I am so thrilled for you, and cant wait to hear what you come up with!

Gordon that is fantastic news. Congratulations--best decision anyone could have made, to give you 3 months' sabbatical!! Here's praying for a rejuvenation the likes of which have not been seen in 2000 years. ::chuckle::

That's great, Gordon. You are experiencing your own personal three months of Jubilee. Only pastors can know what a relief it is to lay down that "professional" burden and just be a child of God. No matter how fruitful our ministry or how loving and supportive our church may be, we need this sabbath rest. God bless your people. May more and more churches learn by their example.

Take a deep breath and enjoy. And listen - it's one of life's most rewarding pleasures.

"Am I a part of the community, or am I an employee of the community?" <-- Ain't that just the question. I feel like those of us (ordained or not) who professionally minister to congregations balance on that line every day.

I'm so happy for you and I hope this time of rest and rejuvenation is all that you pray it will be! Enjoy your time with the Friends this weekend :-)

Church-hopping can offer great insights; you're checking out multiple denominations/other faiths, I presume? Catholics and Orthodox and Jews, and maybe a tour of a mosque if you have one in the near vicinity?

I went to everything I could walk to when I was in college and took fairly copious notes from memory after the services; was informative and also helped me view my own tradition anew.

Enjoy your time!

Wow! That's just great!

I always thought I invented the phrase professional christian (I'm am amateur) but it's great anyway. I hope you - somehow - truly manage to have time away; that you sleep lots; and won't feel as tired when you get back

May God bless this time of renewal and give you peace.

Savor every moment. The time will pass too quickly.

alan

Thanks everyone!

Don't feel obligated to go to any church for some Sundays. Get out into nature. Go to the woods/beach/mountains. Spend a lot of time in silence with nothing but the sounds of nature. Although I really appreciate what you write here, don't even feel like you have to keep this up if it will help you rejuvenate.

I frankly don't trust preachers who are so sure of everything that there is no room for any doubt or questioning. When I hear their smug, confident preaching, I think, "How the hell can you be so sure that you're not lying?" But we just sit there in the pews and nod our heads and say amen. So I hope that your sabbatical makes you even more skeptical than you are already.

....but I'm glad to hear this news, Gordon. I hope this is a time of rest and renewal for you.

God bless.

Hey RLP,

I hope you enjoy your time with Friends and are able to hear Spirit in the living silence. And I hope you get to experience a gathered meeting - they are life changing and you'll know it when you are in the presence of one. I hope you have a great journey these next 3 months.

If you get to meet Val while there, would you please tell her Anna from St. Louis says "hi".

In the Light,
Anna

Good. Glad you're listening to yourself and taking time out for God to refresh you. Have good, full rest.

Loving the picture at the bottom, by the way.

Gordon,

After 20 years of having to be at church every Sunday, I'd say you deserve a break. I'm glad that your church community is giving you this time to refresh and recharge. Just think, you will now wake up on Sunday mornings, and instead of knowing what you must do, you will be able to ask the question, "What will I do today?" I hope that question leads to some interesting adventures.

I truly hope you enjoy the Friends Meeting. Silence...it's a good thing. I'll be interested to hear your thoughts about the experience.

Donna

P.S. You mentioned in your essay about having to be at church early to unlock the doors. One of my favorite essays is the one about you going to the church early on a Sunday morning with the moon following you. Remember that one?

I'm not surprised you're knackered. And I think unstructured organisations can be the most tiring.

Incidentally that meeting house looks beautiful. I'm an English quaker (and agnostic and lapsed catholic and longtime RLP reader) and we need to rebuild our meeting house, so it's good to see photos of other lovely ones.

Oh G-

this is fantastic. respite.

I know that professional Christians like myself are not supposed to feel (or at least say) this: but I am so jealous right now I can barely speak.

But good for you :-)

That's exactly what happen at a Quaker meeting. No schedule, no plan, no minister. Just silence. If you are moved to say something, do so. But you may not respond to what someone else has said. Each person's saying remains alone, so it can be thought of in its wholeness, if you wish to. If it does not speak to you, that's OK too.

The silence is profound, and deep. Explore yourself, and what the silence brings.

It will do something to you, and for you. Good luck with it.

Chuck Nolan

Pema Chodron, the Tibetan Buddhist teacher, talks about how afraid we are of silence, constantly trying to avoid what we'll find in it by filling it up and distracting ourselves.

I have found the silence of Quaker meetings very profound when I've visited for worship. There is a weight to it, a quality of its own that both grounds and opens you up to spirit.

And here I was, hunkering down for a fast from my new addiction of checking real live preacher every other day, trying to resign myself to the idea that you would have less time for your rlp writing. I feel I owe your congregation thanks. However, as someone else wrote, I hope you don't feel that you have to keep up the blog, either, if that gets in the way of rest and rejuvenation.

On another subject--Hey, did you hear the "On Point" discussion on NPR today (4/29) with the LA Times journalist who wrote a book about giving up on his Christian faith after spending years covering the religion beat? He seemed sort of ill informed. He claimed there was no one speaking in the area of Christians living with doubt. I should be finding out what his website is and sending him to read you.

Gordon--

Enjoy your sabbath time. The greatest joy in my recent sabbatical (summer 2008) was being able to worship with my family with no other responsibilities but to be.

May God richly bless you!

Very interesting article

To the author of a blog … I Read your blog rather recently. That it would be desirable to note (do not think that with what that I reproach or I try to give advice) laconic enough design, anything superfluous I would tell))) your subjects are close to me, and it pleases. But why do not write the opinion on the events occurring in the world, in respect of events international for example?? I understand, that “news suffice”, but sometimes it would be desirable to learn opinion of the usual person, so to say - an independent sight, to compare it to the opinion. And so … Write even more often, even more, and even more interestingly. Thanks!

Incidentally that meeting house looks beautiful. I'm an English quaker (and agnostic and lapsed catholic and longtime RLP reader) and we need to rebuild our meeting house, so it's good to see photos of other lovely ones شات الرياض

Oh fond memories. History is what determines us. With knowledge of our history or others' histories, we learn about our or others traits and styles. This is exactly

Incidentally that meeting house looks beautiful. I'm an English quaker (and agnostic and lapsed catholic and longtime RLP reader) and we need to rebuild our meeting house, so it's good to see photos of other lovely ones احساس