Sabbatical S2: Episode 2

Last week I worked more finishing up projects than I actually did sabbatical, but that is the nature of my vocation and a comment on my organizational skills. There is no day like today to start off in a new direction. One of the things I did pre-season two, was listen to my entire Springsteen collection. That was privileged time. Thanks to Steve Jobs, I can take most of my music collection with me anywhere, but there is something mystical about sitting and absorbing the music, poetry, or prose that opens portals in time. It is more than escapism.

One of last week’s Sightings from the Martin Marty Center spoke of Springsteen and his one person Broadway show offering this summation.

“Springsteen on Broadway” is labeled by the artist as “my long and noisy prayer.” It asks for us to be redeemed, and for America to climb back up from its tragic fall. We must name our failings and fully accept their depth within us. We can then reclaim our birthplace and our most deeply-rooted values.

[Ron Malzer, “Springsteen’s Promised Land (It’s Not What You Think)”. Sightings, March 28, 2019]

Maybe part of sabbatical is discovering deeply rooted values, again. I often suggest to congregations that sabbatical time is an opportunity for their minister to rediscover the “why” of their call to ministry. The ’80’s rock-n-roll group Journey focuses on the work of relationships with this lyric, “I get the joy of rediscovering you.” The first year I served in Regional ministry I listened to the song, “Faithfully,” many times as my companion and I adjusted to a different ministry lifestyle. We are a clergy couple with our own visions of what ministry means, how to best serve, and have different ways of working. We’ve only served together as summer camp directors. We don’t ever see ourselves serving a local congregation together. We knew when we married almost thirty years ago that we wanted home to be home, and try as we do, sometimes home becomes an extension of work. It is just part of it. Even now, eighteen years after I began serving in Regional ministry we have mostly adjusted to this lifestyle (clergy couple – seminary professor and associate regional minister). We are rarely seen in the same place together and some ask, “Are you ever home at the same time?” The entire verse speaks a truth that we manage better.

Through space and time
Always another show
Wondering where I am lost without you
And being apart ain’t easy on this love affair
Two strangers learn to fall in love again
I get the joy of rediscovering you
Oh girl
You stand by me
I’m forever yours
Faithfully

Journey. “Faithfully.” Frontiers, Columbia Records 1983, track 5. Lyricsfreak, https://www.lyricsfreak.com/j/journey/faithfully_20075719.html.

This lyric speaks a truth about serving in Christian ministry. In my denomination, the ordination vows a minister takes on reminds the one being ordained that “God who called you is faithful.” That is a statement of faith as well as an idealism. O Lord, please stand by me or at least stand with me. You know . . . footprints.

The “Smarter Living” section of the New York Times did a week of articles on productivity, procrastination, precrastination, and work habits. When asked, I speak of my work habits by what has my attention or most of my attention. I divide up my week and day based on what needs my attention. This article helps explain my attention driven work habits: “Productivity Isn’t About Time Management. It’s About Attention Management.”

Attention management is the art of focusing on getting things done for the right reasons, in the right places and at the right moments.

[Adam Grant, “Productivity Isn’t About Time Management. It’s About Attention Management.” March 28, 2019. NYTimes.com https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/28/smarter-living/productivity-isnt-about-time-management-its-about-attention-management.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share]

Oddly, the marketing guy I follow, Seth God, posted this yesterday.

Busy is not the point.

There’s a common safe place: Being busy.

We’re supposed to give you a pass because you were full on, all day. Frantically moving from one thing to the other, never pausing to catch your breath, and now you’re exhausted.

No points for busy.

Points for successful prioritization. Points for efficiency and productivity. Points for doing work that matters.

No points for busy.

Seth Godin, “Busy is not the point.” March 31, 2019

I remind high school students that “busy does not mean successful.” You are going to make choices. Be intentional about your choices. Clergy can have issues balancing the call to ministry and the call to life outside of ministry. I will revisit what has my attention or to what I give my attention during Season 2. My reading so far of iGen notes that our devices, specifically smart phones, have become pellet dispensers of identity, approval or disapproval, through social media. A digital existence is a choice, not yet a requirement, for participating in modern society. Why do I give it my attention? For whom am I posting?

Deep rooted values. Through space and time. No points for busy.

, April 1, 2019. Category: Michael D, Sabbatical.

Sabbatical: Season 2

“All the world’s a stage.”
(William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act II Scene VII Line 138.)

Instagram. Twitter. Facebook. Snapchat. Facetime. Duo. Periscope. Blogging.

Back in January, I spoke of my sabbatical as segments. When February arrived and I returned to the pace of my vocation the idea of a “season” had replaced the previously known “segment.” It is an example of how I incorporate media thinking into my life. Yes, if you are reading this and knew me back in high school, college, seminary, or those early days of full-time ministry, please, have a good, long, belly laugh. Planning was not a necessary ingredient back in the early days of my living or practice of my vocation. Radio and TV use terms like “block” and “segment” to plan intervals of time that make up a show. It is easier to take a theme or idea and break it into smaller junks of time than to program the entire 30 minutes or 60 minutes or 3hr radio show.

During Season 1, I completed some writing projects. It was a good process that taught me about the electronic frontier of self-publishing and its limitations. I spent some preliminary time pondering my thought projects about generic Christianity and moralistic therapeutic deism. I picked up a few books and set them down. I absorbed my entire Springsteen vinyl collection. I watched several films and TV shows. I spent two hours floating: an experience of only hearing the sound of your breathing and heart beat. There was an impromptu pasta making class. I spoke of and thought of sabbatical as “unsettling time.” That remains true for me.

During hiatus I began watching “Breaking Bad.” I saw part of season one during its original run and am now in season 3. A tale of moral relativism and what one will do for family. It has helped me make a bit of sense of the #graftpresidency and cynicism of the Trump era. I think it explains the dug in nature of his supporters and the Congressional enablers that fear them. I also watched some films from Oscar season: “Green Book”, “BlacKkKlansman”, and “Bohemian Rhapsody”. “Roma” looks interesting and I want to check out the animated shorts, but I won’t get to those until the summer.

I have crept into Season 2. Projects to complete. Others to debrief. Here, on day 3 of 37, I’m almost ready to begin time away. I am grateful to my colleagues at the Regional office and volunteers that are picking up my work while I am away. I can complete the punch list, most likely today, and beam up.

A preview of Season 2. Floating will return. I’ll be working on adding Kindle versions of my self-published books. The gym and the golf course are on the horizon as I need to exercise more if I’m going to make good use of the cholesterol meds I take, and the longevity my family genes. I would not claim to be the “Son of a Sailor,” but my love of the water, lake or ocean, is a gift from my father. The Caribbean is calling. My companion and I will travel a bit. Some people have a timeshare. We cruise. Ten days followed by some beach front time. I’m no pirate, but I am over forty. This summer we will go to our first Jimmy Buffet concert.

My companion and I are talking about producing a podcast. There are few clergy couples in our denomination, and maybe conversations about what this lifestyle is like would be interesting to someone. As old GenX’ers, we have participated in the contraction of our denomination and witnessed the rise of the watered down, profitable gospel. We’ve reached an age when people don’t ask us, “When are you having kids?” Instead, we are asked, “How old are your kids?” I don’t think I mentioned we are childfree. The podcast will be called Rev-Squared. No launch date yet. I’m still convincing my companion it is a good idea.


And, I have a reading list that I probably won’t get through, but these four will take up my reading blocks during Season 2. That is a peek at the next 34 days.


, March 27, 2019. Category: Sabbatical.
Next page →
← Previous page