Approved Sabbatical Proposal
Basic Information
Name: David James Graham
Employment Start Date: 5 May 2017
Proposed Sabbatical Dates: Monday, 9 June 2025 to 19 September 2025 (15 weeks)
Sabbatical Advisor (mentor to support you during sabbatical): Sei Wei Ong
Sabbatical Plan
Rest and Renewal:
Creativity: Writing & Music
Physical: Long walks & heavyweights
Family: Spend more time with family - especially J & K Graham; A & V Graham (Colombia) and K, S, A, and F Graham here in the ‘Pass
Emotional/Relational: I am looking forward to not being the primary point of contact for camp-related requests. I spend a lot of time replying to brief questions (“where is the…” and “what do you think of the….”) and simply being present, on-call here. Relieving those expectations will be a great burden lifted; simply not being present at camp, and not worrying about camp, will be a great rest.
Rest Priorities: In the same way that there is type 2 fun (fun that is not fun until it is over) there may also be type 2 rest. I plan to do some of both types of resting:
Type 1 rest: Naps, and sitting in the hot tub. Watching a movie. Reclining in a hammock.
Type 2 rest: Engagement with interesting projects that engage & develop my capabilities.
Type A Rest: A pursuit for deeper rest that is found in stillness and solitude.
Retreat Details: I am looking forward to not being “expected”. There are many duties that I will be glad to hand off to someone else, but I am most excited to simply no longer be available to pick up all the random stuff that happens. I am looking forward to no longer being a person who can be asked to fill in here and there. I am looking forward to turning off my phone, guilt-free!
Alternative Engagements: Describe positive activities to focus on:
Family Time
Cooking
Exercise
Creative Writing/Music
Bill Watterson: ”We're not really taught how to recreate constructively. We need to do more than find diversions; we need to restore and expand ourselves. Our idea of relaxing is all too often to plop down in front of the television set and let its pandering idiocy liquefy our brains. Shutting off the thought process is not rejuvenating; the mind is like a car battery - it recharges by running. You may be surprised to find how quickly daily routine and the demands of "just getting by: absorb your waking hours. You may be surprised to find how quickly you start to see your politics and religion become matters of habit rather than thought and inquiry. You may be surprised to find how quickly you start to see your life in terms of other people's expectations rather than issues. You may be surprised to find out how quickly reading a good book sounds like a luxury.” Bill Watterson, Kenyon College Commencement Address, 1990
Kirkegaard: “Above all, do not lose your desire to walk. Everyday, I walk myself into a state of well-being & walk away from every illness. I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it. But by sitting still, & the more one sits still, the closer one comes to feeling ill. Thus if one just keeps on walking, everything will be all right. And out in the country you have all the advantages; you do not risk being stopped before you are safe and happy outside your gate, nor do you run the risk of being intercepted on your way home.” Soren Kierkegaard, Letter to Jette (1847)
Personal Growth in Faith and Ministry: If this sabbatical is approved, I will have 15 weeks in which to meet these goals. The temptation will be to hope to accomplish too much: family time; rest; health & fitness; and growth in ministry. I have two goals that I would like to undertake in terms of the growth of my ministry:
Make a plan to visit at least 2 other camps (eg., Camp Chamisall, or Evergreen, or SABC), and spend at least 4 days (2 x 2 days) at each - see how they do things, and build a friendship;
Read/review continuing education options regarding credentials in counselling.
Areas of Growth:
Family connection & quantity time: be available to play with my sons and look after some home & garden tasks that will not otherwise be possible
Dealing with distraction & building downtime: start a sustainable practice of Sabbath rest, and resisting the constant need to be productive. Stop texting while driving.
Physical Health & Diet: Pushups and Greek Salad;
Creativity: It has been a long time since I deliberately put an effort into creativity for its own sake: whether producing or consuming creativity.
Challenges and Strategies
“Thomas Merton wrote, “there is always a temptation to diddle around in the contemplative life, making itsy-bitsy statues.” There is always an enormous temptation in all of life to diddle around making itsy-bitsy friends and meals and journeys for itsy-bitsy years on end. It is so self-conscious, so apparently moral, simply to step aside from the gaps where the creeks and winds pour down, saying, I never merited this grace, quite rightly, and then to sulk along the rest of your days on the edge of rage.
I won’t have it. The world is wilder than that in all directions, more dangerous and bitter, more extravagant and bright. We are making hay when we should be making whoopee; we are raising tomatoes when we should be raising Cain, or Lazarus.
