so much attention to the road that I forget where I am going.  My journey in ministry has been interesting and, at times, rather intense.  The road has seen many different terrains:  smooth and fast; bumpy and slow; twisty and curvy; straight and narrow.  But in the midst of the journey, I don’t want to forget that God is Calling me…. And why He is Calling me.

Another analogy many of you may be familiar with is ‘not seeing the forest for all the trees’.  In other words, sometimes being up close and personal keeps one from seeing the big picture.  My 6 weeks away will be a time for me to stand further back and look at the big picture.  My intentions are to disconnect from my job and reconnect with my Call.  You might see this as a conflict because my job and my Call are seen as one in the same.  However, my point is that I don’t want to see it as a job (a tree).  I want to see it as a Call (a forest).  A job gets me a paycheck.  A Call gives me purpose and connection to the Divine.  The fact that they run parallel with each other is neither here nor there.  I want to keep hearing God say ‘serve Me’.  Sometimes it’s difficult to hear when my job gets in the way.  I hope I’m making sense.  If I don’t, then it isn’t the first time.

So I will be disconnecting for 6 weeks starting July 1^st.  This may seem an impossible task because my personal AND professional life is so intertwined with church.  However, my intentions are to turn off my google mail, refuse to log-on to facebook (though that might prove challenging) and unglue my phone from my hand.  I want to reconnect with Joe Royer without the word ‘Pastor’ in front of his name.  I want to be reminded that God doesn’t call me ‘Pastor Joe’.  (He sometimes just says ‘Hey you!’).

So there will be a strong spiritual component to my sabbatical.  I appreciate all the support that I have already been given by Emmanuel.  Not every congregation would understand the concept of a sabbatical.  But as usual, Emmanuel isn’t a typical congregation. 

In totally different news, the new website is up and running, though it has many bumps to smooth over yet.  You can go to www.emmanuel-umc.com to register and see something new.  Many are registering without incident.  However, if you have issues, you can email Shawn Young (shawn.young@emmanuel-umc.com) and he will help you out.

God is Good,

Pastor Joe