Pastor Brian’s Preponderant Business - Summer 2025

Photo by Etienne Swanepoel on Unsplash

As I write this I am preparing for my first pastoral sabbatical, a gift that some congregations provide their pastors once every seven years.  The purpose of a sabbatical is to provide an extended period of refreshment and renewal for a pastor.  I am incredibly grateful St. Matthew is providing me this opportunity, and want to express my tremendous gratitude for your generosity and willingness to support me with a three month sabbatical.  

As part of the sabbatical planning process, I developed a proposal which I shared with St. Matthew’s congregation council.  The sabbatical dates of June 10- September 10 were approved at the March 2025 council meeting. And a more in-depth sabbatical proposal was approved at the April 2025 council meeting.

I plan to use this time as a period of refreshment and renewal, as well as take advantage of the time to travel and work on personal projects like a book about my PhD dissertation.  I will also do a number of things intended to improve my leadership and ministry at St. Matthew.  To begin, I have committed to read three books which I believe will positively impact my ministry at St. Matthew: The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism by Carl McColman, The Divine Mileu by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and More Than Merely Eyes Can See by Sue Carey.  I hope these books will enhance both my personal faith journey and my ministry at St. Matthew.  They may lead to Adult Forum topics; and particularly, Sue Carey’s book, will increase our partnership with Grace Lutheran Church in Hartford of which the book is about.

The next idea was suggested by Pastor Carter when I sought his advice on creating a sabbatical proposal.  That is, to choose one of the Gospels and make it my devotion during my sabbatical.  The Gospel of Matthew will be the Gospel we engage with during the lectionary’s Year A when I return, thus I chose to make Matthew my devotional reading during my sabbatical. 

In addition to the above reading material, I plan to attend several conferences both in-person and virtual which will be part of my continuing education.  The first will be the MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies) Conference from June 17-21 in Denver, CO.  I attended the 2023 MAPS Conference and this year I will be presenting on dissertation research.  When I return home after some time traveling, I will attend three virtual workshops on nonprofit management which I hope will enhance my leadership and ministry capabilities as lead pastor at St. Matthew.

I am also excited to share my travel plans with you.  A life goal of mine has been to visit all 50 states.  So far I have visited 41 of the 50 states, and this summer my plan is finish off the continental 48.  I will begin by flying to Seattle, WA and rent a car to drive through Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.  After that first week I will drive to Colorado where I will attend the MAPS Conference mentioned above.  Following the MAPS Conference, I will drive to Nebraska and then Kansas.  I have driven through both of these states before, but it will be nice to spend more time exploring each of them.  After this I will drive to Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia, hitting the final five states needed to complete the continental 48.  I hope to visit a number of museums and educational opportunities in each state before flying home in July. 

After my travels, I would like to spend the rest of the summer writing a book I have been working on about my dissertation topic of spiritually significant psychedelic experiences.  I have an outline and have started writing some of the chapters, but the sabbatical will provide me with time to focus and really engage in the writing process.  I hope to complete a draft of the book by September, and I look forward to sharing a final version with you all when it’s ready!

I would like to repeat my deep gratitude and thankfulness for this sabbatical opportunity.  Serving at St. Matthew has been one of the great privileges of my life and I am so appreciative of you all.  Thank you for being such an important part of my life and thank you for this opportunity to learn and grow, to experience rest and renewal, and to work on some projects.  Please keep me in your prayers as I enter into this time of sabbatical.  I am looking forward to it and hope that it will not only be a blessing for me personally but for the entire congregation.  Thank you to Rev Ryan who will be assuming full-time ministry responsibilities this summer.  I know the congregation is in good hands.  Thank you for your love and support for Rev Ryan as well.  We are blessed to be your pastors!  Thank you for the gift you are to us and the gift you are to the world.  I look forward to seeing you when I return from sabbatical.  Blessings to you all this summer!

Your brother in Christ,

Pastor Brian Rajcok