Beloved,

Most of you know by now, but in case you didn’t, I’m going on sabbatical June 8! While I will miss you inordinately, I can hardly contain my joy at so much unstructured time with the kids, and a chance to do several things (learn ukelele, get voice lessons, nap in the sun, exercise, read scripture daily, pray without ceasing) that I keep promising myself I will. Oh, and yes, there’s a project involved, that I hope will help us live into our vision to become a more deeply multiracial church.

You’re probably wondering, and perhaps worrying, how things will be while I’m away. Our Sabbatical Team and I have prepared the following to help you understand.

In the meantime, I’m here for 3 more weeks, and would love to spend time with you individually if you so desire, a walk, a talk, a coffee, an ice cream! Just let me know.

Christlove,
Molly

What is a sabbatical? How is it different from a vacation?

The root word of “sabbatical” is Sabbath, as in, the seventh day that God the Creator ordained for rest from work. It is a commandment, one of the Ten. In Jewish agrarian theology, when most people farmed the land, sabbath developed into a rhythmic cycle of rest not just for people, but for animals, and for the land itself: every seven years, fields were to lie fallow, every seven-times-seven years, slaves were granted their freedom.

Sabbatical for professors and others is often understood as a time to do research, travel, and publish, lest they perish. But ministers preserve and recuperate this ancient, holy sense of sabbatical: not as vacation, but as a time of holy rest, attention to God, and dedicated spiritual renewal. The UCC recommends that ministers take a sabbatical every 5-7 years. I’ve been at First Church for 5 ½ years. This is my first sabbatical in 11 years of ordained ministry.

Normally churches and pastors have to find a way to fund sabbaticals themselves, but First Church and I have been very blessed to receive a substantial grant from the Louisville Institute. While I was at a conference for orientation to the grant, I heard from Sheldon Sorge, the Institute director, that the cornerstone of a minister’s sabbatical is to “discern your vocation apart from the normal input stream.” That is, to hear God’s call apart from the phone calls, the emails, the worship planning and execution, the committee meetings, the affirmation and joy, the frustration and disappointment, that comes of working in the parish. It is also a time to explore other gifts, skills, disciplines and areas of knowledge that I don’t have time to in the midst of the ordinary demands of parish life.

The first thing I will do, though, every morning when I wake up and am liberated from child care, will be to: exercise, read scripture, and pray. One of the people I will be praying for is you.

When are you actually away?

I am away from work at First Church from June 8-September 8. I’ll be in the Parsonage for the rest of June, so you may see me around town. Don’t cross the street and ignore me if you see me coming! Stop and say hi to me! Give me some hugs! For July, I’ll be traveling in California. For August, I’ll largely be in the northwest corner of Connecticut, at the UCC camp and conference center, Silver Lake.

Who will be overseeing things while you are away?

Different folks will cover different responsibilities while I am away. Laura Ruth, our Minister of Outreach, will take on more pastoral care and administration. She will be available for an additional 10 hours/week.

The Deacons are also available to you if you are in crisis, sick, need someone to pray with you, are lonely for a visit. A list of deacons is found at the bottom of this FAQ. And, I remind you, that we are called to minister to one another—to be the priesthood of all believers, as the father of the Reformation, Martin Luther, put it. Sabbatical is a good time to practice this art with one another.

Jamie, our administrator, will run the office and the building. If you have a building or scheduling issue, you may contact her. Jamie also has an up-to-date database, as does Laura Ruth, if you need an email or phone number for another person in our community.

Laura Ruth will preach more frequently, and you will also hear preaching from our in-care students and extraparochial ministers: Laura Tuach, Kerrie Harthan, Jeff Von Wald, Jason Donnelly, LaTayna Purnell, Jim Matarazzo. We will also have a couple of handpicked guest preachers known for their excellence in preaching. They’ve heard about you—and they want to come preach for you!

How will you be unavailable?

