My Least-Planned Sabbatical Has Many Plans, Actually

For all of May and June, I will be taking a sabbatical from my position at the UCC National Ministries. This was originally meant to take place this past fall, but those plans derailed, and I rescheduled it for now.

This will be the third instance that I’ve been afforded sabbatical time. The two prior instances were both a month long, and featured prominent questions or issues on which I wanted to focus. I planned trips and workshops and reading lists and practices related to each.

Had I taken my sabbatical last fall, it would have looked quite similar. I had intentions for some small excursions and I was going to order a handful of books. After my plans changed, I went ahead and read the books, figuring that by the time my rescheduled time came around, I might be interested in something else.

The closer that this sabbatical has become, the less interested that I have been in doing much of anything. No reading list materialized. I still had some intentions for a few outings, and I might do those. But when it comes down to it, this has been my least-planned sabbatical so far. I have not been lamenting that, because I figured that doing as little as possible, planning as little as possible, would be exactly what I need this time around.

With one exception.

I haven’t written much about it, but I have been accepted into a Doctor of Ministry program at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. The first on-campus intensive week will be one of the last weeks of my sabbatical, which was intentional on my part.

I just received the syllabus for this upcoming course, and suddenly I have a fair amount of plans for this time away, because several writing assignments will be due before I step foot on campus. I also now have a significant reading list, into which I will delve leading up to that week as well.

So whereas I previously had very little sabbatical plans, I now have many sabbatical plans. I’ll still fit in times of rest, renewal, reflection, and time out and about. I’ll spend the week right before my D.Min program at the beach. My oldest child graduates in late May. There will be plenty to do, but also plenty to enjoy, and not having to give time to one of my jobs will allow me to focus greater time and attention to it.