Preparing to Depart

Pastor's Log - Sabbatical Date 2.1.4 - 7:20

The house is  quiet as I sit down to reflect on yesterday and prepare to depart for my week of silence and solitude at the Hermitage in Michigan.  It's one of the nice things about summer break, we don't have to get up early and be ready at a certain time most days.  I am typically the one to get Elam and Maggie up and ready for school on Tuesday- Friday mornings.  Beth often does Monday mornings since that is my day off and she always does Sunday mornings since I typically go into the church by 6:15am.  But not yesterday...

Since I am on sabbatical, I was home yesterday morning to help with getting the kids ready for church.  We went to Bethel even though my sabbatical has begun to be a part of a sabbatical blessing for my family and me.  We walked to church with the kids riding their bikes.  Once we got there, it was nice to be able to go to Sunday school with Beth.  She was not teaching the Junior High and I am no longer teaching the baptism class.

We attended a summer joint Sunday school class about the prophets.  It was a nice way to wrap up the Minor Prophet's series that I led a Bible Study and gave the sermons for.  Jerry led us in reflecting on the series, who the prophets were and what their message means for us today.  I appreciated the chance to hear other people's thoughts and insights.

After Sunday school, we went up to worship, and I was able to sit with my family for the whole worship service which is pretty rare for me.  Rick really challenged us with what it means to be a resident alien.  We are citizens of the kingdom of God who are living here and that should affect how we live.  Then there was a litany in which I was released from my responsibilities at Bethel for the summer for a season of sabbatical, my family was blessed for our time together, and Rick was commissioned to take on many of my responsibilities for the summer.

After church, Beth took our older three to the park with her for a farewell party for Larissa with the Jr. High Sunday school class that Beth teaches.  I took Silas home so that he (and I to be honest) could get a nap.  Then I worked in the garden until my parents and sister came over to celebrate my Dad's 66th birthday.  We had supper together and spent time talking together for awhile.

Around 8:30PM, Rick and Alex came over for a game of Lord of the Rings Risk.  This was our 4th time to get together on a Sunday night to battle for Middle Earth.  I enjoy the chance to play a strategy game (Beth doesn't like to play strategy games with me) and we have fun talking together in the midst of the game.  Due to a loophole in the rules, Rick technically won about an hour into the game but he graciously declined the easy victory and allowed us to play out the rest of the game.  After another 3 hours or so of play, however, he still ended up being the winner with pretty sound victory.

Now this morning, I am preparing to go to The Hermitage, a retreat center sponsored by Indiana Michigan conference for a week of silence and solitude.  Given that I live in a house full of extroverts, I am looking forward to this time to recharge my introverted spirit and to "de-stress."  I've never been on a silence and solitude retreat for this long before, but have found great value in the shorter ones that I have done.  In fact, it has sometimes been difficult for me to leave the silence and solitude  We'll see if that is still the case after a week of it.