This little note that follows sounds a little formal, but I wanted to be clear about some expectations.
While I am on sabbatical, I continue to be the President of Consistory and reserve the right to exercise that office. That being said, I trust and support Daniel Carlson, Vice President of Consistory, to preside in my absence and will support his authority on consistory and with the staff. I will not be in pastoral contact with church members or solicit engagement with weddings or funerals. I am not the first line of inquiry on these anyway. It is possible that I would agree to participate in a funeral if Daniel asked me because of a family request.
My absence is neither an exile nor a retirement and while I do not plan on exercising authority, formal or informal, I may be present for use of my personal office or copying for my research or community efforts the church might normally provide copying services for. Other than these periods, my office will be locked.
I will remain active in Habitat for Humanity as the President and on the SUNY Schenectady board as Vice-Chair. I will exercise restraint in my activities with Rotary, the Library board, and political events.
I will continue to maintain social relationships, including, but not limited to, squash, meals, parties, and such. I do not plan on entering into discussions or drama about events in the congregation. I will maintain professional relationships with other clergy, including a small support group. I do not plan on attending governance meetings in either denomination.
I will be available on a limited basis for answering questions but will not be answering email and text with any alacrity unless the word ‘urgent’ appears in the subject or content. So please don’t use the phrase ‘not urgent’ since I will be filtering messages using this keyword.
In order to facilitate my re-entry, I anticipate attending a staff meeting or two in August.
As a part of my reporting and enacting my research, I anticipate starting a small group for discussion and support of pre and post retirement issues that will meet regularly at the church staring in October of 2019.