The Rev. Dr. Craig Rubano
In my final service, on July 27th, I urged upon us all (particularly upon myself!) the importance of rest. I shared with you that, in late June, at a course on rest at the UU Ministers Association conference, we were told three things that particularly stayed with me: 1. Rest is our birthright, 2. There is nothing we need to do to deserve to rest, 3. Rest is a return to the rhythm of our bodies.
Our bodies are our teachers in rest if we act with enough self-compassion to give our bodies the opportunity to learn, and if we allow our minds to pay attention to the bodies’ knowledge. And, to help us begin that return to our bodies, I shared words by South African poet Sez Kristiansen that resonated deeply with me. I told you that I would place them here, in my “Message from Our Minister, Sabbatical edition,” so that you could come back to them, as I will, over the next months, while I engage my sabbatical.
Find a place within yourself right now to receive these powerful words, to listen to your bodies, and to, in Sez Kristiansen’s words, “Inhabit Your Bones”:
Inhabit Your Bones
Sez Kristiansen
Unpack your bags
and plant your trees;
build a hive to house your bees,
and bed your flowers like slumbering seeds
ready to bloom under the moons and suns.
Wait the long wait, until you doubt what all this waiting is all about,
and until you decide finally to create within all those things you seek without,
because nowhere does there exist a person, a place, a thing,
a gift outside of you that can make you feel that you have roots—
like you are real and can take up space
and can take what you need
without the feelings of shame, the feeling of greed.
Inhabit yourself,
inhabit your bones,
inhabit your heart,
inhabit the home inside of you that does not depend upon walls,
or a door,
or a family name,
or a mat on the floor—
the home that says you belong:
because you always do,
and you did all along.
So, unpack your bags,
and plant your trees in every place you find yourself a stranger,
in every moment you find yourself a guest in your own life,
and you will always find home in the soft loving of your bones.
While I am away, you will be joined by a stunning series of ministers and guest speakers. Please welcome them with the loving embrace you have honed for all visitors to our congregation. Especially in these times of national distemper, having a dozen UU ministers along with lay leaders from all over the state will constitute an energizing opportunity for diversity of worship that only a sabbatical can allow. You will also become a part of our Credentialed Director of Family Ministry and Lifetime Faith Development’s own development in ministerial practice as Michelle McKenzie-Creech offers six special services (plus two joyful services on Christmas Eve) as Part Time Pulpit Minister and Sabbatical Head of Staff. Our Congregational Administrator Maggi Riordan will operate as Sabbatical Coordinator, enabling the exciting Sunday morning programming to flourish, with our Membership Coordinator Lisa Arcoleo’s expert and loving help. And our Music Director Michael Rosin will grow alongside you all into the role he assumed in mid-January. I urge you to get involved in the Music Ministry of this congregation if you aren’t already; this will be an exciting year, culminating in a special All Music Sunday in May. Our staff is extraordinary: my being away will help you develop new ways of appreciating what its members do, and of discovering new ways for yourselves to be of vital sustenance to this congregational body and campus. I urge you to remember that no one will be UUCMC’s minister during my absence, but that, hopefully, everyone will find something new about their own relationship to this beloved place.
These next months, I invite you to pay attention to what feels the same, and to what feels different. I urge you to get curious about the why of things, and I encourage you to try showing up and serving UUCMC in different ways than you have in the past. This sabbatical is our chance to deepen our spiritual paths, our commitment to this place; it invites us on a mission to rediscover that congregational community requires all of us working together, offering our talents and time and treasure to bring UUCMC to beautiful and sustaining life.
I know it will be hard not to be in touch at all during these months, but that’s the only way a sabbatical can properly function. Beginning September 1st, I will disconnect myself from my work email, and I will not open up the system again until February 1st. In the hallway outside the Office, there is a trifold pamphlet that will tell you whom to contact for what, along with details about the sabbatical. Make that your reference document for these next months.
May you inhabit your bones in new ways so that, when we see one another again, we’ll have new wisdom to impart to one another. I will miss you.
Rev. Craig