Go up into the gaps. If you can find them; they shift and vanish too. Stalk the gaps. Squeak into a gap in the soil, turn, and unlock - more than a maple - a universe. This is how you spend this afternoon, and tomorrow morning, and tomorrow afternoon. Spend the afternoon. You can’t take it with you.” ~ Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
Identify challenges:
I may get busy with the day-to-day errands of life and not rest;
I may overindulge type 1 rest and not rest;
I may overcommit, and try to do too much (Productivity Pressure)
I may struggle to disconnect from work
I will probably feel guilty
I may feel tempted to extend the sabbatical at the end
Strategies to address these challenges:
Accountability and clarity: Set clear, manageable goals, and communicate them to the board, and to my support network & mentor.
Set small milestones and checkpoints to monitor progress
Resources and Activities:
The Mind-Body Problem and Metaphysics (here)
Family Camp at a different camp
Spiritual Practices: Describe inward and outward spiritual disciplines you intend to practice.
I’d like to add some quiet disciplines to my rule of life, as I have always struggled with these. (How to sit at the feet of Jesus, and feel comfortable in your own skin)
Prayer & Meditation
Silence & Solitude
Community and Support: I have sent this document to my closest advisors, and to my Sabbatical Advisor, Sei Wei Ong
Gabriel Schulze
Liam Stone
Matthew Wiebe
Kevin Legg
Rev. Dr. Dave Ney
I have also shared with Kathryn, who said: “Your sabbatical plan sounds so good and I very much think it is what you need. So good to commit to prayer/meditation/solitude/silence. I think all of us in the west have lost this. I like the paragraph by Bill Watterson - man, he speaks truth. When reading a book starts to sound like a luxury…oh dear. Oh yes. A balance of type 1 and type 2 rest…so good, so good. Focusing on creativity. All the things that have been put by the wayside. This will be very good. Love it all!”
Church Engagement: Church is often a place that is work-oriented for me. That said, I will plan to remain actively engaged with a church community by attending weekly services on weeks when we are in the Crowsnest Pass. I will also continue to participate in small group & fellowship events, which will allow me to build relationships without taking on deep or burdensome commitments.
To Do:
Contemplative Outreach Retreat
Skeleton Schedule
“Rule of Life”
Define Clear Boundaries
Addendum
Manson’s Law of Avoidance - “We will avoid something in proportion to how much it can affect our identity.” I have found this sabbatical task really difficult, in part, I think because it impacts my sense of identity. I feel like I am leaving camp in the lurch by skipping out on the summer. (I always worry that I am not working hard enough.) But I am also aware, and becoming even more aware, that I am in need of a sabbatical.
4 more weeks of Sabbatical
I think this should potentially come in September - extending the end of the Sabbatical rather than the start.
Specific plans for spiritual growth - one or two specific Christian or Bible Book studies.
I’d like to try:
N.T. Wright’s After You Believe. What does it mean to live in the Kingdom of God now? How do Jesus’ teachings transform the way we think, live, and love? Bible Book Study - The Psalms, especially Psalms of lament (Psalm 22, 42, 88) and worship (Psalm 23, 103, 150). I already included The Mind-Body Problem and Metaphysics (here) which is a difficult book - it really is.
Avoiding being too contactable
I am avoiding the idea of a new phone number, but yes: I agree. It is necessary to the process. I would rather keep my phone number and make a new one for DoC but that might be impossible.
A retreat such as Focus on the Family's Kerith Retreats is to be paid out of the Crow budget.
I will do it. Would family camp/retreat be a way we could double-birds this thing?
https://www.rockridgecanyon.com/family-camping/
https://www.contemplativeoutreach.org/
https://www.contemplativeoutreach.org/events/
Sabbatical advisor and close advisors: meeting frequency & accountability
(Monthly Meetings): Meet in person or via video call from now until the end of the sabbatical to reflect on my sabbatical progress, discuss spiritual and personal growth, and ensure I am maintaining a healthy rhythm of rest & growth (study, and renewal).
Sei Wei: Mentor and primary point of accountability; guidance on my study focus, help me navigate challenges, and ensure that I am neither overworking nor neglecting the purpose of the sabbatical.
Liam & David: Spiritual and personal check-ins, ensuring I am truly resting, praying, and growing in my walk with Christ.
Matt: Will focus on practical encouragement, helping me ensure I am keeping to healthy rhythms of rest, study, and recreation.
Kevin & Gabriel: Will help process insights and key takeaways from my reading and study, providing opportunities for discussion and reflection.
Support/Encouragement/Accountability Measures - Weekly Confirmation with Mark K.
I will maintain a simple journal tracking my reflections, learnings, and spiritual renewal, which I will occasionally share with my advisor and close supporters.
I will schedule a mid-sabbatical check-in with my advisor and at least two supporters & Mark to ensure I’m on track with my goals.
At the end of the sabbatical, I will have a debrief session with my advisor and supporters to summarize key insights and ensure a healthy re-entry into regular responsibilities.
A 1 pg recap from the debrief session will be shared with Mark K and the Personnel Committee.
