My Last Sunday

I think it's probably pretty unusual for a pastor to take two sabbaticals from the same church.  Many churches don't give pastors sabbaticals at all and those that do might require a full seven years before a pastor gets one - which means fourteen years with a church before a pastor gets a second sabbatical.  Most pastors don't stay with a church for fourteen years.

I waited seven years to take my first sabbatical, and while I was on it, I realized I should have taken it sooner.  Seven years is too long, in my opinion, to go without a break from ministry.  So I made sure that my church was prepared to give the pastor a sabbatical after five years, a schedule that more and more churches are following now.

The time leading up to my first sabbatical was filled with angst and excitement. (I preached about this in my sermon this morning.  You can listen if you'd like:  http://mp3.livingwaterchristian.org/worship/2016/messages/LWCC-2016-05-22-Message.mp3)  I felt like a new parent leaving her newborn with a sitter for the first time.  I was sure that no one else could care for my church the way that I could.  I was concerned about what would happen if someone needed me while I was gone.  My stomach was in knots and it took me probably a month before I relaxed enough to really appreciate the sabbatical experience.  Of course, everything was fine, better than fine.  The church had a great time with their sabbatical pastor, and God did some really important work on me.

Everything about this second sabbatical is much calmer.  Instead of feeling like a parent who is turning over the care of her fragile newborn for the first time, I feel like a parent who is sending her child off to overnight church camp for the first time.  There's still some separation pangs - this is a big step for both of us - but there's also excitement and joy at what this "child" will see and do and learn apart from me.

And naturally, there are still a few loose ends for me to tie up so I'm gently easing into this whole sabbatical thing.  But it begins with deep breaths.  And I've already started taking those.