Category: Sabbatical
Sabbatical Time: Segment 1
“What About Bob,” is one of my favorite movies. Bill Murray plays Bob, a guy with some issues about all sorts of things. On several occasions Bob grabs a brown bag and places it over his mouth as if he is about to vomit. After a moment, he says, “False alarm.” That sums up how I feel about sabbatical, even as the first day of my first segment begins, today. So, I’ve got that going for me.
I’m also starting sabbatical with this thought from Seth Godin.
The Spiderman Paradox
On one hand, Uncle Ben’s rule makes great sense: “With great power comes great responsibility.”
The essence of the rule is that once you have great power, you need to take the responsibility that goes with it.
And yet, it’s backfiring.
It’s backfiring because so many walk away from their great power. They walk away because they don’t want the responsibility.
We have the power to vote, but decide to stay home and whine.
The power to publish, but click instead.
The power to lead, but follow meekly.
The power to innovate, but ask for rules of thumb instead.
The power to lend a hand, but walk away.
Most people watch videos, they don’t make them. Most people read tweets, they don’t write them. Most people walk away from the chance to lead online and off, in our virtual communities and with the people down the street.
In a democracy, we each have more power to speak up and to connect than we imagine. But most people don’t publish their best work or seek to organize people who care. Most of the time, it’s far easier to avert our eyes or blame the system or the tech or the dominant power structure.
There are millions who insist we’d be better off with a monarchy. The main reason: what happens after that is no longer their responsibility. Go work for the man, it saves you from having to be responsible.
When the local business disappears, it’s because we didn’t shop there. When the local arts program fades away, it’s because we watched Netflix instead. And when the local school persists in churning out barely competent cogs for the industrial system, it’s because we didn’t speak up.
Culture is what we build, and that’s powerful.
(Seth Godin, “The Spiderman Paradox.” January 5, 2019)
I will write more during sabbatical. Some of that will show up here. I posted last month about my thought projects for my sabbatical segments. No doubt, some of that will show up here. I’ve got a reading list as well. It is an ambitious list for me. I read slowly. Yes, my mother took my sister and I to the library as children, though I wanted to be outside goofing off, jumping my bike over, anything, anything other than reading, outside or inside. And, I think I have some dyslexia which was self diagnosed long before there were Holiday Inn Express commercials. For me, reading takes a lot of concentration and it puts me to sleep even when it is a piece I that interests me. Yet, I spend a lot of time reading news and resources. Rather than sit and read, initially, I will be reading at my standing desk. Here is my reading list.
Born to Run
Bruce Springsteen’s autobiography.
iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy–and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood–and What That Means for the Rest of Us
Jean M. Twenge
Will Our Children Have Faith
John H. Westerhoff
This is a book I revisit each year that was foundational reading for Religion majors during my time at TCU.
Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
Neil Postman
Leading Change: Church Leadership Amid Turmoil (dvd)
Dr. Peter L. Steinke
From Father to Son: Wisdom for the Next Generation
Allen Appel
A Walk in the Woods
Bill Bryson
The Springsteen and Bryson books were gifts from my companion.
I am told by people that have experienced sabbatical that it is important to ritualize the beginning and end. This marks time and sets the tone for stepping away from work responsibilities that is different than going on vacation or holiday. When I lead a study trip or mission trip the first day is a separation day. At the end of the day during our examine time I ask, “What are you leaving behind to be fully present this week?” I am aware of what I am leaving, wait . . . false alarm. There are colleagues adding some of my responsibilities to their work. I’m a grateful for their gift. Some of my responsibilities will go on hiatus. I will mark my sabbatical segments with float time. What? Think sensory depravation tank.
My companion and I like roller coasters. Buckle up. Here I go.
Thought Projects
I’ve been gifted sabbatical time during 2019. For those unfamiliar with that term, it means that for three months I have the opportunity to be away from work, on leave so to speak, and continue to be paid my salary. Sabbatical is something familiar to those in academic settings where colleges or universities offer six month or year long sabbatical time to professors that are completing research projects, writing books, or pursuing other academic endeavors that need more attention than can be given while carrying a full teaching load.
For clergy, this is a relatively new practice. Sabbatical has become more normative in compensation packages for clergy and within congregational or institutional policies over the last twenty-five years. Ministry is a vocation, profession, and a lifestyle one willfully accepts, or not, through the experience of call. Most congregations want the clergy person to renew their spiritual batteries, so to speak, for the tasks of ministry and the lifestyle that can become overwhelming, isolating, and heartbreaking as much as life-giving or hopeful or meaningful. I like to say it is a time for the minister to rediscover the “why” of her or his call to the vocation of ministry. There is a desire for the clergy person to participate in continuing education that will benefit both, the clergy and her or his congregation or institution, when sabbatical ends. Sabbatical is a time to completely disengage from the routines, relationships, and responsibilities.
I will not be ‘on sabbatical’ in the traditional way. Rather than be away from three full months in a row, I have designed three time periods where I will disengage from my ministry responsibilities. This is not the way to do it, but how I am doing it. My first bit of time is most of January 2019. I have a couple of projects I want to complete and overall I’ll be working on a couple of thought projects. I’m not sure what the outcome of these though projects will be, but these two thoughts have nagged at me for quite some time. They are specific to my brand of Christian witness, but can be applied broadly with a change in terms. These thoughts need space and conversation partners. And, these thought projects represent my baggage with what has become of public Christianity. Yes, I’ll be posting more actively during sabbatical time.
Generic Christian
The pace of social, economic, and technological change cannot be overstated as mainline Christianity continues to struggle against an undertow of “when everything matters nothing matters most.” I think this struggle is connected with “generic Christian evangelicalism and generic Christianity” that has, in many Disciples of Christ congregations, transformed our unique liberal frontier movement into a season of Survivor; and, it is also affecting Regions and General Units. What kind of lifeline, or two, can a Region or covenantal Christian community create to help clergy and congregations better identify what matters most in their context and in the covenantal relationships that guide being the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)? What is the best way to throw a lifeline? What is the best way to throw a lifeline to Disciples of Christ clergy or congregations that do not recognize the undertow or don’t think they are being pulled out to the sea of generic Christianity?
Orthodoxy v Orthopraxy
I would argue that Moralistic Therapeutic Deism(1) is one byproduct of generic Christianity that is centered in what I call “me and my Jesus” youth ministry. Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus” offers the best glimpse of this kind of youth ministry, and Christian ministry in general, that is practiced throughout Christendom today. Christian education, from a Disciples of Christ perspective, must become vital again in our denomination through an investment of dollars, time, and human resources, if the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) seeks to remain an effective, alternative Christian witness to what passes as generic Christianity in the 21st century. Ethical deism must become a focus for a generation rather than “me and my Jesus” Christianity. Said another way, living and loving like Jesus must be more important than believing in the Christ of faith for salvation professed by creedal Christianity or generic Christian evangelicalism. If MTD is the best we can do in this century, then how does the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) teach the outcomes of being a “Micah 6:8 or Greatest Commandment or Golden Rule” people as the primary way of living as a follower of Jesus? Or is it that the faithful know what Jesus of Nazareth asks of his followers and we, myself included, are just not up to that challenge or that kind of kindom ministry anymore?
Note
(1) A term created by Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton as a summation for their research in Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers (Oxford University Press, Inc. 2005). MTD has these five characteristics: 1) A God exists that created and orders the world and watches over human life on earth. 2) God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions. 3) The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself. 4) God does not need to be particularly involved in one’s life except when he [sic] is needed to resolve a problem. 5) Good people go to heaven when they die.