Fall 2020 Sabbatical for Pastor Ben Squires and Bethel Lutheran Church
A Sabbatical Description by Pastor Ben Squires:
Inventive Departures: Explorations in Imagery & Writing
In the year 2020, I will have been in ministry for 20 years--10 of those years at Bethel. This seems the perfect opportunity to take my first pastoral sabbatical--a 3-month time away from the congregation for rest, renewal of spirit, and recreation.
But a pastoral sabbatical isn't just for me. It's also for the congregation--for a renewal experience of your own, a break from our routine built up over 10 years of ministry together, a time to see new ways God is leading us.
You'll notice in reading about the Sabbatical Plan that it's built around poetry. I spent many years in high school and college writing and reading poetry. Poetry is literature that is designed to make you slow down, reflect, rest. Seems like a good companion for a sabbatical. The title comes from a description of George Herbert's poetry ("inventive departures from tradition").
Follow these links for more detailed information
A Sabbatical Description by Pastor Ben Squires:
Inventive Departures: Explorations in Imagery & Writing
In the year 2020, I will have been in ministry for 20 years--10 of those years at Bethel. This seems the perfect opportunity to take my first pastoral sabbatical--a 3-month time away from the congregation for rest, renewal of spirit, and recreation.
But a pastoral sabbatical isn't just for me. It's also for the congregation--for a renewal experience of your own, a break from our routine built up over 10 years of ministry together, a time to see new ways God is leading us.
You'll notice in reading about the Sabbatical Plan that it's built around poetry. I spent many years in high school and college writing and reading poetry. Poetry is literature that is designed to make you slow down, reflect, rest. Seems like a good companion for a sabbatical. The title comes from a description of George Herbert's poetry ("inventive departures from tradition").
- The sabbatical will be a departure from our norm.
- The "inventive" comes from the theme of reading poetry, walking in the footsteps of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, spending time writing, and pursuing photography as a growing hobby. (Coleridge wrote poetry while walking, so the combination of poetry, art, and hiking will be a key piece of my renewal).
- Coleridge's writing provides thematic words for pieces of the sabbatical: symbol, metaphor, imagination.
Follow these links for more detailed information