Memorial Day weekend is just around the corner. Therefore, I am planning for the end of this year and then for what I will be doing this summer and fall. When planning for sabbatical, I assumed that I could maintain either one large project or a few smaller ones. Since the last few years of ministry I've given rise to a number of questions for me, I chose the smaller ones. One of these is being fleshed out on this weblog under the heading "Burbania Folk". As I've mentioned before, it consists of a personal exploration into a number of folksongs. The second project in order of priority is simply finding a way to become more religious. This may seem strange to some people but my colleagues will know what I'm talking about. The fact is, it is actually quite difficult at times to live a "faith filled" life (whatever that might mean) when one's job is helping other people lead there's. I love my job. However, when you do something you love for work it sometimes becomes difficult to remember what made you interested in it in the first place. We can all, for example, think of a number of professional athletes who retire early or who demand more money. We also know that when they do this many fans and reporters are incredulous! Those enthusiastic non-athletes would love to have the opportunity to play the game instead of whatever they are doing. We react the same way to musicians who stop touring and politicians who stop running for public office. What we often don't realize is that when what you love to do for fun and fulfillment becomes what you do each day, the relationship changes. Pastoring is a way of life. The longer one does it the more it becomes part of the landscape. Over the years it becomes more difficult to notice the work as being unique, special, and different. It also becomes more difficult to find a method and a means for one's own spiritual development. This is one of the primary reasons for sabbatical in the first place. It is important for clergy to get back in touch with what originally called them to choose the spiritual life. To keep it simple, I have a two-step plan. First, I need to find a church. This of course is not something that I am accustomed to. In fact, finding a church --for a minister on sabbatical--can be a rather difficult task. After all, we have the same challenges that everyone has. There's the family schedule. There are other tasks that need to be done. There are other plans for the weekend. Church attendance requires discipline no matter how frequently or infrequently one plans on attending. I do have some ideas about what I would like to do. I know the kind of church that I enjoy attending. The challenge is to match my desires with reality. Right now I can think of to possible services I could attend regularly. One would require something of a commute into Boston but would be exciting and different. It is been a long time since I have been part of a city church. In seminary in Chicago I attended both First Unitarian and Second Unitarian before getting a job at the UU church in Evanston. Since then I have served rural churches and, of course, the Eliot Church here in the burbs. Each setting is different and has its own strengths. However, it would be nice to sit in the back of an urban sanctuary on Sunday morning once again. My other option is closer to home, more convenient, and yet quite different from where I work. It is also part of a denomination that I do not represent. This would be a good thing as it will force me to think in different ways. I will probably check in on both at various times depending on other plans. Maybe I will even visit somewhere else. What is important, for me, is that it be different from Eliot enough so that I connect to it in a different way while still being close enough to my own theology that I get something out of it. Second, I need to find ways to be religious in the community and at home. My question, quite simply, is how do I live a religious life without the anchor of my job? Many folks like to talk about their walks in the woods as a spiritual experience. Well, I also go for walks in the wood and sometimes it is spiritual. But is it adequate? No. there has to be more than an "opening up". The religious life needs a call and accountability. I may come up with some kind of prayer or ritual eventually. My normal habits, however, tend more in the direction of reading and study. I suspect that over the months of sabbatical I will be posting more book recommendations than prayers. That is just what works for me. That is all for now. I am still flushing out this part of sabbatical. With the changes in church life that have been escalating over the past decade or so, I have found myself curious about what life will be like in the "church of the future". People around the world are trying new and different ways for finding spiritual connection. Sabbatical is my chance to try a few things out as well.
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Hey Folks,
I need your help. I have a sabbatical coming up and am in the process of figuring out what I can do to add value to my ministry. I am looking for places where my own interests intersect with those of the church. I am also looking for projects that will be fun to do. This quest naturally led to folk music. Music in general is one of the things that brings Eliot Church together. We love singing hymns, listening to the "special music" provided by our music director and soloists. We enjoy participating in and hearing the choir. Then, of course, there is the Ukestra which has its own spot on this webpage and provides numerous opportunities to play and sing. What I would like to do for my sabbatical (I have other plans as well) is to learn to play at least 20 folksongs without recourse to written lyrics, chord sheets, or notation. Part of the reason for my wanting to do this simply comes from the social awkwardness of people learning that I play the ukulele/mandolin/guitar, shoving an instrument into my hands, and asking me to play something. It is awkward. The fact is I only know a few songs where I don't need some form of assistance. However, that is not the only reason. I am also on a quest to accumulate songs for the Ukestra and for worship in general. Folk music is a good place to start. There are reasons for this (some of them obvious) and I am sure that I will unpack that more over time. Right now, though, I would like to accumulate a list of songs that you my loyal colleagues, readers, and fellow Eliot members think I should learn. Since "folk" is a word with many meanings, I have some guidelines for us to think about... WHAT I AM LOOKING FOR 1) Actual Folk Songs: As a marketing term, Folk Music can mean a lot of things. Here, however I have a rather restricted vision. Which is to say, I mean actual folksongs. Not semi-acoustic "folky" songs like we hear a Newport. I am not interested in contemporary singer-songwriters from the 1960s to the present. The idea is to find music that is shared (or can be shared) over a broad group of people. In fact, what I am most interested in are songs that we find ourselves singing but are (at first at least) unsure of the author. "Drunken Sailor" or "This Land is Your Land" spring to mind. They are simple and in some sense eternal. I am not interested in fancy guitar work or introspective ballads. I love Frank Turner. I enjoy Jason Isbell. They and their ilk are great artists but I am looking for songs that identify with a people rather than a person. 