Back from Sabbatical!

So I am back!  I had thought I might spend more time blogging, but in the end there were others things that I was doing that seemed more important.  So here is a summary of the way in which I spent my time:

• At the beginning, I had a week-long course on conflict transformation, run by the London Mennonite Centre.  I blogged some of my reflections in a previous post.
• A few days at home, were followed by a wonderful two week holiday near Ullapool.  We had some pretty reasonable weather; some great exploring, climbing, walking in the surrounding area.  It was a great family holiday, and my Mum and Dad drove all the way from near London, to spend a couple of days with us, partly to celebrate my upcoming 40th Birthday.
• On our return to Edinburgh in mid-June, I was at Luke & Naomi’s wedding (a couple from our community), followed by a great dinner party with a few friends to celebrate my 40th.  We had some brilliant food, with a gorgeous (and really expensive) rib of beef for the main course.  I had intended to do something else to celebrate over the summer, but time seems to have slipped by!
• By this point, it was four weeks since I had been at work, and I felt physically refreshed.  I would have done the course and holiday in any case, so this seemed to me to be “real” start to my sabbatical.  I wasn’t coming home to loads of emails, and things to do.  I had eleven weeks stretching before with no set agenda, no demands and tasks, and the day my own to do as I wished. 
• I started this time with a plan for the days and the week, which in the end, I tweaked a bit, but found the major components stayed the same.
• There were four major components to my weekly rhythm: prayer & reflection; reading & study; exercise and fellowship.  These are broadly based on a monastic rhythm.
• I had intended to a have day of prayer each week, but in the end prayer was a greater component (at the start) of each day than I anticipated, so I only had 3 days of prayer during the eleven weeks.
• Every week, I went to New College Library (the divinity faculty library of Edinburgh University) for most of one day.  It was the first time I had been in the library since I had graduated 16 years previously!  These days were one of the highlights of my sabbatical – I intend retaining this practice now I am back at work.
• Each week I went to the gym 2 or 3 times a week.  This was the first serious exercise I have done for a long time (apart from cycling around the centre of town a bit), and I feel hugely different for being fitter.  I also intend making this a regular part of my weekly rhythm when back at work.
• I spent quite a proportion of my time reading books (on leadership, gifts and strengths, preaching and communication and a number of Eugene Peterson books!) and on personal reflection.  I also spend a fair amount of time meditating and praying Scripture – mostly in a few passages, returning to them regularly.  The key passages I spent time meditating on were: Psalm 23, 24, 27, 51; Mt 5; Lk 10:38-42; Lk 15:12-32.
• We had intended on visiting other churches, but in the end we only went to two.  In the end, going to unfamiliar churches with 3 small children, isn’t easy, and we found it difficult to engage with the service while fulfilling our parental responsibilities.  In the end, we spend our weekends doing jobs in the garden, visiting our wider family, seeing friends, and hanging out together a family.
• I basically spent Monday to Friday during the day in prayer, reading, study etc.   I would sometimes see some people during the evenings and we enjoyed having two days off over a weekend!
• Part of my prayer for the sabbatical time was to have a renewed sense of God’s call and vocation, and to be clearer about my priorities in the coming years.  God is answering this prayer for me.
• My sense, too, in coming in to this season of withdrawing (retreat) from work and all it demands (and joys!) was that it was more about what God would do in me, than anything I might accomplish.  I didn’t realise how true this would be, nor how profoundly the change that I needed and God wanted to do.  But that story is (possibly) for another post…