Rev. Eric Anderson Pastor's Corner

Pastor’s Corner: Sacred Rest

May 14, 2025

Thank you, everyone, for the time to take a sabbatical this year. I needed it more than I thought I did – and I thought I needed it pretty badly! I return to the office and the pulpit with a lot more energy than I had in January, and with a good deal more joy in the ministry and in the work. Mahalo nui loa!

I will schedule a time for a presentation fairly soon. One of my sabbatical activities, one I had not planned but which became deeply refreshing, was photography. I credit Pelehonuamea with providing ample opportunity for dramatic pictures and for offering the blessings of one of earth’s thin places. During these three months I marked over 1,000 pictures as worth sharing. I promise that I’ll make the slide show shorter. Much shorter.

I found it more difficult than I’d anticipated to prepare a publishable manuscript of stories (Jonathan Roach warned me about this). It took me some time to read them and to make decisions. In the coming months I’ll work on editing the texts for a printed format.

I also didn’t get to all the Hawaiian Islands. As I tried to plan the last trip to Maui and Moloka’i, I ran into a medical appointment which had been scheduled months ahead and would be difficult to delay. Instead, I plan to visit those islands during my vacation between Christmas and New Year’s Day.

Sabbath rest is one of the commandments, one of the “Big Ten,” if you will. It applied not only to people, but to also to domestic animals in their care. The ancient law of Israel even gave rest to the land every seven years. Rest is a sacred thing.

Thank you again for help me connect with sacred rest.

In peace,

Pastor Eric

PS: I hope you enjoy the video below which covers my sabbatical time (and a little beyond).

Video: Sabbatical 2025

Rev. Eric Anderson What I'm Thinking

What I’m Thinking: Sabbatical

In February I begin a three month sabbatical, and I’m thinking about my plans for that time.

Here’s a transcript:

I’m thinking not about a Scripture text for this coming Sunday, but about the next three months. In February, March, and April of this year, I will be on sabbatical: refreshing myself, learning new things, and working on some projects before I step back into the pulpit and take up the responsibilities once more of being pastor of Church of the Holy Cross.

There are two items on my “To-Do” list for this sabbatical. One is simply to visit the other islands of Hawai’i. In eight years of service here — nearly nine, actually — at Church of the Holy Cross, I’ve spent the vast majority of my time (appropriately) on Hawaii island. I’ve only been, I think, to Maui three times, and I’ve probably spent less than twenty days total on O’ahu. I haven’t been to Kauai or Moloka’i or Lana’i at all. So it’s time fix that, to learn a little bit more about my neighbors here in the Hawaiian Island chain, and also to encounter some of the special beauties, the unique features, of each of these islands.

My first trip, ironically enough, is scheduled for O’ahu — there are reasons for that — but I am planning to get to Kauai in the beginning of March.

The second project, and the one that will I think take up the bulk of the time, is to look over the stories that I’ve been telling in worship for the last few years, and to make a collection of some of them and prepare them to be published. That’s going to mean reworking them in some cases for a printed format. It will also, I hope, mean towards the end of the time that I’ll begin working with identifying a publisher and persuading a publisher that this is a good idea, and see what we can do about getting that part of the process going.

I really don’t have much idea of how long all this will take. I’m told that even with a head start I have with, frankly, the bulk of the material already written, that it will still take longer than the three months that I’ve given it to get this process rolling. But that is the idea, and with any luck at some point I’ll be able to tell you during one of these What I’m Thinking episodes that there is a book out there with a collection of stories available for you to read.

This does mean that What I’m Thinking will also take a sabbatical, because during this time I will not be doing this regular production. So look for me once more in May as I take a look at the Scripture that I’ll be preaching on that first Sunday in May, and letting you know what I’m thinking.

Well, that is what I’m thinking and I am curious to hear what you’re thinking. Leave me your thoughts in the comment section below. I’d love to hear from you.

Rev. Eric Anderson Pastor's Corner

Pastor’s Corner: Telling Stories

January 22, 2025

In the last Pastor’s Corner, I wrote about one of my two sabbatical projects. This column is about the other one.

