As you may have heard, I am planning on taking a Sabbatical...
I wanted to explain a little bit about what it is and why I am going to take it. It could be a little upsetting to hear that the "Pastor is leaving", I want to assure you right from the start that this is not the case. I am setting apart some time to seek the Lord with every intention and great anticipation of returning to Lawrence Street Chapel.
Below is an article that I think gets us off to a good start in communicating what the Sabbitical is intended to accomplish. I will post additional thoughts and perspectives over the next few weeks so keep coming back to check -
God bless you dear saint.
A Season of Rest
In the last hundred years, sabbaticals have become primarily identified as the time off used by professors in universities who want to study a subject for a concentrated period of time, usually in a location away from home. Prior to that, however, sabbaticals were used as a means for clergy to recuperate and restore their physical and spiritual vigor.
The word sabbatical does not appear in the Bible in reference to people in any profession. Instead, it comes from a section in Leviticus that mandates a season of rest for the land: every seventh year the fields were to lie fallow to allow for the replenishment of the soil (25:1-7). That makes good ecological sense, but it is not the primary purpose of the sabbatical law.
· For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield, but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the beasts of the field may eat (Ex. 23:10-11).
· At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release. And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not exact it of his neighbor, his brother, because the Lords’ release has been proclaimed (Deut. 15 1-2).
The sabbatical law had more to do with the people of God, Israel, and their dependence on the land for their sustenance. God's intent was to ensure the Israelites dependence on Yahweh—and not the land—for their needs. If God's people became too attached to the land as their source of food, they would begin to treat it like an idol.
In fact, Baal, Yahweh's principle "competition" in the hearts of His people, was the god of land and fertility. As history proves, the Israelites found it easy to forget Yahweh's care for them in favor of Baal (1 Kings 16:32, 2 Kings 21:3), who they believed gave the land its fruitfulness.
The sabbatical's purpose for the Israelites was that once in every seven years they would stop producing food from the land. This meant not only that they would be dependent on God for one year, but for three: They would need to depend on Him for the year before the sabbatical, because He promised they would see dramatic increases in production. They would need to depend on him for the Sabbath year, while the ground was fallow. And they would need to depend on him for the year after the sabbatical, since no food was gathered and stored ahead for that year.
A Bell Tower
I have often likened pastors to bell towers: unless they are careful, they will ring one bell in their tower repeatedly. What do I mean? Even the best of preachers can begin to repeat the same theme and tone over and over in their preaching. A staleness or tired familiarity—one bell—begins to ring week in and week out. Why?
This exists, in part, due to fatigue. The role of pastor-preacher, if done faithfully, is one of the most taxing jobs in the world. It demands so many skills. It’s emotionally taxing. And it’s both so regular (that sermon is coming!) and so variable (who can predict funerals, illnesses, or member crises?). Congregations need to be aware of this and make provision before the "one bell syndrome" sets in.
One way to care for the pastor is by offering a planned and regular sabbatical. What do I mean by sabbatical? I don’t mean the biblical "sabbatical year" spoken of in the Old Testament, I do mean the kind of sabbatical that our culture typically understands today.
The Sabbatical
One way to care for the pastor is by offering a planned and regular sabbatical. What do I mean by sabbatical? I don’t mean the biblical "sabbatical year" spoken of in the Old Testament, I do mean the kind of sabbatical that our culture typically understands today.
Sabbaticals are not vacations. We would encourage the pastor to see vacations as time completely away from his regular work (and geography, if financially affordable) and with the focus aimed squarely on his family. Sabbaticals on the other hand are not work-less and not aimed at the benefit of his family. They are specifically aimed at reinvigorating and renewing the mind and heart of the pastor through research, purposeful travel, writing, etc. In other words, the goal is to begin using some forgotten bells and to hang some new ones in that bell tower for a fuller, clearer, and louder sound.
