FROM NOW ON TAKE THE JOURNEY THROUGH THE WINTER SEASON

October 31, 2026 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

This is the last day of sabbatical 2026. I am actually preparing for my sermon tomorrow and beginning to prep for the meetings I have this week which include seven group prayer meetings, a staff meeting, an adult Bible study, a children’s ministry planning meeting, A ministry dinner, and two visitations. That sounds like a lot!

As I embrace the full work of ministry again I am focused personally on one word that came from God this last month:”FROM NOW ON TAKE THE JOURNEY THROUGH THE WINTER SEASON.”

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We are heading into winter here in New England. Winter’s here are: FRESH, QUIET, TIMES OF TRANSITION FROM ONE THING TO ANOTHER, TIMES TO FINISH PROJECTS IN DOORS THAT THE SPRING, SUMMER AND AUTUMN KEPT YOU FROM, TIMES TO THINK, TIMES WHEN CERTAIN THINGS GET THE THINGS THEY NEED TO BLOOM IN THE SPRING, TIMES TO WRITE DOWN AND EVALUATE THE WORK OF THE OTHER SEASONS, TIMES OF TOGETHERNESS, TIMES OF ENJOYMENT EVEN WITH IINCREASED DARKNESS, COLD AND HARDSHIP.

What winter’s are not supposed to be: DEATH, WITHDRAWAL, A TIME FOR MINDLESS BUSYNESS, TIMES OF SPIRITUAL DARKNESS

I am looking forward to what God is calling the journey through the winter season. WHAT DOES A WINTER SEASON MEAN TO YOU? WHAT WORDS WOULD YOU ADD TO MY LIST?

THE SHAPE OF THE RHYTHM

October 29, 2026 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

My daughter, Melanie asked me, the other night at supper what this new life/ ministry rhythm I have been talking about will look like in real time.

I suppose, I am going to really begin learning what it looks like next week, when I return to full time work, but I have been giving some thought to the shape of the rhythm as I walk out these final days of this October sabbatical.

I have never been very successful at fitting ministry into a rigid structure or shape so when I think of the future of my personal ministry rhythm I do not think of it like a triangle, square, cube or pyramid.

Glowing cube and triangular shapes floating amid colorful stars

I have always seen ministry as complex pattern of interconnected threads that move in and through the world I inhabit, some of which I connect directly to and others which I connect to only through a series of other threads that come across mine.

Repeating ornate pattern with peacocks, leaves, vines, paisleys, and glowing accents

Ministry rhythm to me is a battle between math and music. It is structure for a thing that must be limited, for the sake of the one doing it, but that doesn’t want to be limited by time or space.

Fierce musician battling an equation-covered automaton in a magical library

Ministry rhythm is about a schedule but it not JUST about scheduling; It’s about values and distractions, urgent things and important things; It’s about legacy, living in the moment and releasing what’s important into the right hands that will take up the stewardship of things left behind; It’s about the moment and the millennium; It’s about the beat I am currently playing and the acknowledgment that I am working through a whole symphony of movements that I need to be aware of because the whole effects the page of music I am now playing and vice versa.

Two travelers follow glowing musical notes through an enchanted forest toward mountains

OK, that is a fairly chaotic explanation. SO WHAT IS THE SHAPE OF WHAT’S NEXT? Right now this is the best I can come up with.

Surfers and volunteers on boards; visible text reads “VOLUNTEERS” and “3027-2028.”

I suppose that doesn’t help you much… but it helps me a bit.

… some things I did.

October 26, 2026 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

SOME THINGS I DID. SOME THINGS GOD IS CHANGING.

WEANING OFF….

October 23, 2026 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

Sabbatical is coming to an end. ..one lap left around the track.

God has already told me that this last week will be about establishing the things ,He has spoken to me, into a daily practice.

This day started at 2 A.M. as is my habit with a time of basking in prayer. Then came the day’s opening and what I will call the morning gauntlet: ten minutes of reading, 10 minutes of prayer, 10 minutes of reading 10 minutes of prayer 10 minutes of exercise, 10 minutes of prayer. After this was breakfast and morning prayer. Then family time. Then more prayer. Then farm and household chores. Then more prayer. Then exercise. Then administration. Then more prayer. Then animal care. Then lunch. Then more prayer. Then family time. Then more administration work and preparation for the next things. Now I will be in prayer here at TWR for about an hour and a half. Then supper. Then the evening gauntlet, which looks a lot like the morning gauntlet.

The rhythm will look a little different tomorrow, but will be more of the same.This is the beginning…the establishment of what is next for me personally so that I may encourage the work corporately. I am waiting to see what God still needs to work in me to establish this new thing. I know this only my very personal part of the change that God will bring about as He moves our church forward in the next two year.

I cannot wait to hear what God is saying to others about what is to come for our church.

FROM NOW ON

October 8, 2026 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

One of the words God has been speaking to me since the beginning of October is “FROM NOW ON…” . Just that…..Only that.

