This is the last column I’ll write for the next few months, as after Sunday (July 2nd), I’ll be gone on sabbatical until Sunday October 15th.
It’s hard to think that I’ve been at Lord of Grace for 13 years now. The ELCA recommends sabbaticals every 5-7 years, but at that time I had 5 kids in the house, ranging from preschool to high school. There was simply no way to swing being away from family for that long. Now that three are out of high school, things are more manageable, and I can get the time off.
There was a time when Lutheran bishops could be a bit like task masters. They had very high expectations of hours worked, and when conflict would arise, or people would complain to the bishop, the question was often sent back to the pastor with a “how many hours are you working?”, as if laziness must be the reason everyone’s not happy. Couldn’t be anything else.
But then this attitude, and workaholism in general, started catching up with us as a church. Clergy burnout hit hard, and many quit. Then you had a huge wave of misconducts and affairs in the 70’s-90’s. All those people working long hours found unhealthy ways to release. Now we’ve just come to understand that the job is not what it used to be. Before, you pretty much knew what was expected: preach, teach, visit, repeat. If you preached more, taught more, visited more, then you could expect some success, or at least people would be more happy.
Now, we don’t even know what we’re doing in church half the time. You have fewer volunteers, people coming less often, more secular culture, fewer visitors on Sundays – all adding to the pressure to get new people in new ways. Then let’s throw in technology management, livestreaming, social media, and all the organizational work you have to pick up because you don’t have the people to delegate it out to, and the job suddenly is less about working harder, and more about figuring out what works - all while you still preach, teach, visit.
All this has led to a wave of retirements, and an attrition rate of around 30% of pastors in the first 5 years. All of it combined to make the higher ups think that maybe they should pull back on workaholic expectations and try to figure out how to have healthier clergy who stay longer, and thus are more effective at constantly adapting and leading change. Hence the support for pastors taking sabbaticals.
You know how I’ve preached against the “industrial” way of thinking about ministry for years. Humans are not machines that can just crank out better things by putting in more effort. We need time to rest in order to think, feel, imagine, and recharge. To be effective at coming up with new things, and constantly problem-solve new situations, you have to be rested and in a clear frame of mind. If you’re tired from running ragged, you get rote and uninspired.
And the last thing we all need is to be rote and uninspired. That’s not much of a life. So we need to value time off, rest, recreation, family, hobbies, community engagement, outdoors just as much as work – in order to be good at work.
I won’t say I’ve become rote these last three years, but I will admit that the endless adaptation to changing circumstances has come with stress. I will say that it’s hard to think of how to grow the church, and make disciples, and do new ministries, when you can’t even figure out where everyone is, or how to operate all the machines. I miss that, because, to me, that’s the funnest part of ministry – the opportunities to change new lives and make a difference. I plan to do a lot more of that when I come back from a few months away.
For the sabbatical I’m going to mostly go back to doing things I’ve done, or places I’ve seen. There will be some adventure; I’m going to check out some parks and monuments I’ve never been to. But camping and hiking are things I love. Most of my faith journey leading to seminary was out in the woods, at camp, when it wasn’t at the local church. Endless days in the trees debating God’s call for me, my place in the world. Getting back to that will bring peace (I hope) and some renewed connection with God. Going to see Sweden again, where I remember being the only one in my class who went to church on Sundays, will be exciting. It was through our connections to Sweden that Kristie and I met in the Scandinavian Studies Department at college. It’s why the sabbatical proposal was filled with talk of “reconnecting”. It’s a little like being the musician who had big hits early on, and tons of new stuff, and then gets so busy running tours that things can get repetitive, and needs to go back to Greenwich Village coffee shops (if you took a Bob Dylan-style journey) and the life before the work to get re-inspired for new ideas and new energy. The Beatles made their best album at the end of their career (Let It Be), although some would argue orange pills and Yoko Ono had a hand in it 😊.
But that’s the idea: to get back to the basic things that formed faith originally, spend time with family, and not do any work. There will be a lot of picture-taking, and I plan to get some printed out for a display when I get back. But there will be no theological investigations, or touring “successful” churches to look for practices to poach. Just lots of decompressing and soaking in God’s beauty and grace.
While I’m out, you will be in the good hands of Pastor Jim Dew and the many members who are stepping up to cover ministries and even some lay-led services on Sundays. The Lay Visitation Team, led by Cindy Stein, will be in charge of member care. If you have prayers or concerns, sicknesses, surgeries, or just someone to talk to, call her. The team is excited to be there for the congregation, to build up and support one another.
I also won’t get to see the sanctuary finished (though I might sneak in under cover of darkness to check it out later), as it will still be under construction when I leave. Sam Lyth is managing the project, so you can bring your questions to him. Reminder again that the pews will not be bolted to the floor anymore. This will give us flexibility with the space, but you will have to be careful if using them to stand up.
Sue Justis is leading a study on spiritual gifts. Check out the display for that. You have the chance to not just read the book on gifts, but study with Rev. Josh Acton himself, the author. If you want to see some of his previous talks, check them out here.
Fourth of July and Rally Day are still on – our two big events in the heat. Prayerfully consider if you can do some grilling or helping out with those, since I won’t be around to call and recruit. See our council president Linda Merritt if you can help with Rally Day.
When I look at all the work of the last couple years, we’ve really come a long way as a church. We transformed to livestreaming and beefed up our internet presence. We upgraded our building, and continue through your generosity. We started a strategic planning process and got a new mission statement. Now we’re rebuilding our sanctuary and looking at revising our ministries for growth. We got challenged, and rose to the occasion. Thank you all for everything you did to support our congregation and get us through so we can not just survive, but plan ahead and lean into the future.
Having done that, I will be leaning back on a folding chair in the woods somewhere for a while with my wife and good pot of coffee brewed over a kerosene stove. I’ll think of you. But not too much 😊. God bless.
Pastor Lars