It was great to be back with you in worship on Sunday. I am so grateful to you all for granting sabbaticals for your clergy for a time of rest, regeneration, and learning. (And also home-improvement projects: we now have solar panels on our rooftop at home.) I had a wonderful time, but I missed you who form this incredible community. Even though I watched online services from other churches and worshiped in a few cathedrals in Italy, nothing touched my heart like our service last Sunday. I also want to thank our staff for keeping things going in my absence, and especially to my friend and colleague, Ron Patterson, for another interim gig at Plymouth.
My sabbatical journey led me on a path of healing from my knee replacement, and a week at Ring Lake Ranch in August put it to the test, and it passed with flying colors. Diana Butler Bass was the presenter that week, and it was great. (It was Diana who strongly recommended Brian McLaren’s Do I Stay Christian? to me, and when the Ring Lake Silent Auction offered an online session with Brian, Jane Anne and I made the winning bid for Plymouth. I heard it was a great adult ed. offering!) You can go to Ring Lake Ranch next summer to get some R&R and hear great speakers like Jim Wallis and Otis Moss III. I spent six amazing weeks in Italy searching for insights from the earliest Christian communities in that country, which was home to both Peter and Paul. Looking at art and architecture as indicators of community, I saw some incredible paleo-Christian sites, spanning from Aquileia at the northernmost part of the Adriatic Sea to Cimitile in the shadow of Mt. Vesuvius. We will be having a free Italian dinner and slide talk about the sabbatical (good for all ages!) at Plymouth on Tuesday, December 6 at 6:00 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall. RSVP here by 12.4. (Many thanks to an anonymous member of our congregation who offered to subsidize this evening!) In the meantime, you can look at my blog at halsabbatical.com to see more. I’ll continue to add to the blog, and you can subscribe and get update notifications. Sabbatical also allowed me to spend time with family, which is so important in the life of clergy serving in the parish. My son, Cameron, spent almost two weeks with me in northern Italy, which was a blast for both of us. (He didn’t even complain about being dragged into many churches.) He is a great traveler, having lived in Ireland and Japan, and his best friend (who lives in London), joined us for a weekend in Venice. And of course, Jane Anne joined me for two weeks at the end of my time in Italy. We visited more churches (surprise!) and paleo-Christian sites, including amazing catacombs in Rome. And we caught up with an Italian friend, took a wonderful cooking class in Tuscany, and experienced the culture we love. Some of the things I learned from our early Christian forebears and the way they practiced their faith (and which might inspire us in the 21st century) are
As we give thanks to God this coming Thursday, I offer gratitude for this congregation and its critical witness and work as an outpost of God’s kingdom in this time and place. Deep peace, Sabbath is one of the key concepts of Judaism and Christianity. Though we don’t do a very good job observing it, when I was a kid growing up in Connecticut, stores were closed on Sunday (except for pharmacies, one of which was open for emergencies) and you certainly couldn't buy alcohol. Now, everything is available if not instantly, then with free two-day delivery. Yet, we all need to rest regularly for the health of our bodies, minds, and spirits. I am grateful that part of my covenant with Plymouth includes a sabbatical every five years. On my first sabbatical, I received a $40,000 grant from the Lilly Endowment, part of which paid our interim staff and brought John Bell and John Philip Newell to Plymouth, laying the ground for our Visiting Scholar program. Our two Celtic Christian spirituality classes and the big Celtic cross in our Memorial Garden are also results of that sabbatical journey. This sabbatical will be a bit different for me. The first phase is going to involve doing some physical rehabilitation. I’m about nine months into a yearlong course of medical treatment for prostate cancer, and it has taken a toll on my body, mostly muscle tone. I’m a month out from knee replacement, and while I’m walking reasonably well, I’m not going very far yet. Physical therapy and exercise are the order of the day. Frankly, the last five years have been trying times for our family with deaths in Jane Anne’s family, two more rounds