One of the greatest paradoxes of religious leadership is that in order to bring our best labor and ministries to the

 world, sometimes we must do less. For fields to produce, they must lie fallow in the winter months and periodically, they must take an even longer period of rest – a year or two of lying fallow, or in other words, a sabbatical of sorts. While our professional production rhythms are out of sync with those of the earth, the principle of finding balance between productivity and rest remains essential for offering nourishment in our gifts to the world. Just as an over-farmed field will generate underdeveloped or diseased produce, a burned-out leader risks offering an anemic ministry, or at worst, harming themselves or others from a state of incapacity.

For religious professionals, summertime is often an important period of restoration and soul-nourishment, a time to be with loved ones, a time for adventure, a time to tend to that which we have planted. This past month, my family and I were privileged to travel to one of our UU camps and conference centers, Ferry Beach, where I co-facilitated a Sparks module with the Rev. Erica Baron during RE Week. Our trip was not particularly fancy: we did not stop at tourist destinations nor spend loads of money on expensive meals. In fact, the four of us slept in a 8’x10’ room with two sets of camp bunk beds and no air conditioning in 90-degree weather! But our week at Ferry Beach checked off every box for what my family and I needed from a period of rest.

At Ferry Beach, we experienced collective community: we had time to connect deeply with peers and colleagues over shared learning experiences, to create goofy talent show performances, to attend morning worship in a pine forest. We didn’t have to cook and the ocean was literally footsteps away from our dorm! One of my children early in the week declared our time there a “family vacation win” and each day, both children asked if we could return next year. Our time at Ferry Beach surpassed even the “nicest” of vacations our family had taken in the past because of the way each of us were nourished in that community, the friends made, the deep connections shared. And my spirit – and that of my children – has been restored.

Attending Ferry Beach or one of our other UU camps and conference centers may not be in the cards for you this summer, but I cannot stress enough the importance of finding a space and community that truly nourishes your spirit and spending some good time – significant time – there. Our ministries are tough and require so much of us, especially in this moment, and they will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. To lead in these times takes enormous energy of body, mind, and spirit, and it is essential that we find experiences of immense joy and rest in our lives so we do not burn up and burn out, but can continue living from our place of greatest fulfillment to bear nourishing fruits in the world. I found these in the community of colleagues at Ferry Beach and I pray you, too, can intentionally carve out time to nourish your spirit.

Take the trip, take a day off to spend time with friends, bathe in the forest or ocean, pick up the phone and connect with a colleague. We need one another. We must tend to our souls, nourishing them time and time again so that we can continue to show up as leaders in service to our communities, doing that which we are called to do, bringing about the Beloved Community in our world.