VPASTOR’S LETTER
November, 2008
Dear Friends,
MORE GOOD NEWS
We have enjoyed much good news lately. But there is more! We recently learned the Lilly Foundation has enthusiastically approved a renewal grant for my 2009 sabbatical. This means $45,000 will arrive at DUC for my time away from mid-April to early August, 2009. The funds are already budgeted to support my travel abroad, to help us envision our future after a flurry of rebuilding and calling staff, and to keep DUC strong in my absence.
First the sabbatical from the church’s side: after our energetic run of the past few years, we are ready for repose and reflection. Next year will give us the chance to pause over who we are and how God calls us. The Rev. Tony Robinson, a national UCC leader, will come for weekends in Feb. and Sept., 2009 to help us focus on who we are as God’s people, and how our purpose as the church might issue forth in future ministries. Lilly Foundation funds will also provide stipends to our retired pastors who will chime in with John Brink’s leadership in my absence so that DUC will not miss a beat in those months.
As for me, my sabbatical falls into a few parts. The first is my role as leader in the wider church. For the last 25 years, I’ve worked closely with clergy friends who bring a perspective within the UCC that has not always been the majority view. As the denomination has mostly declined and our individual churches have mostly thrived, the UCC increasingly calls on us to lift a vision. For example, in advance of this autumn’s annual meeting of the Mass Conference, UCC, in Worcester, our group will lead a renewal event for UCC clergy and laity.
But much of what our circle does is through writing books. Other pastors and churches read us to find new ways of being church in an era when we find the landscape around us seriously altered. While abroad, four pastor-author friends will fly down to join me in
Second, in writing this grant to the Lilly Foundation, we pastors were asked to answer the question—what makes your heart sing? That is because the purpose of a sabbatical is to find repose and renewal allowing us to remain effective in the ministry for the future. One of the things that makes my heart sing, as you have seen, is leading mission trips to
I plan to take weeks of intensive, five-hour-per-day, three-students-per teacher Spanish classes that will bring my language skills back where they should be. Equally important to fluency is being in a culture where I must speak the language daily to cope. That is one reason I will travel to
Other parts of my sabbatical include more swimming and learning underwater diving in a day when my back no longer allows me to play tennis; spending time with family and friends in ways I seldom get to, being pinned down on weekends and most holidays; seeing a part of the world and enjoying the wonder of nature in a place I have never seen.
Interestingly, as Connie had her sabbatical years ago, she did different things, but along parallel lines: working with the wider UCC (by attending General Synod), spiritual renewal (by writing and meditating at the Shalem Institute), spending time with family she rarely saw (traveling to the west), and immersing herself in the slower-paced beauty of nature (through gardening and travel.) As Connie put it, we clergy live such busy lives, the purpose of her sabbatical was “being present in the moment to attend to other rhythms. For me, the sabbatical was the chance to freshen and deepen my spirit so there was something there for the church. Then in coming back together, we go to new places together.”
When I came to serve DUC in Feb, 2005, I was close to eligibility for a sabbatical at my church in
It has been an incredible run in these first years together. Within two weeks of arriving, we scoured architectural plans for the rebuilt church. Later that summer was the feasibility study and the launch of the capital campaign. Attempting this large reconstruction at the same time I was getting to know you was not for the faint of heart. My peers wonder that I attempted it at all! Then there have been several new member classes; more adult ed offerings simultaneously than at any time in our history; big-time scrambling along the way with partial building and an incomplete staff; my mission involvement, whether sleeping on the floor with the homeless here or leading an eager troop to Central America; my efforts to respond to the national UCC’s invitation to write a book for their congregational vitality series. During my first year, writing this book on my days off, holidays, continuing education and vacation days meant I worked seven days per week. It is all worth it.
All of this on top of pastoral care, staff supervision, energetic preaching, confirmation, search committees, worship planning, wider church involvement, and new accents like Jazz Sunday, Hymn Sing, and reaffirmation of baptism. Why so much? Before coming here, I promised to give my utmost in these areas as your pastor. I have done my level best to keep my promises. This sabbatical was one promise the church made to me.
I hope you will celebrate this sabbatical opportunity for me and for DUC. The Lilly Foundation renewal award is a real honor for both of us. I was tickled the Lilly people thought so highly of all that we have achieved and all that promises to unfold in years ahead. This highly esteemed supporter of
Your Pastor, Dale