of cancer treatment, trying to lead Plymouth through the Covid jungle, and a couple of challenging years as head of staff. I’m going to spend some of the time doing some spiritual renewal as well, including a trip to Ring Lake Ranch, where I serve on the board of directors. Sabbatical is also going to entail spending time with my sons, Cam and Chris. Later in the month, we are going to reprise one of the things we loved doing while they were growing up: going to museums in Denver and then going out for Dim Sum. Reconnecting with family has always been a joyful part of my sabbatical. One thing you may not realize about parish clergy is that we spend a lot of evenings away from our families and don’t get three-day weekends…when lots of parents connect with their children. (The photo above is from my 2008 sabbatical when the boys were with me in Scotland.) Jane Anne and I had reservations all ready to go for a trip to Italy in 2020. And you know what happened that year! So, I’ll be heading to Italy in September, starting in the north and working my way southward, visiting and researching paleo-Christian sites. (You’ll be able to follow along on this part of my sabbatical journey by visiting halsabbatical.com — and you can read entries from my past sabbaticals there as well.) Cameron will join me for the first two weeks as we travel from Verona, Padua, and Venice. Then, I’ll visit Aquileia (a major Christian site literally demolished by Attila the Hun) and study early Christian mosaics in Ravenna. Time in Tuscany and then a visit to the earliest churches in Rome will round out my time alone. (We also need some new Christmas Eve bulletin cover photos!) Jane Anne will join me in Rome for visits to Ostia Antica, Rome’s ancient port, Naples, Herculaneum, and the early Christian site at Nola. I can’t wait! I also want to let you know that you are in good hands while I’m away. Jane Anne and JT will be serving full-time through August 15, when Ron Patterson will return as half-time sabbatical interim. At that point, Jane Anne will drop back to part-time. We have the most cohesive staff team we have had in my 20 years at Plymouth. Every member sees their ministry with you not simply as a job but as a calling. I am grateful to all of them for doing phenomenal work. Please support them! As we acknowledged in our litany yesterday, I will keep you in my prayers, and I ask that you keep me in yours as well. Blessings! P.S. Did you know that Milan was founded by the Celts? They were everywhere!
P.P.S. I tested positive for COVID this morning (Tuesday, 7/12). I am doing fine with moderate symptoms. Jane Anne is still testing negative. I feel badly that I was among you at lunch on Sunday - though we were outside which I hope is a gift! And I hope none of you get COVID from being with me! By the way, thanks again for Sunday! What a joyous send-off and celebration of my 20 years with you. I am very blessed to serve among the Beloved Community of Plymouth. To my Fellow Members of Plymouth, Within our covenant with Hal is the opportunity for him to take a sabbatical every five years. Hal will be taking advantage of this opportunity as senior pastor and will be away from July 17 – Nov. 16, a period of 4 months. He will be engaging in a variety of enrichment activities, including some travel, as well as taking this period as an opportunity for renewal and refreshment. Ministerial sabbaticals are an important and exciting component in the rhythms of a pastor’s and a congregation’s life in ministry. The Leadership Council is excited for this opportunity both for Hal and for what the Spirit has in store for our congregation as we grow in faith and discipleship with each other. Pastoral coverage during this 4-month sabbatical will be accomplished through a combination of increased time from our current two associate pastors, Jane Anne and JT, and a short-term engagement of the Rev. Ron Patterson, a retired UCC clergyperson who has been our partner in ministry in previous occasions. Both Jane Anne and JT will be increasing their hours to full-time in recognition of their added responsibilities, Jane Anne for the first month (mid-July to mid-August) and JT for the entire sabbatical 4-month period. Ron will be here in a half-time capacity, from mid-August through the end of Hal’s sabbatical, in mid-November. We will not hear directly from Hal during this time. Ruth Billington has offered to be the point of contact if Hal has news he would like to share with us. Please join Leadership Council in wishing Hal a restful, renewing time away from us. Claudia DeMarco Plymouth Moderator