Sabbatical Summary Sermon

For many of us, our lives are like this jar of muddy water that is swirling around. We run from one activity or even to the next. We get up and go to work, run home in time for supper before heading out the door for soccer practice. Our lives are in a constant state of motion. None is entirely evil, but left unchecked our lives can become quite chaotic.

In her book, Invitation to Solitude and Silence, Ruth Haley Barton, describes meeting with a spiritual director to find advice in her cluttered and busy life of ministry for God. Ruth describes the experience this way, “This wise woman said to me, ‘Ruth, you are like a jar of river water all shaken up. What you need is to sit still long enough that the sediment can settle and the water can become clear’” (Invitation to Solitude and Silence p. 29). It is not until we slow down and are quiet until the water clears up and we can hear our Father’s voice and experience His presence in our lives.

I want to thank you all for this gift of time to slow down and be still long enough to rest and listen to our Father’s voice.

In Barton’s book, she listed several items that were quite convicting to me in my life. She writes (p. 59):

For some reason we can’t name, we’re not able to linger and relax over a cup of coffee. We can’t keep from checking voicemail or e-mail “just one more time” before we leave the office or before we go to bed at night. Or we can’t stop cleaning or doing repairs or projects in order to take a walk in the evening or be quietly available to those we love. Rather than read anything for the sheer pleasure of it, we pile our nightstand with books and professional journals that cram our heads full of information to keep us “at the top of our game.” The idea of taking a full day off once a week seems impossible both in theory and in practice.

The goal for this Sabbatical recap is to let you know that “Sabbath rest provides opportunities to be still so we can experience our Father’s love.”

This sabbath rest helped me experience our Father’s love in three key areas: faith, family, and friends.

First, this sabbath rest helped me experience our Father’s love in faith. Two books I read both centered on a story in the life of the prophet Elijah recorded in 1 Kings 19. I invite you to turn in your Bibles to 1 Kings 19. In chapter 18, Elijah has just faced off with the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel. He trusted God for a victory and God answered by sending fire from heaven. It was truly a mountaintop experience. Then, Queen Jezebel threatens his life and Elijah flees.

Read 1 Kings 19.3-9.

Elijah is afraid and tells God that he has had enough. He prays that he may die saying, “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors” (1 Kings 19.4). Then, he fell asleep. During my sabbatical, I tried to rest as much as I could to let my mind and body and spirit reset. God sends and angel to cook breakfast and we see this cycle of eating and resting for the journey ahead.

The next scene finds Elijah strengthened by that angelic food journeying 40 days and 40 nights. The Bible likes those 40-day intervals doesn’t it. Jesus was also in the wilderness for 40 days and nights and was tempted by the devil. Elijah experiences God in a special way and is sent out on a mission to anoint a king and a prophet. Jesus encounters the evil one after His forty days in the wilderness and defeats His temptation and ultimately defeats Him on another mountain with a cross.

Elijah arrives at Mount Horeb or Mount Sinai, we may recognize it as the mountain of God where Moses met God two different times, once at the burning bush (Exodus 3.1) and again to receive the 10 commandments (Exodus 19.20).

Read 1 Kings 19.9-13. Elijah experienced tremendous acts of power on that holy mountain: powerful wind, earthquake, and fire. However, the Lord was not in any of those, but in the gentle whisper. I wonder if the writer wants us to think of the Holy Spirit of God. Father Tim Kavanaugh of Mitford says it this way, “God wishes to be as near to us as our very breath” (A New Song, or Mitford Bedside Companion,p. 125).

Two different times, God asks Elijah, “What are you doing here?” I asked myself that same question over the summer. My initial response was, “to renew my passion for ministry.” Then, as I wrote it down, I immediately reworked it by saying, “to renew my passion for God because ministry will flow or overflow out of my passion for God” (journal entry, 8-18-21, our 20th wedding anniversary).

This Sabbath experienced helped me experience the Father’s love personally between Him and me. It also, opened my eyes of faith in the churches we visited. I experienced four outdoor worship services in four different states. From reading the sermon on the mount with my brother Mike Pippin at Fern Clyffe State Park in southern Illinois, to Church in the Tetons in Idaho, I enjoyed the beauty of God’s creation in worship. We worshiped with brothers and sisters in Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Idaho, and Montana. We visited Pentecostal and Presbyterian churches, Bible churches and Baptist churches. We worshiped with different ethnic groups with services at different times. Throughout those varied experiences, I was encouraged that there are a lot of people who love Jesus who may not agree exactly on every point of doctrine, but were committed to Scripture, prayer, fellowship, and making disciples of Jesus. It was nice to hold my daughter on my lap and go to church and not be on stage. Thank you.

Second, this sabbath rest helped me experience our Father’s love with friends.

If you read further in the Elijah story in 1 Kings 19.18, the Father informs Elijah that he is not the only God follower. God reminds Elijah, “Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed do to Baal and whose mouth have not kissed him.”

During this summer, I was able to reconnect with some friends. I got to see my buddy Patrick and his family and we hiked near Denver on a Saturday. His son Quaid who’s in grade school looked at me and asked, “Are you family?” His dad and I both said, “In a way, yes.”