Before I start with that, though, this reminder: I will be coming back. My sabbatical runs from February 1, 2025, to April 30, 2025. We have a wonderful minister coming to serve as interim pastor. The Rev. Dr. Diane Weible served as Associate Conference Minister of the Hawai’i Conference and provided care and support to churches here on Hawai’i Island. After leaving Hawai’i, she served as Conference Minister in the Northern California Nevada Conference UCC, and now provides consulting services. Please be ready to welcome her on February 2nd!

My second sabbatical project will probably occupy most of my time over the next three months. You are familiar with my custom of telling stories for worship based on the creatures of Hawai’i (including people now and then). I will go through those stories, make selections, and prepare them for publication. I expect that some of them will need to be re-written, at least in part. I’ve composed them to be told in the worship setting, and they will need some revision for the printed page.

Somewhere through that time I will inquire with different publishers to see who is interested, and to get that process started. From what I understand, that takes quite a while.

I’m afraid I won’t have a finished book to show when I’m back in May, but I hope it will be on its way. I’m quite sure I’ll have photos to share and stories to tell, and I know there will be work for us to do together as the people of God.

Blessings to you all!

In peace,

Pastor Eric

Photo of Eric Anderson collecting stories on New Year’s Eve 2024 by… Eric Anderson.

Rev. Eric Anderson Pastor's Corner

Pastor’s Corner: Sabbatical is Approaching

January 8, 2025

Hau’oli Makahiki Hou! Happy New Year!

It’s been a while since I’ve written about my upcoming sabbatical, and since it begins on February first, I guess I’d better write about it now!

The first thing to tell you is this: I will be coming back. My sabbatical runs from February 1, 2025, to April 30, 2025.

A sabbatical is a time for a pastor to step away from the regular rhythms of church life and leadership in order to find refreshment in learning new things, engaging in different activities, and taking time for the spirit. Some ministers travel, some take advantage of available classes, some go on retreat, and some take on projects that day-to-day pastoring leaves little time for.

My sabbatical has two primary projects. In this Pastor’s Corner, I’ll write about the first. I intend to visit each of the islands of Hawai’i.

Partially because of the pandemic, I’ve only visited O’ahu and Maui since moving here in 2016. Those islands have their own blessings and their own characters, and I’m eager not just to learn more about them, but also to learn something about Kauai, Moloka’i, and Lana’i. I hope to understand the people of the islands better after spending time in different places.

I also plan to seek refreshment there. As many of you have deduced, my soul rejoices in the beauties of nature, and in echoing a bit of their richness in photography. I’ll have my camera along, and I’ll bring home images to share.

The bulk of the sabbatical, however, I expect to spend here in Hilo, and I’ll write about the reason for that in the next Pastor’s Corner.

Blessings to you all!

In peace,

Pastor Eric

Photo by Eric Anderson.

Rev. Eric Anderson Pastor's Corner

Pastor’s Corner: Sabbath and Sabbatical

June 5, 2024

Last Sunday I preached about sabbath, but I’m not quite done yet.

Sabbath, my friends, is one of God’s great gifts to us. It’s one that people disregard too much. The ethic of work’s value in the United States is pervasive and compelling. We get praised for hard work – though I note that the hardest working people in the world don’t get much pay with the praise.

We pay the price in working tired, in bringing work concerns home to burden family, in loss of nurturing time with family and friends. We learn new skills at work, it’s true. We learn other skills in the midst of loved ones, skills we don’t learn on the sales floor or in the office. All work, no play makes Jack not a dull boy, but a man unpracticed in love. All work, no play makes Jill not a dull girl, but a woman untrained in empathy.

Sabbath time fosters physical rest, social nourishment, and the refreshment of prayer.

This seems like a good time to announce that I will be taking a three-month sabbatical from February 1, 2025, to April 30, 2025. The Church Council has approved the time and the project, and the Board of Deacons is seeking a minister to provide pastoral care while I’m gone. In accordance with my call agreement, I am committed to serve you the next three years following the sabbatical.

I’ll say more in the coming months about the plans I’ve made for the time. At this moment, I simply want to say mahalo. Mahalo for planning for pastoral renewal. Mahalo for the integrity of our lay leaders. Mahalo for your care for me.

I hope and pray that you find your times of sabbath, too.

In peace,

Pastor Eric