AuthorClaudia has been a member since 2006 and involved in the Deacons Board, Celtic Spirituality group, Women's Friendship, Congregational Life Board, Associate Pastor Search Committee. Better is one hand full of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind. Ecclesiastes 4:6 Hello, Friends! It’s good to be back among you after two months of sabbath time rest. Thank you for the warm welcome in worship this past Sunday. What a joy to be together after another pandemic hiatus in live-streaming land! My favorite part was greeting the children up front during Children’s Time. I pray we can continue to come back together in person in “old, normal and familiar” ways, as well as many creative, new ways in the coming months. Many of you asked on Sunday, “How was your time away? Are you feeling more rested? Where did you go? What did you do?” Here are some answers…Yes, I am feeling more rested and rejuvenated. And my hope is that I have developed some new habits for incorporating Sabbath rest into working life. It took me time to slow down my body to soul speed. In January I was in Fort Collins, resting at home, due to the pandemic and to the kind of rest I needed. I read books, novels and non-fiction, that I had been hoping to read. Three of them were for the Spiritual Direction training that I started in November: Let Your Life Speak by Parker Palmer, The Discerning Heart, by Wilkie and Noreen Au, Owning Your Own Shadow, by Jungian analyst, Robert Johnson. I highly recommend all of them and each of them would make a good Plymouth adult book study. I watched all the Harry Potter movies again and some fun TV series. I took many naps. I did as much yoga as I could with online helps since it did not feel safe to be at the gym. I did a lot of reflection – on my own and with therapists and my spiritual director. I journaled a lot about the past five or so years of my life, dealing with the challenges of my beloved’s cancer journey and the loss of my son, Colin, to suicide in 2018. By February, I felt rested enough to travel and the covid numbers were starting to go down. I spent six beautiful days on a yoga retreat with other Fort Collin’s women at the Trailwinds Eco-Lodge just outside San Francisco (“San Pancho”), Mexico, about an hour north of Puerto Vallarta. This exquisite place is situated in the jungle on the side of mountains that go down to the beach and the Bay of Banderas. The accommodations are partially open-air. Under my mosquito net, I drifted off to sleep to the sound of the waves, the insects, and the wind in the palm trees. During the day we swam, did yoga in a palapa overlooking the beach, sailed and whale watched and enjoyed each other’s company. It was definitely a wonderful break. I returned to the snow of Colorado for three days then headed to Guilford, CT and New York City to visit with my “sister” friend, Tina, my sister and brother-in-law, Julia and Jerome, and my son, Dylan for six days. This time was very precious. I had not seen my friend and sister for over two years or Dylan’s new brownstone apartment in Brooklyn. Lots of visiting, some museum and movie time just being together. Once again to Colorado in snow, just in time to be in Denver on 2/22/22, for the celebration of the mini-documentary on the Meow Wolf Denver installation that my son, Colin, and his friend, Pepe Apentanco, designed before Colin’s death. In the worst of the pandemic (late 2020 through fall of 2021) Pepe and many of Colin’s friends in the Denver DIY art community made, “Aquakota,” a nightclub run by alien space lemurs and featuring Colin’s best dance music, a work of art! 222 was Colin’s favorite number. It signified to him movement and getting things, art, done and out in the community. Thus we celebrated in the installation space on that auspicious day, 2/22/22, with a concert by two of Colin’s music colleagues, Ben Donehower and David Castillo. If you go to Meow Wolf in Denver (and I suggest you do! You have never seen an art installation quite like Meow Wolf!) check out “Aquakota” on C Street. It’s down the little alley next door to the movie theater. You can find the Westword article from 2/21/22 that launched the mini-documentary here. After all of that excitement, I came back to Fort Collins for more snow and painting the family room in our house as a way of returning to a work schedule! LOL! I had a lot of good fun, some very meaningful times with dear ones, and good rest. As I think back, did I learn anything to share from my sabbatical time? I learned it took much longer than I thought to unwind, to be rid of the “shoulds.” Early in January, I found myself asking daily, sometimes more than once a day, “Shouldn’t I be doing something productive?” This prompted the more important soul question, “Well, what is ‘productive?’ Is productive getting all the tasks that I have assigned to myself for this day done in record time so I can do even more? Is productive meeting everyone else’s needs before I find time to meet my own call of the soul? Is productive being so busy you don’t notice how the snow is falling so beautifully or how the dog is rejoicing, literally jumping and racing and rolling, in the falling snow?” What I learned – what I am continuing to learn, for learning is practicing ¬– is to remind myself to move a little slower through life so that I can take in moments that I often raced through with anxiety. God is in these quiet, connective moments. As our Lenten devotional poet tells us in her poem, From Here in the Sand,* God stands with us in all moments, the relaxed oasis moments and the fiercest sandstorm moments of the desert wilderness called Life. God has been there all along, way before we got to any of our moments. And God stands with us singing songs of water in the desert even during the most stinging winds. I invite you to find some Sabbath moments with God this Lent whether life is coming to you gently like a breeze through palm trees or like the blast of a storm. God is with you in all moments, inviting you to notice the wonder and/or bleakness of the scenery. Inviting you to notice God’s steadfast presence as the fleeting glimpse of an exotic butterfly or a long drink of cold water. Don’t let the “shoulds” of life overtake you! Notice who you are in God’s presence, where you are, and what gifts are being given in every moment. Blessings and with you on the journey, *Rev. Sarah Speed | A Sanctified Art LLC | sanctifiedart.org AuthorThe Rev. Jane Anne Ferguson, Associate Minister, is a writer, storyteller, and contributor to Feasting on the Word, a popular biblical commentary. She is also the writer of sermon-stories.com, a lectionary-based story-commentary series. “Remember the Sabbath and keep it Holy…” Dear Plymouth, I’m back! Catching up on email, helping two new staff members get up to speed, trying to remember the deadlines for getting in staff reflections, bulletins, Overview announcements, etc. And connecting with you one by one through email, phone, rare chance encounters in the office. Leading worship yesterday through our yearly practice of Instant Sermons was great fun and I loved hearing the questions. They always help me feel so much closer to you. As I left in July, I wrote to you that I hoped to encounter the Holy moment by moment even in the midst of the nitty gritty – “taking out the trash, picking up puppy poop, doing the dishes, etc.” I thought of that hope several times and wondered, “Am I accomplishing my mission? Am I letting go and living in the moment?” Isn’t it amazing that even when we set out to rest, to just be, we find it so hard to set down our accomplishment mindset? The voices in our heads that say, “What did you do today? Did you move any farther in the building of your life? Did you get better at what you want to accomplish?” are tyrannical! I did have moments of “being”, in play, in reading, in laughing with Hal and friends, in three wonderful trail rides at Ring Lake Ranch. I did not have quite as many quiet meditation moments due to an active puppy. These will return, in time. Anne Lamott, a wonderfully funny, poignant and deeply thoughtful writer, has a book titled, Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers. I have yet to read this book, but the title is right on. (And having read other Lamott books I can highly recommend her writing.) “Help,” “thanks,” “wow” are three ways to stay in the moment in life and in prayer. I know I had these moments on sabbatical. “Help” me be patient with this puppy, with myself, with our government! “Thanks” for the wonder of growing my own tomatoes and eggplant, arugula and pumpkins in our backyard, for the antics of puppies that make me laugh, for a week in a beautiful place where someone else cooked delicious food and I reconnected with old friends! “Wow, Holy One!” Creation is astoundingly and inexpressibly beautiful! “Wow” - that sky and those clouds and those multi-colored cliffs that surrounded me as I road horseback through the wilds of the Wyoming’s Wind River basin. “Wow!” as I gazed at 1500 year old petroglyphs made from the prayer images of indigenous people who lived on this same land that was welcoming me with open arms as it had welcomed them. So as I return to ministry