Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

I give in. I’ve got nothin’. That’s what I’ve been thinking lately when it comes to writing this blog.

It’s mid summer. Last week in New York (and in many other parts of the US) temperatures approached 100 degrees and I feel as if my brain has melted. It must be one of those dry spells writers talk about – no fresh insights, no pithy ideas, and no compelling arguments to share in a blog post for church leaders.

Instead of resisting my current state of being, I’ll give in to it. Maybe I can reframe it, not as a problem to be solved, but as a mode to be embraced: a mental sabbatical, a Sabbath, or a time to let the fields lie fallow as a restorative practice.

Do you ever have these times? How do you handle them? Do you push through with valiant effort (but maybe decreasing results), or do you claim the Sabbath and give in to its unique rhythm?

All I can offer today are two quotes about giving in and letting go – to God and to others – so that something else may emerge. The first was posted by a friend on Facebook earlier this week. The second is tacked to my office wall. Now I’m going to let go for a while. Vacation starts today, thankfully.

God's grace is to man grace in such a thoroughgoing sense that it supports the whole of man's existence, and can only be conceived of as grace by those who surrender their whole existence and let themselves fall into the unfathomable, dizzy depths without seeking for something to hold on to." - R.Bultmann

Jesus exercises the only kind of leadership that can evoke authentic community – a leadership that risks failure (and even crucifixion) by making space for other people to act…. When a leader is willing to trust the abundance that people have and can generate together, willing to take the risk of inviting people to share from that abundance, then and only then may true community emerge.” – Parker Palmer