I was able to drop by and see my childhood friend, Will King. He still lives in Seneca and is in his 18th season as head basketball coach and principal at the intermediate school. It was good to catch up, visit, and pray with those friends. I had the opportunity to pray with him in his office.

I, also, met some new friends at Hardee’s in Trenton, MO. Back in May, Karen Patterson sent me a card and a gift and encouraged me to find a local diner and observe people and meet some new friends. So, I chose Hardee’s since that’s where Beth’s Uncle Jim frequents every morning by 6:30. So, I got up early several mornings and met Yvette who is the manager and native of the Philippines. It was cool to make connections based on our mission partners in the Philippines. I met George, Chris, Bob, Wayne, Jim, and others. One morning, I was asked to pray with them. On another morning, Chris shared a story of house his son-in-law got saved. He told how his daughter would read Scripture and pray with the kids each night. Eventually, her husband gave his life to Jesus. Chris had tears in his eyes as he told his story.

I’m thankful for Christ followers who still weep when lost children come home. One of my goals in this next season of life is to invest in deeper friendships.

Some of that can happen by following the advice of Louis L’Amour. I read a couple cowboy books this summer, too. In one story, a couple cowboys are sitting on the porch late at night on watch duty for the bad guys to come into town. As the two cowboys are just sitting, they say,

“There’s something to be said,” he told Jesse,

“for just restin’, for just settin’ an’ watching the world go by.”

(The Shadow Riders by Louis L’Amour, p. 161)

What would it look like if you took one day a week to rest and sit and watch the world go by? What would it look like to spend some extra unhurried time in Bible reading and prayer? What would it look like if you carved out some specific time to deepen relationships with some key friendships or your family?

Third, this sabbath rest helped me experience our Father’s love in our family. I was able to have some special one on one time with Beth and each of our kids without the pressure of the next event, activity, or meeting. Beth: We walked around Driggs, ID (6/18/21) as the sunset shone on the Grand Tetons. It was a nice walk at the end of a long day of driving. The air was so cool, clean, and crisp like natural air conditioning. I enjoyed holding my wife’s hand. I wondered if this evening may have been what it was like when God walked in the garden of Eden in the cool of the day (Gen. 3.8). Grace: We had a nice walk again at sunset in Lead, SD in the Black Hills (6/27/21). She shared with me her upcoming school schedule for her senior year. Walker: We played basketball most nights after supper during our NYR work week in CO (6/14-17/21). I hope we can take a group next year or in the future for NYR work week. Weston: He and I went camping at Crowder State Park near Trenton, MO (8/2-5/21). We made cowboy dinners of hamburger, veggies, cheese, and bacon in aluminum foil and cooked them in the coals. I loved seeing the smile on his face as we stared into the campfire that night. Hope: We completed her JAM booklet at the NYR lodge in the evenings at work week and then baptized her on July 18, 2021. I had a special time with our newest member of the family, Jade, an exchange student from France. We canoed around Crowder Lake and talked about Adam and Eve and the roles of men and women.

My family was kind enough to join me on some of the Lewis and Clark journey to different sites along the route. We enjoyed the sites at Great Falls, Montana. And the coolest story we read about what how Private Shannon who got separated from the group for several days and ran out of ammunition. He fashioned a bullet out of a stick and shot a rabbit.

It was challenging for our older kids to be away from home and their friends for so long, but I’m grateful we had this time together. I also think those feelings are a testimony of being a healthy church to raise my family. Thank you!

I spent a handful of days with Beth’s Uncle Jim who farms in northwest Missouri. I joined him one morning as he sprayed beans. Then rode along on a few trip hauling beans. I learned about weeds like water hemp and shattercane. It was nice to learn new things and develop deeper relationships with our family.

I was able to see my nephew start his senior year in football, and celebrate with our niece for her 16th birthday, as well as time with our parents and siblings.

Thank you for this gift of time.

As the final hours of my sabbatical clicked away, God brought to mind a passage of Scripture that I feel summarizes the summer for me. I wasn’t even sure of the chapter and verse, but quickly found it.

1 John 3.1 (NIV), “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”

I have journaled more this summer than any point in my life and the common name, I addressed God through the summer has been, “Father.” John is reminding his dear children of God’s love in Jesus Christ, the righteous one. Jesus is the one who brings us into right relationship with the Father. John urges his listeners to be ready for the appearing of Christ.

This verse has been the theme of my journey this summer. I am loved by God because I am His child through Jesus Christ. I invite you to rest in God’s loving presence. It was something that God was working on me all summer long. I am thankful. This love can spill into our family and our friendships, which is the third area I experienced God’s love.

On behalf of my family, and I hope to say for the future health of Berlin Christian Church, I want to say thank you for this gift of time. Thank you, leaders, and Michael, and Jennifer who took on extra responsibilities in my absence. As we close, I want to challenge each of us to set aside one day a week to slow down and trust God’s goodness so that we can experience God’s love to energize your faith, family, and friendships.

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