This year I am eligible for sabbatical leave, although I won’t be taking it yet. The Church is one of the last places that still honors the sabbatical tradition, but there are some organizations bringing the practice back.  Sabbaticals are related to sabbath, the Fourth Commandment, although sabbatical is not a part of the commandment itself. It is, though, the concept of rest on a seven-unit cycle that ties them together. Sabbath is stopping work every seventh day, while sabbatical is stopping work every seventh year.  

In the Diocese of Georgia, per the standard Letter of Agreement between parishes and clergy, clergy are eligible for sabbatical leave of two weeks per year of service in the congregation, after three years, accumulating no more than 12 weeks, total. This is fairly standard throughout the church. Most clergy take leave all at once after six years, which is my intent. Except I am going to wait until after my seventh year, as a result of the large projects we anticipate being involved in this year.

Outside of clergy, sabbatical is still honored in academia, some science fields, and increasingly for professionals in a wider range of industries. McDonald’s offers them to their corporate employees, Cheesecake Factory has a policy for their employees, as does American Express.  There are a host of Silicon Valley and tech companies offering them, and in some countries, like Great Britain, sabbaticals or “career breaks” are becoming increasingly common. Most of these sabbatical programs measure time in weeks, but there are some that are measured in years. 

The concept of sabbatical is the same as sabbath but on a slightly larger scale. The ongoing demands of the grind of some vocations and jobs wear us down over time. They make us less effective, less content, and less healthy. Let’s be honest – most jobs do that, although some are worse than others. The Lilly Endowment, which provides grants for sabbatical leave describes them this way: Sabbaticals are, “an opportunity for pastors to step away briefly from the persistent obligations of daily parish life and to engage in a period of renewal and reflection. Renewal periods are not vacations, but times for intentional exploration and reflection, for drinking again from God's life-giving waters, for regaining enthusiasm and creativity for ministry.”

We’ve known for years that clergy are, on average, less healthy than the general populations. Just compare insurance premiums! Clergy have higher weights and blood pressures than a general sampling of the population. They report depression and burnout at rates sometimes twice the general population. Reported hours of work is also higher than average for clergy, an indication that our to-do lists are literally never-ending. There is always more to write, read, study, more people to call/write/visit, more planning to do, etc. Then there is the 24/7 availability and the fishbowl effect. When clergy are out in public, their identity means they really are watched a bit more closely than others. We tend to have higher standards for our pastors than for our plumbers, teachers, health aides, etc. All of that weighs on clergy and their families. None of these challenges are exclusive to clergy, and yet the way they come together is somewhat unique.

There is also the dynamic that clergy face of never being quite sure how effective they are. Most ministry is subtle and longitudinal. Sure, we can get a pat on the back for a sermon, or kudos for a pastoral connection, but the long term, life-changing work of a priest isn’t always visible. Successes are elusive, and doubts creep in. It’s why many clergy have hobbies that are very tangible, allowing them to see when they have completed a task. Too often, clergy get focused on numbers like attendance and offerings, taking those numbers personally, even as things far outside their control can contribute to success and failures in such measures. We also tend to feel the spiritual struggles of life a bit more acutely as well. Everyone’s spiritual life ebbs and flows with doubts and faith bobbing along with experiences and challenges. Clergy, however, frequently lack the space and place to voice their struggles and concerns, and have to plow ahead with spiritual activities even when they find themselves experiencing a spiritual dry spell.  

All of these factors together indicate why clergy benefit from, “stepping away…from the persistent obligations of daily parish life and to engage in a period of renewal and reflection…intentional exploration and reflection…for regaining enthusiasm and creativity for ministry.” Some clergy think they are too busy to get away for sabbatical leave, and yet every priest I know who has taken one has found it to be life-changing and holy. I know a priest who took his first sabbatical after forty years of ministry; the timing just never worked out for him as he changed positions, and he never really forced the issue. But after taking one, he expressed to a colleague group how beneficial it had been and how much regret he had for not doing it sooner. 

By next summer, I will have been in ministry for fifteen years, having served three congregations. In that time my health and wellness, my faith and spiritual life, my vocation as parent and husband, has all ebbed and flowed. At my lowest physical health, I weighed 225+ pounds and didn’t feel good a lot of the time, and at my healthiest I weighed 175, and was in the best shape I’d been in since high school. I plan to be in ministry for a long time to come, and I plan to be around this parish for a long time, too. I want to get healthier and stay healthy. I’m not in terrible shape, but I am acutely aware that I am getting older and my defense and health mechanisms that used to work automatically and easily are failing me. I have gained nearly 25 pounds in the five and a half years I’ve been here, for example. So, along with my normal routines for wellness, including spiritual direction, prayer life, exercise, counseling, and diet, I will be taking a sabbatical in 2020. 

I will be applying for one of those Lilly Endowment sabbatical grants, and the application is due this April for a 2020 sabbatical. I’m going to invite a small group to help me think through and plan out the time away, both what I will do and what the parish will do while I am away. The grant will award Christ Church up to $50,000, $35,000 of which can reimburse the priest, and $15,000 of which can reimburse the parish. My starting idea is to travel around the country with my family in an RV. Along the way, I hope to remind myself what America is, as we study history and places. I also want to be intentional about meeting people along the way, old friends and strangers alike, with whom I can explore shared ideals, challenges, and hopes. I envision the ability to truly live into sabbath keeping, stopping every seven days just to be still.  I imagine I will get to know my spouse and children in new and deeper ways and create memories and bonds that will carry us along for the rest of our lives. I also hope to figure out what we can do in the parish to foster health and wellness in our congregation and its staff, something that is so desperately needed. All of this will inform my ministry and preaching, as well as the congregation’s capacity for health and wellness.

As I make plans for the grant proposal, I’ll be researching RVs to rent/borrow and routes, destinations, and people I need to meet. I welcome your suggestions and prayers alike. You’ll hear more about this in the future, no doubt, even though it’s a long way off. I have a few months to put a plan together in the hopes of securing a grant. Even if I’m not awarded a grant for a grand sabbatical plan, I’ll still take a sabbatical. I’ll have plenty of time to come up with Plan B.  

I don’t want you to think that I’m in any kind of crisis, physical, spiritual, or emotional. I’m doing just fine. I want to keep it that way, and in fact, want to be even more effective in my ministry.  The healthier I can be and remain, the healthier and more robust my ministry will be, which in turn, means a healthier parish too. May it be so.

Tom+

Life-giving God, in the course of this busy life, give us times of refreshment and peace.  Grant that we may use the gift of our sabbatical and Sabbath time to rebuild our bodies and renew our minds. Refresh our souls so that our spirits are opened to the goodness of your creation and to the recognition of your work in our lives. Amen

~Adapted from "Prayer for the Good Use of Leisure," Book of Common Prayer