On Vacation

To honor the Sabbath is not just to take the day,
but to honor the holiness of open time,
pausing, holding your hands empty of all but God.
Empty your time: give room for God to act,
for grace to enter, for wonder to surprise,
for what is becoming to become.
Vacate your importance. Sweep clean
the world’s dependence on you. Accomplish
nothing; make room for the infinite Unseen.
Even amid the cries of the world and the fireworks
of Pentecost, you can step aside and be still.
Others will sing while you take a breath.
The greatest sign of hope is to act for love;
the second greatest is to let God. Vacate,
take sabbath, and the emptiness will be divine.
– Steve Garnass-Holmes

I’ve been saving this poem for this note to you all. I am getting ready to take a long vacation. Actually, I am several years past due for a sabbatical. Two summers ago, we were still coming out of the Covid pandemic and my focus at Calvary then was doing everything that I could to get us back on track, course correct, and launch us onto a new path of healthy and vibrant worship and work. One summer ago, the Bold. Forward. Unbound. Mayo work was just beginning and there were a lot of things that we did not know about yet. It was not the right time for me to be gone from Calvary for 3 or 4 months. And yet, I had to finally admit to Bishop Loya that I was tired, having never really rested after the pandemic work, or taken days off during the Mayo expansion project planning and implementation work for Calvary. My chief pastor looked at me and said, “Beth, you have to take some significant time off. You are tired and it’s good to find out what happens when the world turns without you.”

We are blessed with a wonderful vestry and co-wardens, and they agreed with Bishop Loya. I am not taking a full, formal sabbatical, as I do not feel called by the Spirit to do that process (I’ve done it once before, and that in and of itself is work). Instead, the bishop suggested I take about 6-9 weeks away. As circumstances would have it, this summer allows 6 weeks away, and maybe in the mid-fall I will take some more time.

I will be away from Calvary July 1 – 20, return for 10 days to catch up with the vestry and staff and do some administrative work, and be away again July 31 – August 16, return again, and then take one more week: August 24 – August 30.

Next week, I will give you a schedule of who will be celebrating and preaching while I am gone.

You have a competent and strong staff, and a great, strong vestry. All will indeed be well.

I am grateful to you all for this opportunity for rest, reflection, and adventure. Please keep me in your prayers, as I always keep you in mine.

Love,
Beth+