Mini-Sabbatical Implementation at St. Michael’s 2022

Dear Vestry and Parish,

        One thing I know: our staff work hard at St. Michael’s. I am blessed to work with such dedicated individuals who love this place, and who are working hard to carry St. Michael’s into the future. Our former senior warden, Ann Kimes, wrote about this in her Sword article last month, and I encourage you to read it here: https://stmichaelsbarrington.org/church-blog/1113-a-message-from-our-senior-warden

        Also in Ann’s note, she referenced an email we received from Assisting Bishop Chilton encouraging parishes to consider a mini-sabbatical program in much the same spirit. You can read her email here: https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Mini-Sabbatical-Program-for-Clergy-and-Lay-Employees--An-Invitation-from-the-Rt--Rev--Chilton-Knudsen.html?soid=1107175454157&aid=_6X3CWeV0Rk

        After a discussion at Vestry, I decided to look at how St. Michael’s could honor the bishop’s request and provide a respite to our staff. Among the weeks that seem to make the most sense, we are choosing Spring Break week March 21.

        In the spirit of Bp. Chilton’s mini-sabbatical recommendation, the office will not be open for regular office hours that week; we will be available for any pastoral emergencies. The staff will be coming in as needed to make sure everything is ready for Sunday, but we will not be keeping regular hours with the phones and doors. I am inviting our lay ministries to rest that week as well, preparing only the essentials for the coming week. If you have an emergency, you can get the clergy on call by calling the church number and pressing ‘5’ to be transferred to our cell phones.

        Sunday, March 27, will still have regular services at 8am and 10am, and I hope to bring out the Prayer Books for a “throw-back” Eucharist without bulletins. The hymns will be from the hymnal! I envision this service as a warm, easy-going service without the bulletins we so easily print these days; Episcopal Church before Xerox. It will simply be what we do best- pray together using words from our prayerbook that have been said for decades (and have a tradition dating back 500 years). I encourage you to join us for something different, as staff and volunteers take a moment to rest.

Thank you,

Jesse+