Sabbatical Soundings
Pastor Matt’s Sabbatical Blog
From August 25 through December 31, 2017, our senior minister, the Rev. Matthew Emery, will be on a sabbatical leave. Provided for each of our professional staff members after either five or six years of service among us, a sabbatical is a chance to get a break from the routine, day-in and day-out responsibilities of one’s role… an opportunity to step away briefly from the persistent obligations of daily life in a congregation and to engage in a period of renewal and reflection for intentional exploration and reflection, for regaining the enthusiasm and creativity for ministry, for discovering what will make the heart sing.
For Pastor Matt’s sabbatical this year, our congregation was a recipient of one of the Lilly Endowment’s pastoral sabbatical grants through their National Clergy Renewal Program. The grant offsets some of our congregation’s extra expenses during Matt’s time away, but more importantly provides the funding for Pastor Matt to pursue a very exciting set of activities during his sabbatical centered around the theme of “Voices: Reconnected, Reclaimed, Renewed.” Across the four months of his leave, he will be seeking to reconnect with the voices of rest, the Spirit, heritage, and music. Plans include simple time-off for rest, two intentional spiritual retreat periods, and travel to Europe to explore places of significance to the Protestant Reformation heritage as well as have the opportunity to immerse himself in singing with an accomplished choir during a portion of the trip.
Although Pastor Matt will be largely out-of-contact with our congregation while he’s away (that’s part of the point of a sabbatical, after all), he will be posting periodic blog entries to share experiences and reflections from his time. Feel free to read along and join his journey!
The Blog
Where two or three are gathered in my name…
“Where two or three are gathered in my name…” or… Where did Pastor Matt go to church? December 20, 2017 So, one of the things I was looking forward to being able to do during this sabbatical was to visit other churches for their worship services. Obviously, we who are pastors are typically rather ‘busy’…
Berlin – Division and Dissonance
Berlin October 28, 2017 Guten morgen! I write this morning having just arrived in Leipzig yesterday evening, after spending the last 4 days in Berlin. Visiting Berlin brings with it a rather profound experience of contrasts and juxtapositions. You simply cannot escape the reminders of both the Nazi / World War II history and the…
And our mouth shall shew forth thy praise
And our mouth shall shew forth thy praise October 17, 2017 A significant aspect of my time here in Cambridge has been singing with the choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge. Selwyn is one of the 31 constituent colleges that make up the University of Cambridge.[1] Founded in 1882, it is not one of the “old”…
With whom do you go to church?
With whom do you go to church? October 13, 2017 Apologies for the delay since my last blog entry… it’s been a pretty packed schedule over the last week-and-a-half, between trying to get in a good bit of sight-seeing before Adam had to return to the US and the schedule of commitments involving the choir…