The biggest challenge I am finding so far is to take my time with things and to make sure I am actually producing not just checking boxes. I guess I am also finding it a challenge to add the work schedule in and figure out how to flow in and out of the prayer space around that.
It’s all a process, I realize. My friend JODY CLAPP preached a great sermon on Sunday about embracing the process and being gentle with ourselves as we walk towards progress. YOU CAN FIND THAT SERMON HERE.
Part of the process is relearning the buffer time I need between meetings to reset my brain space and giving myself permission to take that reset time.
Tomorrow will be my first great challenge with the meeting/ reset/ prayer rhythm. My first meeting is at 10 and my last meeting starts at 6. I think I have planned well to balance meetings/ reset and all the other work I have for the day. We shall see.
Sabbatical 2024 is over. I went back in to the office yesterday and began setting in motion some of things that are to begin in 2025 and 2026.
I learned many things during this sabbatical. Many of them were for me and my own personal spiritual growth, but here are four things I learned for the body of Christ.
ETERNAL DEFINITIONS: Our church needs to begin living by God’s definitions of things rather than the world’s definitions of things. We need to bring the definitions of words from eternity into the here and now. We need to begin living by those eternal definitions in the here and now.
CORPORATE SELF-REVELATION: The church needs to have a revelation of itself, a revelation of who we are to Christ, who we are to ourselves and who we are to our communities.
THE NEED TO SEE: We need to see what is coming down the road. It feels like threads are coming together and we are beginning to see the tapestry, streams are blending in a divine confluence. We need to understand our own small part of the stream, much depends on it.
A SEASON OF DELIVERANCE: from OCT. 8….. “The next season will be about deliverance. Like repentance, deliverance is more about what you are moving toward than what you are moving away from. In fact you will never be delivered until you have a firm vision of what you are getting in place of what you are giving up and until you believe that what you are getting is better than what you are leaving behind.”…
From Oct. 28…….”The days ahead are days of supernatural deliverance! The power of the Spirit is going to begin flowing and moving in even more miraculous ways. Generational and ancient strongholds are about to be overthrown, but the ground is going to be hard won. Only the power of the Spirit will avail, no mortal weapons will do in these battles. Yet I counsel you do not look for the dramatic , bombastic, instantaneous deliverances that have characterized the places of so many flashy dreams. Look for the move of small stones. Let there be an embracing of steps that bring compounding glory and progressive deliverance. Expect and do not despise the day of small things. Rejoice in each advance and encourage each other in every setback. Pray the power over each other continually and without ceasing and walk in the Spirit until all that is to be done is done! INch by inch the ground will be won. Do not be afraid!The center will hold until I call you forth.”
I AM VERY EXCITED TO SEE HOW THESE THINGS ARE TO BE BROUGHT ABOUT IN OUR CHURCH.
This sabbatical has definitely been different from the last one I participated in. As I look back on it now I see that the pillars have been a bit different and I also see why they had to be different for God’s plan to be carried out during this time.
Of course prayer and Bible study was a pillar last time too, but this time I have been led to lay down between five and seven hours of prayer and Bible study most days. I have been reading the Bible cyclically. I am reading Genesis and then the next book of the Bible in order and then Genesis again.
The second pillar was rest breaks.
I attended the Fall Fest in Winchendon.
I went with my kids to Hollis Farms. I took lots of walks and many trips to Starbucks. I ate out quite a few times, and I binge watched The Rings of Power. At the end of this time I am going away to The SNEMN (Southern New England Ministry Network) Pastor’s Retreat on Cape Cod with my daughter Amandal.
The third pillar was new voices.
There were several new voices that spoke into my life this time around. Some of the voices I planned on hearing. Others came as quite a surprise.
I laid out sermon series, wrote budgets, finished ordination paperwork and even worked on missions methodology this month.
This sabbatical has definitely been more active than my last. I feel more connected to what is going on around me than I did last time, less sequestered. It has been good. It has been productive. It has been marginally relaxing. It has been vastly different than what I thought it would be. But I think that is OK.
Notes From the Vicarage 