Chaos, Creation and Sabbath: A Divine Dance of Trust and Hope

Summary

First, thank you for giving your pastors sabbaticals! While some of the fruit of sabbatical may not be apparent for a while, the immediate effects are a feeling of renewal. It was pure gift—I frequently used the word ‘decadent’—to have the time and space to be removed from the daily life of the congregation in order to reflect on ministry, engage more deeply with family and friends and engage in activities that nurture and renew me. My sermon this morning grows out of some of the reading I did on sabbatical and how it connects with faith and current events.

When I met with my spiritual director toward the end of my sabbatical, I reflected with her that some of the questions or ponderings I had at the beginning of sabbatical had been settled, some of them had shifted, and others that I thought were settled had unsettled. In listening to me, she responded that it sounded like the sabbatical had done its work! Sabbatical, time away, is a time for settling and unsettling, and we aren’t in control of what gets settled and what gets unsettled.