Eight days of sabbatical a week?

Guru Ram Das Gurdwara in Millis this morning.

Eight days in! I'm feeling a little more in sabbatical mode today. Perhaps because I knew that my congregation would have to make a decision about having a service with the snow (they did have one), and I wasn't part of that decision.

I continue to study Punjabi. My Instant Immersion program froze, though, so I'm not sure what to do about that. I listened to my Pimsleur CDs instead.

Thursday evening I went to a service in celebration of the 350th anniversary of the Guru Gobind Singh at the Milford Gurdwara Sahib. This morning, the Miflord Gurdwara was in Millis to worship with the Guru Ram Das Gurdwara folks, so that's where I went. First time there. Lovely grounds.

I've had lots of good quality time with my dog, so that's been nice!

Otherwise, it still feels a little strange, this sabbatical thing. I'm sure I just need more time...

Sabbatical: same as it ever was?

It's seven days in on my sabbatical. Why do I feel as busy as ever? I think this must be what happens to retired people... they always say they're as busy as when they were working. It's truly a strange thing how we fill up our time. Or it fills us up. Or, time just always is. And being retired or on sabbatical doesn't change that. At all.

A colleague of mine told me that one of her main learnings from sabbatical was "wherever you go, there you are." And this seems to be a related phenomenon. Somehow in my mind, my ministry (or "job") fills up my life in so many ways -- my time, my "head space", and more. And it does. Yet I'm learning that when I'm away from that role, not as much changes as one might think.

On the fourth day of sabbatical...

Success! I completed the first part of the Punjabi program through Instant Immersion. Like a kid, I printed out the first certificate and put it on the refrigerator with magnets. Gold star!

I must say that today's Instant Immersion lesson is much harder. Somehow I went from basic vocabulary to long phrases and sentences. So I'm not loving day two. I feel like I missed something.

I finished reading Culture Shock! India by Gitanjali Kolanad. It's a good overview book. Interestingly, I feel like she gives one of the best succinct summaries of early Sikhism I've ever seen. She writes: "Guru Nanak (1469-1539), the founder of Sikhism, after three days of silent meditation, revealed, 'There is no Hindu, there is no Muslim.'

"Sikhism began as a spiritual, monotheistic and ethical faith which called God simply ikk, meaning 'one'. But that message existed already in the philosophy of the Upanishads. What was new was Guru Nanak's concurrent awareness of the diseases of society, and his concern to find an effective cure. Although Guru Nanak may have been influenced by the bhakti saints and Sufi mystics, his message of love, faith, and equality arose out of his own upright nature; he neither denied any religion nor mixed together opposing faiths. Rather, he rejected the division of people by reason of caste or religion and provided a way for his followers to break down those barriers....

"Guru Nanak has been called the first Marxist, for the religion he founded is egalitarian. All men and women had equal status, and all could become priests. All decisions used to be made by the whole congregation in an open forum. Everyone was called Sardar (leader), so everyone was elevated to the same position. Even now, the priests and management of the temple are elected, everyone eats together in the community kitchen, and social and political actions are not separate from spiritual life." (Gitanjali Kolanad, Culture Shock! India, Marshall Cavandish Editions, 2012, pp. 33-35).

This is why I sometimes describe myself (in part) as "Nanakpanthi" (or "Nanak Panthi"), meaning that I aspire to follow the path of Nanak. (It is a term that a non-Sikh can claim without necessarily misappropriating.) I suppose in a similar way it feels more correct to call myself a "Jesus Freak" to suggest that I aspire to follow the teachings of Jesus, rather than to apply the term "Christian" to myself, as "Christian" has come to represent (for many) a particular set of creeds to which I do not subscribe. In each case, I very much admire the founder (Guru Nanak) or central figure (Jesus) even if I am not a Sikh nor a traditional "Christian" in the sense of the Nicene Creed and other "orthodox" theologies.

Sabbatical starts!

Some of the books I'm reading at the start of sabbatical.... Click the photo to see it bigger.

My four month sabbatical began on January 1, 2017. So far (just three days in), I'm just decompressing. I've been playing a lot of music, just as I hoped I would. I've mostly played trumpet, but I've played some guitar, bass, and harmonium too. I'm hoping to throw sitar into the mix soon. (It's all very amateurish, but I'm having fun!)

The other thing is lots of reading. Pictured are some of the books that will start me off.

Oh, and I'm studying Punjabi. I want to study Spanish, too, but Punjabi is the first order of business for January. I'm using "Total Immersion" for Punjabi; it's similar to Rosetta Stone, but Rosetta Stone doesn't offer Punjabi. So there!

So that's the initial report from Sabbatical Land. Stay tuned!