2) Simplicity: Folksongs are meant to be sung and played by actual folks. This means that they are usually structured in a simple, easy to remember way. Repeated lines, only one or two "parts" (verse and chorus), and simple tunes make it possible for a large group of people to know a song, perform it, and enjoy it. To that end, I am looking for songs with from one to five chords and no "bridges". Any more than three chords is probably showing off. It is worth remembering, in fact, that many folksongs (work songs in particular) didn't have any accompaniment to start. 3) "Traditional" or "Anonymous" : There are many exceptions to this rule, however in general I am interested in traditional songs. Sometimes there won't be an author. Sometimes the tune has been used before or at least echoes other songs. Certainly some actual folksongs do have authors. Woody Guthrie, Elizabeth Cotton, Charlie Poole, and Robert Johnson are among just a few of the songwriters whose work has transcended their own performance and entered into our cultural consciousness. These are all great choices or suggestions. A great many commercial acts in the "Americana" vein will throw a couple covers onto their albums. Some of them are obvious and well-known songs. Some of them are not but could be. This is a good place to look. All of them are fair game for us to learn. 4) Participatory: Finally, I would like to reiterate that the songs be the sort that people enjoy singing together. Yes, sometimes that means a hymn or spiritual. Yet sometimes it could mean a drinking song, patriotic song, or murder ballad. It just needs to have strong lyrics a steady beat and a simple tune. WHAT I WILL DO Once I have a collection of, say, 20 songs that fit the guidelines, I will select 10 that seem interesting and get started. My plan is to research the history of each song, learn to play it, and then record a simple version to place on this webpage. I will throw the chord progressions in there as well. Ultimately, I will either keep these posts under a separate heading in Burbania Posts or create a "Burbania Folk" page. That will depend on volume, I think. If anyone (colleagues, bandmates, and congregants in particular) would like to be on the recordings please let me know that as well. I think the videos will get pretty boring without guest performers. Besides--as I said--I envision this project as being a participatory one! Ukestra members of course may very well see some of the songs again... In a good way. So anyway, what are your thoughts? Are there folksongs that you would like to hear in church? Ones that you would like to learn yourself? Ones that you would like me to learn because you think it would be funny? Let me know! I have some ideas but I am very interested in others. This past week I made the first attempt at explaining my sabbatical plan in the church newsletter. There will of course be more of them as things develop and solidify. I am finding that there is a great deal of explaining that needs to be done for a variety of reasons. One reason is simply that most people don't have jobs that take sabbaticals (which is too bad, more should). Another is that usually among professions where there are sabbaticals, people travel. While the "staybbatical" is becoming more common (this will be my second) it is still less the norm. The concept of "away but not away"naturally requires some processing. Anyway, here's the first go.
The new year has begun! We started off well at church with the baptism and communion for our first service of 2016. Soon we will be having our Annual Meeting and then it will be Lent and Easter. Of course, there is that little problem of winter to get through as well. This will be a busy and fun year at church, and I hope that you are all looking forward to it as much as I am. One thing that will be different this year is that I will be going on sabbatical from mid-summer to late fall. I will return on the first Sunday in Advent. During that time I will be undertaking a variety of projects. When someone serves a church for a long time it is important to adapt to the constantly changing dynamic in the culture of that religious community. This is why ministers and congregations in our tradition take a break for a few months every 5 to 7 years. It enables us to step back and look at the church without having to worry about the day-to-day challenges of serving. Of course, Eliot will continue to do what it does during my brief absence. By the time sabbatical begins, Shane will be all trained up and will have graduated with his Master of Divinity degree. He will take my place in the first few months of the fall. Since we all know him and he knows us we can expect things to move as smoothly as ever. I will be around from time to time in any case. After all, Eliot is also my family's congregation, and we don't expect to be traveling anywhere. For me, sabbatical means thinking about what comes next at Eliot. I have already begun thinking about areas of ministry such as technology, music, and worship. And there are other topics I hope to learn more about. One question I will focus on is, how do we continue to move forward in our community life without tiring everyone out? My goal is to return refreshed and ready for the next chapter. Of course, we have a lot of time before sabbatical begins. However, one thing that I have already begun working on is a new personal webpage and home for my weblog. If you have any interest in seeing how things are developing, feel free to check it out! It can be found at http://www.adamtierneyeliot.net/. So, Happy New Year! I look forward to seeing you in the next few weeks and months in church and elsewhere. |
Adam Tierney-EliotThis is my old weblog of many years. I will probably post here from time to time is there is a subject that does not fit WWG. However WWG is the more active page at this point. Archives
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