What has happened since my previous sabbatical ended April 1, 2018? In the past seven years, so much has happened.
Faith Church had started a capital campaign in 2017, and it lasted through 2019. We resealed the parking lot, put in all new doors and windows, a new roof, new kitchen appliances, new WIFI system, new smoke alarm system, and a handful of other small updates. Our Operations team did a fantastic job leading all these updates, but as the one full-time staff in the building, it is normal that I get involved.
In the fall of 2018, I started doctoral studies. Two classes at a time for five semesters, with little break in between. Count the semesters with me. Fall 2018, Winter/Spring 2019, Summer 2019, Fall 2019, that’s four. One more semester…Spring 2020. What happened in spring 2020? Covid. 2020 was also a massive political year. Then there were serious racial tensions. In that spring, during the Covid shutdown, I finished my doctoral coursework and passed my comprehensive exams. That meant I could start writing my dissertation.
Meanwhile, 2020 raged on. I suspect 2020 will go down as one of the wildest years ever. As a church we stopped meeting in person, and we scrambled to figure out how to be the church without Sunday morning in person worship. Our worship leader’s first day on the job, was the first Sunday of the Covid shutdown. In short order, we learned to use all sorts of digital media, YouTube, and so on.
Easter Sunday 2020 was our first live worship on Zoom. I was sitting in the church conference room alone, watching as, one by one, people joined our Zoom gathering. We played the song “Death Was Arrested” in the background, and I felt very emotional. It had been weeks since we’d seen each other.
Eventually, we reopened our building, wore masks, and did a few outside events. Hospitals and medical workers were slammed, and the news reported infections and death counts all day long. Kids did online school and many struggled. I will never forget Christmas Eve 2020. We did a combined worship service one of the churches that rents from us, and there was hardly anyone there.
That fall as the presidential election neared, I knew there would be people in the congregation whose candidate would lose, and some whose candidate would win. How does a church family have meaningful fellowship with one another when our political ideologies are so deeply different?
Michelle and I decided I should preach on the “Love one another” statements in the New Testament. Of course, we should love one another. That week, as results of the election came in, I received two emails. One from a recent visitor to the congregation saying they would not be returning because they felt my “love one another” sermon was too progressive. The other email from seven-year members of the church saying that Faith Church was too conservative, and they also would not be returning.
If 2020 will be one of the craziest years ever, 2021 will likely not be that far behind. Throughout 2021, the culture-wide drama and trauma just kept going. Fueled by cries of a stolen election, on Jan 6, 2021, a devastating riot broke out at the capitol in DC. As a result, the National Guard, including our son’s unit, deployed to protect the capitol before, during, and after the presidential inauguration. All along, Covid kept raging with new variants. At the same time, Michelle and I navigated how to care for and lead our church family through this difficult time, attempting to stay true to God’s word and mission.
At Faith Church, as with the rest of society, we slowly moved past the drama of Covid. Mask guidelines were removed, we stopped using the chalky-tasting pre-packaged communion wafers/cups. Zoom continued as an option for worship, but most everyone returned in-person. As vaccinations spread, by the end of 2021, things were mostly back to normal.
In May 2022, I finished writing my dissertation, successfully defended it, and graduated. I felt a load off my shoulders.
But doctoral studies, societal upheaval, and Covid had taken their toll. Many have said that Covid was an accelerator of what was already in place years before. That is certainly true for the American church. Across the country, church attendance had been in decline for decades. Due to Covid and its aftermath, the bottom dropped out. Churches everywhere saw it. We saw it. We were smaller than we were before Covid.
Something else happened here at Faith Church during Covid. Rentals increased. We have long rented to other congregations. In the early 2000s, we rented to one of our denomination’s Latino church plants for a few years, and then to an independent Latino church, also for a few years. In the 2010s, we rented to an Ethiopian Orthodox church, the Door Christian Fellowship, and the American Orthodox church. But most of them were short-term and only rarely overlapped. Right at the beginning of Covid, we started renting to Thrive (then called First Baptist), the Burmese Church, and a Hispanic Church. Then a Honduran church. Then a Haitian church. Then Church of the Word. Suddenly, we had seven churches renting from us at the same time. We have never advertised or sought out rentals. Even more churches approached us, and we had to say No because we could not handle any more.
It is an amazing generous spirit of our church family to open our doors to that many churches. And it certainly mutually benefited us through rental income, and learning to share God’s building with others. We also opened our doors free of charge to the Girl scouts, Boy scouts, and we rented to a few other smaller groups.
During those years, we had a succession of church secretaries and Ministry Coordinators. While they helped with some of the rental management, quite a bit of it fell on my plate too.
In fall 2022, my denomination’s seminary in India invited me to come teach my doctoral dissertation as a class. One of my pastoral colleagues who was also a doctoral classmate joined me, and we were in India for all of March 2023. It was a wonderful experience, and I am so thankful for it.
As I taught my dissertation in India, it gave me more time to think about the possibility that the dissertation could become a book. I had always wanted to turn my dissertation into a book, and I slowly got started on it.
Also in 2023, our second grandchild was born with a rare heart condition. Our son, daughter-in-law, and grandson temporarily moved to Pittsburgh for her birth, multiple surgeries and recovery. It was a five-month process. We made a total of nine trips to Pittsburgh, and carried lots of emotion and anxiety. Our church family (and many others) prayed and cared for our family so well during that time, and we thank you. We praise God that our granddaughter is thriving.
Also in 2023, we were so proud as our church family responded incredibly lovingly to a difficult situation in the church. Through that situation, God opened the doors for us to start the prison worship team.
Then in 2024 a team from our church family worked hard to help resettle a refugee family from Africa. We opened also opened our doors to CV SEEDS, hosting their ESL classes and several other programs, free of charge. So many people volunteered to drive, make meals, childcare, teach, assist. It has been amazing.
The main work of editing, rewriting and new writing took place in summer 2024, and it was published in December.
Throughout each year, month, and week, of course, is my regular rhythm of preaching, communicating, visiting, and pastoral care.
As 2024 started, I knew that in 2025, seven years would have passed since my 2018 sabbatical. So I requested another sabbatical, and the Pastoral Relations Committee and Leadership team approved it for 2025, so that I could apply to the Lilly Foundation for a sabbatical grant. Lilly has a grant competition that would pay for the sabbatical. Unfortunately, I was not selected for the grant. So the sabbatical moved forward on its own, and God has provided.
I tell you this history from 2018 to 2025 to admit to you that I feel ready for sabbatical. I don’t think that it is owed to me. I wish everyone would be able to get a paid three-month sabbatical every seven years. Our American approach to work generally glorifies excessive work and workaholism, so that it could be culturally normal for some to view teacher schedules and pastoral sabbaticals as an unnecessary indulgence, or even wrong. I feel that concern. I can feel guilty or wonder if others think I am being irresponsible for wanting and taking a sabbatical, while at the same time feeling like I need sabbatical. I am deeply, deeply grateful for the sabbatical. I think more people should see if their employers will grant paid sabbaticals.
With that I sign off. I will not be writing blog posts during my sabbatical. What will I be doing while on sabbatical? Here’s a brief overview:
- Having six sessions with my spiritual director.
- Going to six session of counseling.
- Volunteering one day per week with Chestnut Housing.
- Teaching Interpreting the Bible class at Messiah University one evening per week.
- Taking three short trips with my wife.
- House projects.
- Helping my in-laws with some downsizing.
- Reading. Running. Playing with my grandkids.
I’ll return to blogging in November 2025. May God bless you.
Photo by Anne Nygård on Unsplash
Engaging Scripture 