Sabbatical Reflections
Aug 20, 2017 | by Brad Sumner
Friends:
It was a deep joy to come back to Jericho this week and to re-engage with the staff team as well as our community. As I shared this morning, I wanted to let you know a few things that have been percolating in my soul over the past three months and I warmly invite you to contribute your thoughts and perceptions on where God is leading us as we gear up to move into the fall together.
First, know that I come back to Jericho enthusiastic about the coming season that we are moving into as a church family. One of the things that a sabbatical does for me is that it renews my joy to serve the people whom God has placed me in relationship with. I was reminded afresh how deeply I love serving and leading with this motley and grace-filled crew of people that Jesus has assembled here with the vision to cultivate disciples of Jesus who embody God’s love everywhere we go. I missed you all and I loved seeing and hearing the stories of God at work in and through His people over the summer months.
Sometimes pastors go away and sabbatical and come back feeling like it’s time to move on. But I want you to know that we're not feeling restless or contemplating moving to Africa and we're not at all feeling called away from Jericho...we love doing life and ministry here with all of you!
I also want to reiterate my thanks for the gift of time for this sabbatical. It was busy summer but it was also a great privilege to spend time doing the things we did as a family. There is much in pastoral life and ministry that pulls you away from family and so this was a unique and healthy season of togetherness for us.
The other question that sometimes comes up when pastors come back from sabbatical is the notion of "what new vision(s) are we pursuing now? (or what stuff are we axing now?)". I would say that similar to my last sabbatical six years ago, I am not really of the mind that a sabbatical is for the pastor to wander off to the mountain top and come down with stone tablets that have new marching orders on them for everyone. I have a much more communal sense of where and how God leads and guides His church. So the things that I feel that God impressed on me were really extensions of conversations we have already been having and prayers we have already been praying as and elders team.
Other than the reminder about how much I love all of you, I was struck in a fresh way by God's love for people who don't yet know Him. I was reminded about how much I love our city and the people in it, but I was challenged to remember that God loves them even more. And if God loves my neighbours more than I do, and He imparts that love to me, then the natural result is that I will recapture a deeper sense of desire to do whatever it takes to see them come to know the love of Jesus!
I’ll be sharing more about our month in Africa and some of the other things God did in my heart as I get back into the pulpit in the coming weeks but I wanted to provide you a few initial reflections and let you know I’m excited to be back and I look forward to connecting with you in the coming weeks and months!
- Pastor Brad