It’s now just a couple of days until I embark on this six-week journey to Europe. And Labor Day weekend also signals the beginning of my labor-less sabbatical until 2023. Actually that isn’t quite true on at least three counts.
First, technically speaking, I’m still working next week. There are four of us from BioLogos to Cambridge, UK to do a live podcast event there, as well as recording a number of other interviews in Oxford and other places. Some of the purposes of my sabbatical trip overlap with some of what I’m doing next week, but for the purposes of accounting for my 15 week sabbatical, it doesn’t count.
Second, not even counting next week, 15 weeks of sabbatical (the longest allowed by BioLogos law) only gets me to the last week of December. We all agreed it would be silly for me to come back that week, so I’m also taking a week of vacation so I don’t need to report again until January 3.
Finally, as I’ve already mentioned, my sabbatical is not just a fancy word for a vacation. I’m still expected to work; it’s just different work than I normally do. And part of the deal is that I’m not expected to be in the office or even in communication with the rest of the staff or external constituents. And that leads me to the subject of today’s reverie.
I have three different active email accounts. One of them is a Yahoo address that is used solely for the purpose of signing up for things that I don’t really want to see emails from. There are thousands of messages in that inbox and I don’t ever bother to sort through them. Then I have a gmail account, which I use for lots of things that are not related to work. And then of course I have my work account.
Everyone says that on a sabbatical like this, I should not do any emailing from my work account, and not even look at it. But I’m not sure if that is entirely feasible. I’ve never had really clear dividing lines between work and life, so those categories bleed into each other. So I’m considering what kind of out-of-office message to activate on my work email that frees me from the responsibility of responding to messages, but also doesn’t quite indicate that I’m not ever going to look at them.
How about this one:
Thank you for your message. It is very important to me, but I’m out of the country for a while. Yes, I know that other countries have internet access now, and yes I’ve made arrangements so my phone will continue to work as normal in those countries, and the emails are right there on it. But truth be told, your message isn’t as important as I led you to believe in the opening lines of this message. I have prioritized other things for the fall and I’m sorry to say that your message has not made the cut. If it’s important to you, please contact me again in 2023.
Perhaps that is an honest out-of-office message, but not very tactful. Here’s another approach:
I am pleased to announce that I am on sabbatical until 2023. When we’re deep in the rut of daily work, it is hard to imagine that organizations can survive without constant monitoring of email. And I kind of hope that there are a couple of crises that arise while I’m gone about which my co-workers say, “I wish Jim had been here to take care of this.” If everything goes too smoothly, they may realize that they don’t really need me. I’d hate to come back to work and find everyone thinks I’m superfluous. So perhaps you could redirect your message to someone else, and inject enough emergency in the tone so they feel like it’s a burning issue that I would normally take care of. Thank you for your help in this.
More matter-of-factly:
I’m on sabbatical [full stop; dancing guy emoji]
I’ll probably land somewhere close to this one:
From now until January, I’m on sabbatical and enjoying a break from the daily email grind. Please don’t expect an answer to your message, unless this is part of an on-going conversation and I told you that it’s OK to keep sending messages here.
Now of course you, the faithful readers of Stump’s Travel Log, can continue to communicate with me through Substack. Leave me a message — public or private — and I’ll see it. If it’s an interesting message, I may respond!
Jim,
I am praying for you as you take a sabbatical. Lord Jesus, bless and guide your servant Jim as he takes time to listen and press on. Work through him as you worked through Esther in the Old Testament. She prayed, she fasted, she worked, she left time for you to work, she asked others to join her in prayer and fasting. You were there in all of this. Work through Jim as you worked through Paul the Apostle. He "put no confidence in human effort….” He knew that he became “righteous through faith in Christ.” He says, "I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us."
I pray for Jim, the Body of Christ, and myself that we might "put no confidence in human effort ... become righteous through faith in Christ... and press on to reach the end of the race." Phil 3. May we accept the "mess" along the way knowing that you are with us in the midst of the storm.
Your brother in Christ,
Keith
I’m in favor of the dancing emoji. 🕺 party on, Jim! Hope you have a great time and have a book we can all ready by the end of it!