On Sabbatical!

Bilbo Baggins

A line from Bilbo Baggins comes to mind: "I feel thin, sort of stretched like butter scraped over too much bread. I need a holiday a very long holiday....."

Many pastors and full-time Gospel workers and missionaries - and their wives - feel like Baggins from time to time, but in the place of the word "holiday" they would put "sabbatical."

The Old Testament is filled with work - and rest. The Lord's people worked hard because they had God as their model. As he worked six days, so did they.

But they also rested, once again, because the Lord was their model. Just as the Lord rested on the Seventh Day and hallowed it, so they rested on the seventh day.

The word "sabbath" means rest.

But in additon to the weekly Sabbath, Jews enjoyed feasts all year long, four in Spring (Passover, Unleavend Bread, Firstfruits, Pentecost) and three in Fall (Trumpets, Day of Atonement, Tabernacles). Some lasted seven days. 

Which means the Lord wanted his people to rest.

In the church I serve, and in many similar churches, full-time pastors are given sabbaticals of around 3 months, every seven years. 

Pastors and Sabbaticals

The reasons for this are many. For one, a pastor's work is a calling, not a job. Many jobs occupy 37 hours a week. Rarely will a pastor work less than 60 hours a week.

Pastors can be called upon at any time of the day (or night). 

Pastors never "leave their work at the office" but carry the burdens of ministry 24/7, 365. 

Pastors, perhaps above all else, are at the forefront of Satan's attacks on the church. Satan's logic is "strike the shepherd, scatter the flock." So pastors are attacked like no-one else. Because if Satan can undermine a pastor, he scatters the flock. So pray for your pastors.

For all these reasons, and more, pastors need regular breaks to be rested, restored and revived.

Sabbatical Plans

Sabbaths are not extended holidays. (I know of no genuine pastor who would want to sit on the beach for 3 months!) No, Sabbaticals are about rest through change. Since I am just about to go on Sabbatical myself (September-November 2020) let me tell you what I will be doing, God-willing.

Rest

Not sleep or beach stuff, but taking time off from the daily and weekly pressures of ministry - that will be rest in itself.

Reading

A large part of those three months will be given up to reading. I have a long list of books to read, from one on the latest books about how bees and bee hives are organsised "The Lives of Bees" to books written about and by the Anabaptists. (The Anabaptists are my favourite 1500-1600s reformers. They came from the ranks of ordinary folks, and were concerned to restore the church not only to pure doctrine but just as importantly to pure practice).

We have lost out by neglecting these precious reformers, so I plan to drink from that stream for a while.

Scripture

I plan, God-willing, to study Ezekiel in my daily Bible studies. It's a book I know little about and am looking forward to exploring what God is saying through this great Old Testament prophet.

Meditation

To help me meditate and pray I am taking AW Tozer's The Christian Book of Mystical Verse. Don't be put off by the title - it's just a book of ancient hymns.

Fisherman's Press

And then, God-willing I am hoping to start a new Christian Press, which will focus on simple and practical and tested material for ordinary churches.

Report Back

Perhaps I shouldn't have started with Bilbo Baggins. For he goes on to say, "And I don't expect to return!" I plan to return, and report back to my church and on this blog a progress report, God willing, on my sabbatical.

But this will be one of my last posts until December.