Pastoral Vacations
I took my first real vacation last week, real in that it was a paid vacation taken from an almost-full-time job. I did so very aware that many U.S. workers, let alone workers around the world, cannot take vacation time. (Sure, the standard annual vacation benefit in Europe is six weeks but I’m thinking of other “around the world” places.) All that said, I really needed the break and enjoyed every minute of it.
In my experience, many older or retired pastors are all about giving advice to younger ones, so I’ve had my fair share of vacation advice over the years. One pastor told me to take my vacation all at one time, four weeks straight, and to go to a far away place from which it was certain I could not return to conduct a funeral. In fact, it’s pretty common to hear the advice to travel a good distance from home and stay incommunicado.
I suppose this first vacation was pretty successful on most accounts, then. Mainly, I enjoyed reading many books for fun, taking long walks on the beach, and not wearing a winter jacket for a week. I am intrigued now, though, of the idea of a two-week vacation. Time wouldn’t seem as precious over two weeks. Also, I definitely now understand the annoying nature of one’s first day back being a Sunday and having to write a sermon while on vacation. I enjoy sermonizing so it wasn’t a chore, but it did result in a full day of vacation gone.
In the near future, though, I’m going to focus more on making sure I have one day off a week. The 3/4 time nature of my pastoral position means that my part-time position in retail sometimes has me working there every other day I don’t work for the church. A few weeks of working every day gets rather annoying, and it’s just time for 24 hours off. But I guess it’s all a part of the challenge of part-time pastoral ministry. Check back soon for some beach reading suggestions.
image credit to Megan, without whom no vacation is complete
Connect Online
A couple years ago I took the month of July off. This matched up well with my terms of call, a month of vacation to include 4 Sundays. I went to Benedictine retreat house for a good portion of the time, and another portion was out of state on vacation with my family. The retreat house was out in the country and my cell phone didn’t work there. I’m fortunate in that there is a retired Presbyterian chaplain who can fill in as needed for funerals, as he has been in the area for over 30 years.
However, I will probably never do that again. I find that I would much prefer 2 weeks at a time. I think it takes more than a single week to fully unwind. And playing catch up after being gone, no matter how long you are gone, takes a bit out of most of us. One week isn’t long enough to fully relax, and it means four times of coming back to play catch-up. One month is too long in my book, and two weeks is just right. Besides, then you have two periods of vacation to look forward to, instead of just one.
I would definitely encourage a day off. Monday’s are my day off. I stayed in bed past 10:00 am today, got around, went out to eat brunch, decided to browse the web a bit, and here shortly I’ll be playing guitar, as I decided to learn to play it this year. Got some reading I want to do (Soul Feast by Marjorie Thompson), and supper to make tonight for the family. I don’t watch TV, so I consider this a pretty good day to enjoy.
It takes a while to get a consistent day off established. People initially will call – because they don’t realize, or because they are testing to see what you mean by a day off. I generally let folks leave a message on Monday, rather than answer.
Although I am not a pastor, I empathisized with your last part because I substitute teach part time (4 days a week), and work part time (5 days a week, six hours a day) at In-N-Out Burger. I’m just glad that my boss at In-N-Out has me pretty regularly schedule tues-sat so that I have sunday and mondays off. It used to get really hectic when I didn’t have any days off.
Wouldn’t it be lovely if everyone could take a month “off” at some point in their professional lives? Apart from my academic friends and their sabbaticals, I have a few friends who work for companies that offer an extended leave after a set number of years. But, as you noted, that’s the exception rather than the rule. My free advice to you is that if you have the opportunity to do that someday, give it a serious think. But I do not think it is necessary as a yearly routine.
For many years during my youth our minister took the month of July “off” and we went to the Methodist church in the next town over (or just stayed home and watched cartoons). In August their minister took the month off and their members came over to our church (or not). I have a hunch that taking a full month off was a lot easier when most of the pastors were men and many of them were married to women who treated being a Minister’s Wife as a full-time job (which it certainly could be, and an unpaid, often thankless job it was).
I’ve become a big fan of two-week vacations. You have time to unwind, time to enjoy wherever you are, and time to start thinking about what’s waiting for you when you return. I find that a week only gives me time to start unwinding before I start stressing about what’s waiting for me. We don’t take one every year but, when we do, it is always a good thing. (This summer we went to Michigan for two weeks, but we both had our laptops with us and I was working on a brief, so I am not counting both weeks!)
Glad you were able to get away for a vacation. It is always nice to get away and recharge.
FWIW in my “vast” ministry experience (meaning two years) the two-week route seems best. My first summer we took two full weeks and it allowed plenty of time to unwind & visit with family. This past summer we were able to take just over a week right before the local school year started and it felt rushed & not nearly as relaxing.
The day off has also been important . . . though it often ends up as a day of errands and projects rather than a Sabbath day. For me, Friday has worked best as the day off since so often things come up on Sunday that need to be addressed on Monday.
Hope you are able to establish a regular day off and that you have a blessed 2010!