My sabbatical will focus on world mission
by the Right Reverent Thomas Clark Ely, Bishop of Vermont
Mountain Echo
November 2006

The publishing schedule for the Mountain Echo is such that I am writing this column prior to Diocesan Convention, but you will be reading it after Convention. Since my column in the next edition of the Echo will contain my Convention address, this is the last opportunity I have to share an update on my sabbatical plans before I begin sabbatical on December 3, 2006. If you didn’t follow all that, don’t worry—just read on!

First off, I want to reiterate how grateful I am for the opportunity of a sabbatical. This provision in our diocesan canons, stating that clergy are entitled to a four month sabbatical leave following each five-year period of service, is truly a significant statement about the importance we attach to the health and care of clergy serving in our diocese. I encourage the clergy and congregations of our diocese to honor this provision and to plan for the mutual benefits such sabbatical time can offer.

Planning for my sabbatical has been going on for over a year, following Standing Committee approval of my request. A Sabbatical Planning Team of diocesan leaders from the Standing Committee, Diocesan Council, Cathedral and Diocesan Ministry Support Team has been meeting monthly to help think through the various matters connected with my leave-taking for four months, including helping me think through how best to use the time for my spiritual and intellectual refreshment. This team will remain in place and will continue to meet throughout the sabbatical to monitor systems and support those entrusted with various leadership responsibilities during this time. I am very grateful to the members of this team for their wise counsel and thoughtful work in preparation for my sabbatical. I will leave confident that their good work has prepared us all well.

My sabbatical, as I have written before, will have a focus on world mission. I have already begun some reading under the tutelage of the Reverend Dr. Ian Douglas at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I will meet with him five times in all to discuss the topic of world mission. Our discussions will range from the theological questions of what we mean by mission, where and how God is present and active in mission, and how we as the Body of Christ participate in God’s reconciling mission, to the particular realities and circumstances related to mission in the Anglican Communion, especially the areas I will visit during this sabbatical.

The two parts of the Anglican Communion where I will learn and explore in more depth the global mission vocation of a bishop are Southern Sudan and El Salvador. The Right Reverend Nathaniel Garang has invited me to visit the Diocese of Bor, and I am most grateful for this invitation. Bishop Garang was our guest in Vermont three years ago, visiting many of the young men he had known as boys in the refugee camps. In addition to his responsibilities as Bishop of the Diocese of Bor, Bishop Garang has recently been named Dean of the Province of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan. Several of our local Sudanese men are helping me prepare for this pilgrimage, which will be from January 2 to January 17, 2007.

During the month of February, Ann and I will live in the town of Jiquilisco, which is located in the south of El Salvador, east of the Lempa River in Usulutan. This is not the first trip to El Salvador for either of us, but it will be the first extended stay and our first opportunity to live among the people of El Salvador. We will have a tutor every day to help us with our Spanish, and we will spend time learning about God’s mission in some very tiny and faith-filled church communities, as well as in the villages where the mission of the church is being lived out. The Right Reverend Martín Barahona has extended this warm and gracious invitation to us, and we are most grateful for that and for the opportunities we will have to worship, work, learn and visit with the wonderful people of El Salvador.

Other travel during the sabbatical time will take us to Germany for a family holiday over Christmas and New Year as guests of our son-in-law’s family. In March, we have planned ten days of relaxation in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, retuning home in time (we hope) to greet the birth of our second grandchild. I begin and end my sabbatical with five days of retreat time at the SSJE monastery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

All in all, this promises to be a wonderful, rich and important time of renewal and refreshment for me. I look forward to bringing back the fruits of my learning and experience. I also look forward to hearing what this time of sabbatical, this time of our being apart from one another, has meant for the Diocese of Vermont. What will you learn about yourselves? How will things be different when I return? In what ways will God’s mission be more flavorfully stirred up in you during this time? What will we be ready to do together when I return that perhaps we were not ready to do together before I left?
There is a link on the diocesan Web site (www.dioceseofvermont.org) that will give you more information about my sabbatical plans and links to more information about the places in the world where I will be exploring my global mission vocation as a bishop. Along the way, I will be trying my hand at photography and hope to post some pictures from time to time.

When I return, there will be many opportunities for me to share my experiences with you. The first of those will come on the weekend of April 28-29, 2007. On Saturday, April 28, from 2-5 P.M., I will lead a program about my sabbatical at Christ Church, Montpelier. I will repeat that presentation on Sunday, April 29, from 3-6 P.M., at Zion Church, Manchester. I look forward to seeing many of you on those days.

Finally, please pray for Ann and me during this time of sabbatical and know that we will be holding you in our prayers as well. I have every confidence in Canon Lynn Bates, the other members of the Diocesan Ministry Support Team and the various diocesan leaders who will shoulder the ministry of oversight and care while I am away. Please hold them in your prayers, as well as all those who will welcome Ann and me in various parts of the world.

May the Lord watch between thee and me, while we are absent one from another.
+Thomas