Dear KRU
family,
I am
grateful that you have gifted me a time of Sabbath so I could use that time to
reflect, rest, and renew. Thank you for many of you who have shown so
much interest in my sabbatical project. Thank you for the sabbatical
planning committee, the Council, and other members of KRU who have come forward
to make the ministry of KRU continue without disruption while I am away.
I will be taking a sabbatical from March to June. July will be a holiday
and a transitional time between the sabbatical and re-entry to ministry with
KRU community. I will be seeing you in August.
Developing
and Creating a Common Language of Faith is the title of my
research proposal that I submitted to KRU Council through the sabbatical
planning committee. A more detailed version of the proposal was submitted
to the Louisville Institute in the USA, an institution that awards sabbatical
research grants. I would like to thank Jean Porter, my M&P liaison
and chair of sabbatical planning committee, who worked with me to link my
proposal clearly with the ministry context of KRU so that my project will
benefit the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth with KRU as well as other Christian
communities in North America. Sharon Aylsworth and Ian Johnston also
helped me to sharpen the focus of my sabbatical proposal in connection with my
ministry with KRU. The process of planning and articulating sabbatical
proposal took several months; however, it was a valuable experience in the
end.
So what is
my sabbatical research all about?
One of the
challenges and opportunities I experience in ministry in the cosmopolitan city
of Toronto is that the Christian Church can no longer assume that those who are
entering church on Sunday share the same cultural assumptions and ethos.
Even words we often use in church, like God, are understood, named,
and defined differently by different people inside and outside church.
The challenge and opportunity for those of us who have been in church for a
while is not about “educating” the newcomers to simply learn about and accept
who God is as we know God but to also understand the newcomers’ understandings
of God in order for everyone to expand and deepen their faith and
spirituality.
I have been
working on a process of listening deeply with one another in small group
studies – like Lenten studies – in KRU and in other places over the past few
years. I found Bible studies to be challenging since participants –
regardless of how liberal or conservative they are – seem to feel that there
are “right” and “wrong” ways of interpreting the Bible. When I began to
use poems reflecting similar ideas and issues presented in the Bible I found
that the notion of “right” and “wrong” interpretations disappeared in the
conversation. I call it a spiral conversation. It
is a process where listening to others takes more time and effort than speaking
to them. It is also a process of connecting with God, Sacred, Divine,
Spirit in and through deep listening and speaking with care.
I have also
discovered that photographic images, along with images and metaphors presented
in poems, also enhance deep listening. The images I have been creating
for the spiral conversations are not just pictures that are
nice to look at. I have been exploring photographic images that help me
to connect what I deem as “ordinary” with what I come to see as “sacred.”
Facilitating small groups and teaching ministers and laity to see photography
as a spiritual practice where one learns a way of seeing the sacred in the
ordinary has been a fulfilling experience. I have been using photographic
images in our Sunday bulletins for the past five and a half years to provide a
visual invitation and connection with the Gospel of Jesus. During my sabbatical
I will be developing visual templates that could be used in small group
conversations and worship celebrations.
The creative
arts invite us to be open to possibilities we may not have explored
before. The premise of my sabbatical project is that art deepens and
widens our spirituality. I will be researching, developing, and creating
photographic images that could be used as a common language –
a medium – to aid, deepen, and widen conversations and experiences of the
sacred in our spiritual journey.
How will I
be accomplishing my sabbatical project?
I am
grateful to the Louisville Institute for awarding a grant for me to travel to
do research, meet individuals who have been practicing spirituality as their
lifestyle, and obtain the equipment I need for the project. I am honoured
that my proposal was one of 46 chosen by the Louisville institute as a project
that will “enrich the religious life of [North] American Christians.”
A wise
friend of mine encouraged me to make a list of five people I want to meet and
make that happen during my sabbatical. I am planning to have conversation
with people in parts of Ontario, Nova Scotia, and New Mexico during my
sabbatical. I am hopeful that my encounters with them will help me to
reconnect with parts of myself I have lost touch with somewhere along the way.
I am also confident that the conversations will help me to reflect on and
review my ministry with KRU from different perspectives.
Listing five
people you want to meet and make time to connect or catch up may be something
that you, too, can plan for this year. One could be a friend you’ve lost
touch with over the years. Or someone you wanted to meet but never had
the time. Or an artist whose work you haven’t had time to see or hear.
I have
created a blog for our KRU family and others who are interested in my
sabbatical project. I call it Imaging the Sacred and here is
the link – http://imagingthesacred.blogspot.com/.
The blog is also a pictorial reportage of my Sabbath journey. I invite you to
travel with me.
Thank you
KRU family for gifting me with this wonder-filled opportunity for spiritual
reflection, rest, and Sabbath renewal. May our respective journeys in the
next four months be a grace-filled time of wonder and thanksgiving.
Peace,
Richard
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