with you in this strange fall of 2020, I say, Help and Thanks and Wow! “Help” us learn more together, and learn more deeply, what it means to be the people of God in the midst of pandemic, protest and political elections! “Thanks” for the beloved community of Plymouth as we learn to connect in new ways in the midst of social distancing! “Wow, Holy One!” You are Love and Love is with us always! In times of darkness and in times of light. You accompany us moment by moment. Even when we are not watching. Blessings to you my fellow travelers as we journey together, AuthorThe Rev. Jane Anne Ferguson, Associate Minister, is a writer, storyteller, and contributor to Feasting on the Word, a popular biblical commentary. She is also the writer of sermon-stories.com, a lectionary-based story-commentary series. Read more Remember the Sabbath day and treat it as holy…. a Sabbath to the HOLY ONE your God. Because the HOLY ONE made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything that is in them in six days, but rested on the seventh day. That is why the HOLY ONE blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Exodus 20.8,10a,11 Dear Plymouth, I am writing this reflection as I head into my short sabbatical time (July 20 – August 22). I want to thank you for affording your called ministerial staff with this kind of time away to be renewed for ministry! It is a great blessing. Many of you have asked, “Where are you going? What are you going to do?” Well, current circumstances prevent me going much of anywhere. I am very fortunate that we have a lovely backyard and garden with a new sitting area under our apple trees and a new hammock. This is where I will go! And what will I do? I will spend as much time as possible in being rather than doing. What is being time? I don’t know about you, but my mind starts scheduling my day the minute my feet hit the floor each morning. “Where is my list of work tasks? What needs to be done to keep our household running, laundry, cleaning, cooking? Where is the new puppy? What does she need to learn today?” You know your own drill. And I try to incorporate a few minutes…maybe even 20… of being time into my morning routine for prayer each day. I try to remember to “pray without ceasing” throughout the day as I encounter the conundrums and joys of work and home and just life. There are many distractions, as you know! Now it’s time to go deeper to develop new habits. The word and concept of “sabbatical” comes from “sabbath,” a day that you keep as “holy,” mindful of the Holy One, God. During these weeks away I will endeavor (and pray) to wake up with the “Holy” on my mind as my feet hit the floor. Upon waking I hope to be mindful of the sacredness of taking the puppy out first thing, the sacredness of coffee, of the birds at the feeder, of the sun and the clouds, of the news, of the dreams I remember, of the reading and journaling during the day. As I write, I am not imagining a choir singing “Ahhhh” somewhere as background music to an idyllic video of my daily routine. I am imagining what it is like to live the nitty gritty of each day dedicated to and in relationship with God, even the taking out of trash and compost, the dusting, the pick-up of puppy poop, the heartbreak of our current times. A sabbatical, a sabbath time, is the time to practice this. I try to practice it one day a week or more likely a half day a week when I am working. It often gets interrupted with my distractions. I am hoping that practicing sabbath being more mindfully for this set period of time will further embed it in the habits of my mind, heart and soul so that when I return to ministry in late August there will be new focus and sustenance for pastoral care and leadership. That as I resume the list of ministerial tasks, I will bring with me the habit of the practice of being mindfully connected to the Holy no matter what I am doing. It will always be a practice never a “perfect.“ I invite you to set aside sabbath time in your life. Discover what it is for you to “remember the Sabbath day and treat it as holy.” The root of the English word “holy” that translates the Hebrew word for “sacred” meant “whole.” What practice do you need to invite you into sacred wholeness in relationship with the Holy One? Many Blessings! Until August 23rd… AuthorThe Rev. Jane Anne Ferguson, Associate Minister, is a writer, storyteller, and contributor to Feasting on the Word, a popular biblical commentary. She is also the writer of sermon-stories.com, a lectionary-based story-commentary series. Read more |
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