I have been contemplating the word. I know I don’t fully understand it. That said I do feel that this sabbatical is some kind of a crucible.

Sabbatical is usually rest…relaxation…slowing down…even vacation. I felt going in that this sabbatical was about something different. I told the staff it was going to be different. I feel now that I entered this season one way and I am going to leave another way and FROM NOW ON things will be different. Something in me is being burned away and once it is….I will never be the same again.

WHEN YOU HEAR THE WORDS “FROM NOW ON…” WHAT COMES TO YOUR MIND?

THE WORDS OF BEGINNING

October 5, 2026 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

It is day 5 of sabbatical.

My rhythm has definitely changed, but I cannot say I have yet done a lot of “resting”. The weekend was given to three big events designed to bring “Word from God” into my heart.

The events certainly did their job. I have lots to contemplate over the next 26 days.

Even before the events began I heard:

FROM NOW ON.

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AND TAKE THE JOURNEY THROUGH THE WINTER SEASON.

I ALSO HEARD, IT IS TIME TO PREPARE: A NEW RHYTHM, A NEW ORDER, A NEW ACCOMPLISHMENT, A NEW SIMPLICITY.

Gardener planting seedlings in an enchanted forest beside a cottage

On Friday I attended our church’s men’s conference. The word I heard there was…

WHAT YOU SPEAK WILL BE YOUR FUTURE. YOUR CONFESSION BECOMES YOU.

On Saturday morning I attended a community conversation where I heard the word…

A NEW WAY OF LEADING LIES BEFORE YOU.

On Saturday evening I attended TWR’s Prayer conference, where I heard…

THE FALLEN TENT OF DAVID IS RESTORED. ENTER IT. SEE WHAT GOD IS DOING AND JOIN HIM IN IT.

Two adventurers beside a tent in an autumn forest beneath a crescent moon

I took Sunday to rest completely and tom begin unpacking these words with God.

BANG!

October 3, 2026 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

BANG!

COLLAPSE

October 2, 2026 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

Day 2 of Sabbatical.

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I forget between sabbaticals what the first days are like. I am not as disciplined as I should be about resting so when I come to vacations (which I seldom take) and sabbaticals (which I take every two years), the first day or so my body just collapses.

This year I have built in a pretty aggressive prayer schedule to the sabbatical. I was at prayer by 6 A.M. yesterday. I had gotten up at 3:30 A.M.

By 10 A.M. I was drawing in weariness

So I went to bed until 1:30 P.M.

I dragged myself out of bed for the afternoon gardening and animal chores.

I barely made it through the chores. I had to take breaks between each dog walk and the chicken coops.

My plan was to go to prayer at TWR House of prayer for three hours. The prayer topics were: Braking down strongholds; prayer for the church; Prayer for TWR House of prayer. I knew by 3 P.M. that was not happening.

I had a light supper and I was in bed by 7 P.M. again. I slept until 3:15 A.M. without stirring.

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I prayed in the dawn. I am feeling better today, and that is good. It might be sabbatical, but I have some very important places to be tonight and tomorrow.

INQUIRIES

September 30, 2026 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

Monday night is my assigned night at The Worship Room House of Prayer. I lead worship for the first hour and then lead prayer for the second and third hours. The second hour is what TWR calls worship with the word and I call lecto divine.

The verse we meditated on this week was Psalm 27:4

One thing have I asked of the Lord,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.

As I sit here typing on the eve of my third sabbatical I am captured by the thought of INQUIRING of the Lord.

I have so many questions of Him just now:

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD?

WHAT IS HOLDING US BACK FROM ENTERING INTO HIS FULLNESS?

WHAT DO WE AS A CONGREGATION NEED TO RELEASE TO MOVE FORWARD?

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WHAT DO WE NEED TO EMBRACE TO MOVE FORWARD?

Photo by Jonathan Goncalves on Pexels.com

Our congregation is taking this next month to discover the answers to these and other questions.

WHAT ARE YOU INQUIRING OF THE LORD THESE DAYS?

ON THE EDGE

September 28, 2026 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

September 28, three days before my third sabbatical as lead pastor of Cornerstone Church. Sabbatical is a vision quest.

We are on the edge of God’s next thing for us as a church. I am preparing now: Preparing to engage with the world in a different way;

Preparing to wait on God until He shows me the future;

Preparing to rest in the Lord and to let His saving grace wash over me to refresh me for the next work.

The church is joining me in this work. When we come back together in November we will have fresh vision for 2027 and 2028.

We are on the edge of something amazing!

Notes From the Vicarage

A minister's family living in a micro forest garden

sabbatical

FROM NOW ON TAKE THE JOURNEY THROUGH THE WINTER SEASON

THE SHAPE OF THE RHYTHM

… some things I did.

WEANING OFF….

FROM NOW ON

THE WORDS OF BEGINNING

BANG!

COLLAPSE

INQUIRIES

ON THE EDGE