What Kind of Job Do You Have?

"What kind of job do you have?"

It was an understandable question, posed innocently by an investment banker with whom I'd gathered at a campground bonfire in Utah. We were talking about how we spent the day -- he rafting and I hiking -- when he began lamenting that his time was coming to an end. Naturally, he asked me when I had to go back, and when I answered, he posed his very predictable question.

It is a rare privilege to be granted sabbatic leave, one for which I am deeply grateful. With nine days down, I'm grateful to press pause long enough to offer a bit of a report. My first five days were spent in solitude in a desert environment, partly to assist in my efforts to detach, but also because I've long wanted to dive into a hefty book "The Solace of Fierce Landscapes: Exploring Desert and Mountain Spirituality" in an environment consonant with the subject.  The author, Belden Lane, is a  Presbyterian minister on faculty at a Roman Catholic University where he teaches Jewish stories and occasionally lectures at the Vedanta society. He offers a thorough analysis of apophatic prayer in the Christian tradition and organizes his book in the pattern of classic Christian spirituality: purgation, illumination and union. They are symbolized respectively by the desert, mountain, and cloud. It has been a tough but worthwhile read. The bleakness of the desert augmented my sense of purgation, and I trust later experiences in the mountains will lead to illumination and perhaps even union.

In addition, I've done some lighter reading: two books on St. Francis in preparation for our time in Assisi, an extra 30 minutes a day with the New York Times, and a novel I'm finding too gruesome to recommend. If you're on social media, you also know I've interspersed my time with some epic wilderness ventures in hopes of satisfying my love of unsafe terrain. If you must know more, conduct a search on the "Whole Enchilada" and "Slick Rock Canyon" bike trails in Moab and watch a video or two. I offer that suggestion only now that I'm safely back from the rides!

As I'm sure you expect, I've been eavesdropping a bit on you in my absence and am heartened by what I hear. Worship, weddings, Session meetings, staff meetings, and so much more seem to be humming along just fine, thank you. Yet, I know the effort from both Session and staff is considerable. I'm humbled by your efforts and I'm grateful. I continue to keep all of you in my prayers each morning, thankful for the kind of job I have primarily because of the people with whom I share my days.