A Few Words About Sabbaticals

As the time for our sabbatical at St Andrew’s draws closer, it is important for us to consider more fully the meaning and intent of this endeavor.

Sabbaticals (sharing the same root word as “sabbath”) are periods of time set aside for reflection and renewal. It should be emphasized that sabbaticals are very different from vacations, as they are much more than a time “away from the grind”.  Rather, sabbaticals in any professional field are designed to be a time of learning, travel, and engagement in new experiences to help refocus, grow, and invigorate.

Here at St Andrew’s, clergy sabbaticals are a tradition, as our previous two rectors took sabbaticals that involved travel and academic study. Currently, our diocese requires that all letters of agreement offered for clergy employment include provisions for sabbaticals. The letter of agreement the vestry offered Anne when she came to St Andrew’s provides for the accumulation of two weeks of sabbatical time for every year served, up to six years. Anne has been with us for six years, so she is eligible for twelve weeks of sabbatical leave, which she will take this September through November.  Anne has shared many of the details of her very busy sabbatical schedule with us, and more details are to follow.

But beyond the important benefit of having a refocused and refreshed rector, what is in this for us, the parishioners of St Andrew’s?  Last summer we applied for and received a fifty-thousand-dollar grant from the Lilly Endowment for Anne’s sabbatical expenses and for sabbatical activities that involve our congregation. The intent behind this grant is that as the rector goes on sabbatical, the church enters a similar period of reflection and renewal. Anne’s sabbatical has two essential dynamics: a spiritual pilgrimage, as she walks the Camino de Santiago in Spain, and a pilgrimage of racial healing through the American South. Similarly, we will explore spiritual journeys and racial reconciliation through a variety of activities such as guest preachers, programs in the adult forum, and a one-day parish retreat. The sabbatical planning team is hard at work on these programs, and there will be more to say in the near future.

Sabbaticals are intended to create opportunities to break free of habit, stop hitting the repeat button, and find freedom in forming new relationships with God and God’s creation. Let it be our prayer that we will take full advantage of this gift God has given us.

David Lilley
Senior Warden