A sabbatical is a precious gift. It’s also a great privilege that very few people, no matter how hard or how long they work, ever get to enjoy. I am very grateful for this gift of time, your gift to me, so I can immerse myself in a life of rest and renewal. In the book of Exodus, God commands God’s people, “For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield; but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow.” I’m drawn to the sabbath rhythm applied to the land in light of our Lenten focus on creation care and our relationship to the soil, but I also like the idea of me lying fallow for a season, of not living in production mode, and letting grow whatever comes up. In Exodus, that seventh-year harvest is for the benefit of the poor and the wild animals (Ex 23:10-12) — and while I trust that what emerges during my fallow season won’t just be “for the birds,” I do hope that disovering my post-COVID rhythm for ministry will help us proclaim, in the name of Jesus, good news to the poor.
In June, I will be in Italy and Switzerland, spending time with the European side of my family, and hiking a section of the Grande Traversata delle Alpi, a long-distance trail in the Italian Alps. I look forward to the daily rhythms of walking and resting, climbing up to the pass and back down to the next valley. The family time I trust will be filled with laughter, games and stories, food and wine.
I am planning to spend the entire month of July at Mepkin Abbey in South Carolina, as a guest of the Abbey and a participant in their Monastic Instititute. I will live the daily rhythms of community prayer, work, and study. The study program includes courses on Christianity in an Interspiritual Age, The Rule of St. Benedict for Today (taught by a German nun!), and The Essentials of Cistercian Life.
In August, I will travel from South to North Carolina, paddling some of the rivers and lakes along the way, before meeting Nancy at a cabin near the Nantahala River. She’ll bring her computer to “go to work” while I attend white water school. So, yes, much of August will be about forward and backward strokes, reading the river, respecting its rhythms, and learning to go with the flow.
In September, Nancy and I will spend a week on the beach on Kiawah Island, SC, and we hope that Eva, Sarahbeth, Corey, Liam and Miles will be able to join us. Plenty of time to be together, eat, play, talk, and listen to the waves rolling up on the beach.