Pastor’s Page – Sabbatical

~ Pastor Bryon Hansen

I begin a three-month Sabbatical on September 1st.  My wife Britt, who pastors St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, will be taking her Sabbatical concurrently.  Together we are look forward to a variety of activities that promise to give us rest and provide renewal for our respective ministries upon our return in December.

Here is a snapshot of our Sabbatical time away …

During the first part of September we will stay around the Seattle area and include some trips to Orcas Island and the Olympic National Park.  For a few days, I’ll be participating in an Icon writing workshop at a nearby church.  Icons have been an important part of my prayer life.  This opportunity will give me a firsthand experience of engaging in the prayerful practice of fashioning icons.

In mid-September we take off for the east coast.  Our first stop is a retreat center near Boston, followed by an exploration of that interesting city, and a trip to New York to visit friends and some historic sites.  Then we go to Washington D.C. to begin, in earnest, the Civil Rights Tour.  Inspired in no small way by the work of the PRLC Race & Equity Team and the “Love through Justice Project” and other PRLC initiatives dealing with racial reconciliation, we begin our journey at the Smithsonian African American History Museum and similar sites though North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi.  Our pilgrimage will include visits to history making places like the famed Edmund Pettis Bridge in Selma, museums and monuments such as the National Memorial for Peace & Justice in Montgomery, and places where people are currently on the front lines of justice work like the Absalom Jones Center for Racial Healing in Atlanta.     

Along the way, we will visit the Hot Springs and Great Smoky Mountains national parks and four presidential libraries.  When we return to Seattle in November, we will stay close to home.  I’ll also spend a week at the Grunewald Guild in eastern Washington.

The theme of this sabbatical is “Developing a Rule of Life.”  Like the ever popular and ancient Rule of St. Benedict, an intentional “rule” or “way” seeks to balance work, play, prayer, service, and rest.  Never a solo journey, community figures strongly in such a rule.   My intent, post-Sabbatical, is to help PRLC members, specifically participants in the WAY, to discern a rule of life and for the congregation as a whole to discern and develop a kind of rule of life, rooted in the promises of the baptismal covenant.

Sabbaticals are built upon the practice of keeping Sabbath.  Taking a sabbatical every seven years is like taking Sabbath every seven days.  The practice of keeping Sabbath is to take a pause in the week not only for rest, but for transformation as well.  Just so, a Sabbatical, beyond just rest, is an opportunity for the Spirit to bring newness to our lives.

While I am away, you will be in the under the gracious care and capable leadership of Pastor Van Kley and an amazing staff.  I am so grateful for this opportunity.  I ask your prayers for Britt and me in this journey.  Be assured, we will pray for you too.

God’s Peace,
Pastor Hansen