How do you practice sabbath? Is it on Sundays? Vocational Ministers, do you practice sabbath on Fridays? How do you get away and how do you find rest? If you're in the big city like me but tend to find peace in the mountains, you sometimes find it difficult to practice sabbath.
I'm in Christian Spirituality this semester. It's a pretty fantastic class that focuses on different spiritual practices. We've spent time in prayer, walking labyrinths, reading Barbara Brown Taylor, and talking in small groups. This past week, we were asked to participate in otium sanctum which means "holy leisure." Sounds easy, right? Well, not always.
When this project was assigned, I got excited because this fell at perfect timing. It happened to be the same week of my best friend getting married. I could take advantage of having a calm moment within the chaos of the wedding..or even be able to carry myself through the wedding to end in a time of intentional sabbath. God's (and Art's) hand in timing this go around was perfect.
My favorite spiritual practice is called Creative Clergy. A dear soul, Suzanne, puts on these gatherings with and for other women clergy. I'm always excited about that time I get to spend with her (and other people). Suzanne has this calmness about her. She is a beautiful soul that encourages the serenity of her gatherings. We get together, catch up, and spend intentional time together being creative. We begin by acknowledging that the space is holy ground. We take time to be still and silent as Suzanne leads us in a guided imagery. It's a time for Ministers (Vocational and non-vocational) to step away from the craziness of church work and the chaos of their beautiful congregation. It's a time for students like me to learn how to be intentional about self-care. I chose the second option for my Creative Clergy this month. It's typically easy for me to walk into her studio and leave the world at the doorway. Today was different.
Due to the sickness of her glorious children, I traveled over past Libby Hill and met at Suzanne's for Creative Clergy. I entered her space in hopes of it being another successful day of intentional sabbath. After this beautiful wedding weekend, I. Was. Beat. My body was hating me come Sunday morning. Staying up late and constantly being around people since Thursday night makes this budding introvert super tired (and cranky). I was in a completely different mindset and just could not get in the right place to be still or present. I'm also trying to fight this head-cold/sever allergies/body aching illness (which I didn't realize until after I left).
My favorite spiritual practice is called Creative Clergy. A dear soul, Suzanne, puts on these gatherings with and for other women clergy. I'm always excited about that time I get to spend with her (and other people). Suzanne has this calmness about her. She is a beautiful soul that encourages the serenity of her gatherings. We get together, catch up, and spend intentional time together being creative. We begin by acknowledging that the space is holy ground. We take time to be still and silent as Suzanne leads us in a guided imagery. It's a time for Ministers (Vocational and non-vocational) to step away from the craziness of church work and the chaos of their beautiful congregation. It's a time for students like me to learn how to be intentional about self-care. I chose the second option for my Creative Clergy this month. It's typically easy for me to walk into her studio and leave the world at the doorway. Today was different.
Due to the sickness of her glorious children, I traveled over past Libby Hill and met at Suzanne's for Creative Clergy. I entered her space in hopes of it being another successful day of intentional sabbath. After this beautiful wedding weekend, I. Was. Beat. My body was hating me come Sunday morning. Staying up late and constantly being around people since Thursday night makes this budding introvert super tired (and cranky). I was in a completely different mindset and just could not get in the right place to be still or present. I'm also trying to fight this head-cold/sever allergies/body aching illness (which I didn't realize until after I left).
I believe in sabbath and taking time for self-care. That's why I love Creative Clergy so much. It's such a beautiful time that is intentional. But with everything that I had just done and all the work I knew had to be done this week made today's healing just not work. How humbling is that? It's how I feel after (what I think is) a crappy sermon, too. Some days are just going to suck. It's humbling to know that we're not perfect. We're human. Some days just don't work. That's okay. You go home, regroup, and try again later.
As I'm processing through my not-so-awesome spiritual experience with Suzanne, maybe it was just an off-day. It's important to understand that I really do love and get a lot out of these Creative Clergy experiences. I think today was just bad timing (contradictory to what I first believed). But again, it was incredibly humbling...knowing that not every spiritual practice is going to work 100% of the time.
The beautiful thing about Suzanne (among so many) is her challenge for us to be open around the table. Her table is always set. It's always open and ready for community and creativity. I'm excited to return to this holy space, open to new experiences and find my way back to caring for myself.
I'm ever grateful for that table that's full of paints, pens, paper, and invitations to be creative. Thanks be to God for what has been at this table. Thanks be to God for what will be at this table.
May it be so.
