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The Christmas story continues as we read today of the visit of Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem. This was to fulfill the prescribed ritual requirements made of women after giving birth. There they meet the elderly prophets Simeon and Anna. Anna lives continually in the Temple, worshipping, fasting and praying day and night. And she, like Simeon, upon seeing the child, knew that he was the Messiah. Our Old Testament scripture from Isaiah 61 contains the words quoted by Jesus when his ministry begins in his home synagogue in Nazareth:

The spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and release to the prisoners.

I would like to reflect with you briefly about my planned sabbatical, and I find that the lectionary scriptures this morning help me to do that. As most of you know by now, Christ Congregational Church was recently awarded a grant from the Lilly Endowment in Indianapolis, Indiana, to help make this sabbatical possible. Our Moderator, Jackie Walters, has communicated with you in more detail about that in Newsnotes.  What is this sabbatical about? Let me read to you from the summary statement of our grant application:

"As Christ Congregational Church emerges from a decade of seemingly ceaseless ‘doing,’ Senior Minister Jim Todhunter and its members seek to discern a holistic balance between ‘being’ and ‘doing’ that strengthens their mutual ministry in Christ. Through his sabbatical, Jim will seek balance in his own life to return better equipped to lead the congregation in ministry that stresses integration of body, mind and spirit through contemplation and action. The renewal program includes three components: spiritual discernment, pilgrimage, and Sabbath. During Jim’s absence, CCC will engage in its own soul-building through small groups, education, and prayer. An enriched mutual ministry will include openness to the Holy Spirit’s call to CCC in a multi-cultural community, clarity about the spiritual foundations of contemplation and action, and improved skills for Jim as spiritual leader to a busy, active congregation."

Let me say a bit more about the three components: spiritual discernment, pilgrimage, and Sabbath.

1. Spiritual Discernment. After eighteen years as your senior minister, now is a good time for us to reflect together on the mission and ministry of CCC. Tremendous things have happened in our lives together: from great pain to great joy. Now, as we are getting used to our newly renovated and expanded building, it is important for both congregation and ministers to more clearly discern where God’s Spirit is calling us. Speaking for myself, I need this time away, in order to pay more attention to my own process of prayer and discernment, and to think more about the quality of my own "being" and "doing." Christianity frequently struggles with a false dichotomy between the spiritual and the practical; between prayer and social action, and so forth – as if individuals and institutions must give greater priority to one over the other. This is not sound biblical theology. Social witness that is not spiritually rooted eventually withers and exhausts people. Yet spirituality which does not strive to bear fruit in justice and peace is not spirituality at all. I believe the greatest of the social activists have been those most deeply rooted spiritually: Hildegaard of Bingen, Meister Eckhart, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr. Through receiving spiritual direction, attention to study and discipline, prayer, reading, and reflection, I really do want to deepen my own spirituality and sense of compassion – both for the people of CCC and for others through the pursuit of justice and peace. And I would like to see CCC as a community, anointed in the Holy Spirit, and called anew to such a ministry, just as Jesus proclaimed that he was. To that end, I plan to spend seventeen days at the Osage Monastery, a Benedictine community in Oklahoma. I learned about this monastery from Tilden Edwards at the Shalem Institute. It is a Christian community that sees as its particular calling an openness to how God speaks through different faiths. An average day might include several hours of prayer, spiritual direction, worship, discussions, and shared community tasks. A person who continues to inspire the community is the late Dom Bede Griffiths, a priest who found his calling living, ministering, and writing in India.

2. Pilgrimage. Like so many of you, I’ve traveled quite a bit in my life. But one of the things I learned from the trip I made to Nepal several years ago is that pilgrimage is different. Pilgrimage carries with it a commitment to learn by immersing oneself in a different cultural and physical environment, expecting a certain degree of dislocation, and being challenged to understand oneself and God in new ways. On February 5^th, Lois and I will fly to India for a six-week stay. From Delhi we will make our way North to the city of Rishikesh, on the Ganges River, in the foothills of the Indian Himalayas. There we will spend a period of time at the Sivananda Ashram. Why India? Why an ashram? Well, it’s really too long a story to go into here, but I must say that somehow I feel guided by God in this. Part of being immersed in India is exposure to a culture that has been drenched in religion for thousands of years. I find that as I have read more about Hinduism and its practice that I am humbled by how little I really know and how incorrect some of my assumptions were. For a long time I have preached, perhaps too facilely, about how the one true God is manifested in all the world’s great religions. Now I would like to experience what that means in a community, an ashram, in which seekers come together. I am struck that in the Gospel story this morning, we find Anna living her life in an environment totally devoted to fasting, worship, and prayer. This is a radical alternative to traditional family life. Perhaps as a poor widow, she had few options. But in most every faith tradition we find solitary seekers and monastic communities. Sometimes by moving away from the familiar, we are given new insights. Lois and I also plan to do some traveling in Northern India. To the east along the Ganges, there are a number of Hindu and Buddhist religious sites. And to the west Islam has a powerful historical presence.

3. Sabbath. In our Jewish-Christian heritage, the keeping of Sabbath is central to our faith. Sabbath is much more than what one does or does not do on Sundays. Sabbath is creating a spiritual space in which we allow ourselves to be graced by God, nourished by God’s love, and in touch with the movement of the Holy Spirit. Somehow Sabbath involves permitting ourselves to be loved by God. I don’t do Sabbath that well. I don’t think we always do Sabbath so well at CCC. We "do" busy Sundays very well. But how do we "be" on Sunday? As an unusual time apart from the patterns and routines of life, I see my whole sabbatical time as Sabbath. What particularly interests me is how to make Sabbath at home as well as at church. In my conversations with you, I have been struck by how many people struggle with keeping their homes safe and sacred places. Many people I’ve talked to yearn to create homes that are not invaded by toxic energies from the world – telemarketers, radio and television, and so forth. In many non-western cultures, shoes are removed at the door. That contributes to the idea of a spiritual space. Are there places of worship and meditation that you have set aside in your home? If you wanted to explore that, how would you do it? How does the nature of home as spiritual space vary with one’s time in life, or in large families, or with people living alone? For me there is also an issue of justice connected with this. Safe and affordable housing for all is certainly important from the standpoint of physical survival. But people also need safe and affordable places to live for spiritual reasons. We need a secure emotional space for prayer and renewal. I plan to read and think about Sabbath more seriously. And I would like, during those times when I am at home, to try out some different ideas about home and Sabbath.

I know this is a quick and sketchy overview. But I hope through what I have said you can catch some of my excitement and hope. As the title of this sermon suggests, our journey will be both an outer and inner one. I am grateful for the opportunity CCC has made available to me. And, of course, I am also grateful to the Lilly Endowment for making this program possible. The grant is a special gift in that Lois and I will be able to do so much more together, both at home, and especially through the travel. It is a special blessing for us to share together in such an adventure. Finally, though three months is not really such a long time, I can leave in the sublime confidence that, with Linda as acting Senior Minister, with Dale and John also offering leadership and pastoral care, and with the strong lay leadership of Jackie and Dave, all will be very well here.

Lois and I will endeavor to stay in touch with you through Linda and the CCC office. Let us keep each other in our prayers continually. AMEN.

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