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.
The wind blowing through the New England tree tops has sounded like a river in Spring, as the first Nor’ Easter of the season makes landfall here in the North East United States. For us in Winchendon it has just been a little wind and rain. It has been far worse for the coastal regions of our country.
I preached my last sermon at Cornerstone this morning. Sabbatical begins on Oct. 1. I will return to the pulpit In November. The purpose for the sabbatical is to take a breather and listen to the sound of the Spirit as He is moving through the world. The sound of Him moving through the spiritual landscape is like the sound of a river in Spring.
It is not hard to hear the sound of the Nor’ Easter in the trees. It is also not hard to hear the sound of the Spirit as He moves through the world. The sound is there for anyone who will listen, but the world is full of sound and distraction, so without taking time to here the sound of a rushing wind… a rushing river… a moving Spirit it all just becomes so much background noise.
A few people have asked me if I am doing anything exciting on my sabbatical. Sabbatical is about taking a pause from the distractions and focusing in on what the Spirit is saying. That is what I am preparing to do. To me that is all very exciting. I desperately want to know what is next.
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.
I am finishing this sabbatical with three days in Plymouth MA. Amanda and I have travelled the two hours down for our annual Pastor’s retreat.
These last three days have been real rest and relaxation. We chose to be very flexible with the schedule, not demanding of ourselves, that we attend every service or network opportunity.
After we checked into our rooms at the 1620 House we took a long walk along the shore
We both went to service that night and I stayed for the chat connection afterwards. Amanda really needed the rest so she stayed for a little bit, then headed off to her room.
The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel and met some fellow pastors from Lynnfield MA. Amanda went back to her room to rest while I went on to an interactive service on the abundant life. My conversation group was with our new minister friends from Lynnfield, one of Amanda’s Bible college professors and a missionary from Indonesia.
After that Amanda and I met up for lunch at the Lobster Hut.
We took a turn around The Shoppes and I got some goodies.
Then we took a long walk around the Plymouth Plantation
One of the things that pleased me most was I recognized almost all the vegetables and herbs in the kitchen gardens, even some of the more arcane medicinals. Forest gardening is paying off in knowledge if nothing else.
I have spent long hours in prayer and meditation these past three days trying to encapsulate what I have learned this month.
We will leave this place after communion this morning. I have one more day to sum up all I have heard and seen. That will be tomorrow’s work.
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.
It is going to take me a while to sift through all that the Lord has shown me during this sabbatical. One of the things I have been contemplating heavily is the stage of life I am in now. John Eldredge talks about the six stages of manhood: boy, cowboy/ranger, warrior, lover, king, and sage.
I am not sure the stages are cut and dried like steps on a stairway. I feel as if they undulate like the currents of the ocean, and that men move and back and forth between certain stages as they pass through their days. In some areas of my life I feel like I am in the “king” stage. In other areas of my life I feel like I have firmly entered the role of the “sage”.
For the first time in my life I feel like I have crossed into the arena of being “old”. That feeling is one of the things I am going to need to spend some time unpacking. It doesn’t feel bad, although there is a sense of loss that goes with it. Mostly it feels like something that I have long been waiting for is settling into place.
I think all the walking I have done during this sabbatical is partly responsible for this feeling. I have lost strength and stamina. I noticed it when I went to Hollis Hills the other day. I couldn’t keep up with the youngsters.
It has been a theme of the walks I have taken with the family this sabbatical. I used to take the lead. Now I am bringing up the rear. My son and I went for a walk last week and he had to slow his pace for me.
I know it’s a sign that I need to start being more mindful of my physical condition. One of the things I have put in place as part of my life rhythm is a daily stretching time (which seems to be helping with my flexibility) and a daily step count. They are atomic habits that I know will pay off over the long haul.
There are some benefits though of this reduced speed. I feel like I am seeing more.
I am noticing the colors of things, the scent of things and I am taking note of how the things around me are affecting me.
As I said there is a lot to consider as I come to the end of this time apart. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN FORCED TO SLOW DOWN?
I have not done much in the way of entertainment during this sabbatical. Well ….that is not really true I have been enjoying some good reading,
and I finished this year’s season of The Rings Of Power.
I did write last week about going to the Fall Fest, but today I did something new in a new place and it was also entertaining!
My son and his wife invited me along on their excursion out to Hollis Hills Farm, In Fitchburg MA. They had never been and neither had I, but it came highly recommended.
I guess this is as good a time as any to talk about the transition coming up at the end of the month. Joe and Kristine put in an offer on a condo here in Winchendon and it was accepted. They are supposed to sign paperwork on Oct. 31st my last day of sabbatical. This means their move in date will probably be the weekend of Nov. 1st-3rd, my first weekend back at church.
I think I have been unconsciously preparing for the change all this month, practicing the quiet, and wondering what it will look like as far as a new rhythm of life at The Vicarage.
But today was all about the farm and enjoying the presence of my family.
We had lunch and ice cream in the park while listening to a cover band. I had hummus and vegetables and the kids had barbecue.
Then Sevy had to go see the cows and play on the tractors.
It was a great day. The kids finished up with ice cream and I had a blueberry soda.
Yesterday was a day of relationship. I talked with my sister in The Netherlands for about an hour and a half. We talked about the calling and how it moves and shifts in our lives creating a never-ending journey that we sometimes flow with and other times struggle with.
Then I went to breakfast with my son-in-law James Franklin, who has helped me out during this sabbatical by preaching for me.
We talked about the word of prophecy for our church Cornerstone.
After that, My son and I took a walk around the greater block of the Vicarage. I told him the history I knew of the schools in town: Old Murdock, Streeter, Poland, Wheeler. As we walked I talked to him about the people I knew in each house: Jack Bowler, the Sweeney’s, the Knocks, The Blacks, Mr. Otto. We noted the dates on many of the historic homes: 1840, 1791. How different was life back then?How different from my life was the life of Capt. Murdock or Morton Converse?
I said before that I had trouble finding mentors to speak into my life for this sabbatical. Maybe I didn’t have trouble. Perhaps I was resisted by God because He had already chosen those individuals who would speak into my life and they were much closer to home than I was willing to look.
The conversations I am having are much more organic than traditional mentorship conversations, but perhaps this time around they are the more resonant for their organic nature. In these conversations I am hearing the echoes of my deepest thoughts, even some of those hidden from me by myself. There are things being called to the surface I was unaware of.
Things like: I am an escapist at heart always trying to distract myself with petty entertainments when questions of legacy and leadership arise; I procrastinate because I have been infected by the spirit of lack that is epidemic in our land; The call is not convenient and it is not comfortable, but it is good for me in my truest self; There is a price to pay for a deeper walk with God and I need to pay that price.
I entered this season a little disappointed, maybe even a little concerned, because I had not been able to find my mentor(s). I know now that God is the One who always had charge of the arrangements for this season and He has chosen His best for me.
HAS GOD EVER SURPRISED YOU WITH A BETTER BEST THAN WHAT YOU THOUGHT WAS BEST?