I will not be available by email or by phone from June 8-September 8. I will be on Facebook periodically, but as much as I love the mind candy, I will probably not post or check it consistently, so that is not a reliable way to reach me.

How will you be available?

I will be praying for my church community, and the people within it whom I love and cherish, daily.

If there is an emergency of which I need to be made aware, Rev. Laura Ruth or Ian Tosh, our moderator, will contact me. They will keep me apprised of critical pastoral care issues: deaths, serious illnesses, and the like. You can let one of them know if there is an urgent message you wish to convey to me.

I will be back before you know it. And I am not going anywhere for a long, long time: I am very happy at First Church Somerville, and expect my time away from you will only further confirm my call to be your Senior Minister. When I return, Peter and I will host a series of dinner parties so that we can reconnect after the summer, so I can hear how it has been with your soul, and share my own journey.

What is the focus for your study and reflection?

My project is called “The Holy Multicultural City.” I will visit six churches in California, one in Chicago, and one or two in Massachusetts, worship with them and interview their worship staff. These are all churches that are urban, have young adults, and have had significant success in building multi-racial, multicultural congregations. I want to learn from them, to get ideas and inspiration, to bring back home to First Church. I believe this is where God is calling us next: to model the Kingdom of Heaven by building a church that tears down the barriers of race and class.

I will also read a number of books on multicultural church growth, evangelism and leadership. I will also read a lot of NOVELS! Tell me if you have novels you love and think I shouldn’t miss. I love anything in the tradition of Jane Austen, Barbara Kingsolver, Alexander McCall Smith, Robertson Davies.

Is your family going with you?

Peter will be with me for only a week in California, and here and there otherwise. Harvard, where he works, requires his presence for the rest of the summer. The children will be with me, although Rafe and I will head out to California alone initially. You may or may not see Peter in worship, depending on his own travel schedule and his workload.

How will all of this be funded?

This is one of the best parts: normally, churches need to fund a pastor’s sabbatical out of their own budget. But, we wrote for and received a Sabbatical Grant from the Louisville Institute at Louisville Presbyterian Seminary in Kentucky! We were one of forty recipients, out of over 400 applicants. The money they have comes from the Lilly (Pharmaceutical) Foundation, which grants huge amounts of money to religious institutions in America, largely for pastoral renewal and excellence in ministry.

They’ve granted us $15,000, which will be used for:
• A tithe given to our mission and justice partners, in gratitude for what God has given us
• Additional hours for Laura Ruth
• Preaching honoraria for guest preachers
• Molly’s travel expenses and books
• Spiritual Renewal and fun for the congregation: a summer camping retreat, and funds for the July Small Groups for All!

How will this benefit the congregation?

Jesus said, “It is to your advantage that I go away.” (John 16:7) Congregations report that when their ministers come back from sabbatical, they are more productive. They bring fresh ideas and winds of the Spirit from their time of renewal.

But the benefit to the parish begins right away. Sometimes, even the healthiest churches fall into codependent patterns between pastor and congregation. Sabbatical is an opportunity for new leadership to arise, for laypeople to have the blessing of knowing they can truly depend upon one another, and for you to exercise new muscles for administration and pastoral care in your church, and find it a joy.

I remind you that First Church has had women ministers for the last twenty years. It has survived maternity leaves for 5 children, and 2 pastoral sabbaticals. Our church functions very well in the absence of its ministers! (maybe too well, hmmm…)

Sabbatical Team
We have put together a sabbatical team while I am away. They are charged with easing the transitions (ritual leave-taking and re-entering the community), educating the church about the benefit to the congregation of sabbatical, and making sure there is as little disruption to the life of the community as possible.

The team is composed of:
Ian Tosh, Moderator
Laura Ruth Jarrett, Minister of Outreach
Sue Donnelly, Deacon
Gary Springston, Deacon
John Olson, Molly’s Ministerial Care Committe
Tim Duhamel, Laura Ruth’s Ministerial Care Committee

Please speak to them if you have any questions or concerns. And God be with you!