As we continue to explore aspects of the Sabbatical my husband Scott and I plan for next summer, I thought I would share excerpts of an article from Alban institute titled “Bursting Forth without Burning Out” that describes some of this faith journey together.
Ministry, like the changing seasons, is a cyclical profession. Pastors live their professional lives from Sunday to Sunday, from stewardship campaign to stewardship campaign, from rally day to rally day, from board meeting to board meeting, and from Advent to Advent. The repetitive acts of ministry can be a source of creativity or boredom. Like thorns that infest a garden, they can, year after year, choke the spiritual life that bursts forth with our initial call to ministry and first congregation, or they can be like the fertile soil from which new and colorful ministerial practices emerge.
With each new Sunday’s passing, most pastors catch their breath and begin to turn their attention toward next Sunday’s sermon. In the course of a thirty-year ministry, a pastor cycles through the three-year lectionary ten times, not to mention thirty Advents, Lents, Holy Weeks, and Easters. Ministry and liturgy are grounded in repetitive ritual. While ritual can lead to lifeless routine, life-supporting rituals such as meditation and communion deepen our faith and integrate conscious and unconscious experience. Our bodies, as well as our spirits, are transformed by the practices and rituals of our lives, and it is our job to renew our practices, especially in mid-career in ministry. In the repetition of ministerial acts year after year, many pastors begin to experience ‘brown out,’ but they can avoid burnout if they seek renewal through a lively balance of order and novelty, stability and change, endurance and transformation, which are necessary to healthy and effective ministry mid-career. Pastors need to confront creatively the challenges of midlife in ministry in order to turn the dying fires into beautiful landscapes. Experiencing transformation and developing staying power in the autumn of ministry involves the following:
Confronting grief and loss in ministry: when grief is not addressed, it saps our vitality and robs us of zest for life, and may also surface as anger and alienation from loved ones.
Cultivating novelty in responding to everyday tasks of ministry: this is not accidental but results from an ongoing commitment to grow in one’s pastoral imagination as well as ones theological and spiritual stature.
Letting go of perfectionism and indispensability: the wisdom of graceful imperfection is grounded in the pastor’s humble recognition that grace abounds for herself as well as the congregation.
Taking responsibility for your own health and well-being: mindful, healthy living enables us not only to prevent illness but also experience greater energy and effectiveness. Pastors, in taking care of others, often feel guilty affording themselves times of renewal.
Finding harvest in mid-life: spiritual lives, like the seasons of the year, involve seedtime and harvest, and also include monsoons and droughts, gentle breezes and hurricane force winds. Doubt, uncertainty, and spiritual depletion are important .
Rediscovering your first love in ministry: when pastors rediscover their spiritual passions and are able to integrate them into their day-to-day ministries, miracles happen for pastors and congregations! New energies are released and new possibilities emerge. Pastors can become healed healers, rather then burnt-out functionaries.
I recognize these challenges in my own life and ministry, and look forward to a sabbatical time to be more intentional in addressing these concerns. Look for more to come!
Sharing the ministry of Christ with each of you.
Pastor Carol
