Episode 112: Sabbath-Keeping for Congregations with Kara Root
09/12/22 • 78 min
So the church where I serve is starting an experiment. For the next year, we will be taking sabbath. We won’t be doing some the regular things we used to do and we are focusing on our spiritual walk and then on walk together as a congregation and finally in the spring we focus on the world outside the church. The point of this is to stop, slow down and think about who we are as a congregation moving forward.
Today, I chat with Kara Root, the pastor of Lake Nokomis Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis. She’s been pastor of the congregation for nearly 15 years. We talk about how a year into her call the church did something different. They decided to not worship every Sunday and take a sabbath on the Sundays they didn’t meet for worship. The story is a bit more complicated than that, but it’s a story about how a congregation redefined and renewed itself not through a new program, or a new mission, but by taking time off and not doing things. I had a great time talking with Kara about this concept of sabbath and I hope it will be as exciting for you as well.
Besides being the pastor of Lake Nokomis she is also a certified Spiritual Director and Christian Educator in the Presbyterian Church (USA). She’s written for Christianity Today, Christian Century, Working Preacher and many other publications. She is also the author of The Deepest Belonging: A Story of Discovering How God Meets Us and blogs at In the Here and Now.
Root Creative: Kara's webs ite that she shares with her husband theologian Andy Root.
Get full access to Church and Main at churchandmain.substack.com/subscribe
So the church where I serve is starting an experiment. For the next year, we will be taking sabbath. We won’t be doing some the regular things we used to do and we are focusing on our spiritual walk and then on walk together as a congregation and finally in the spring we focus on the world outside the church. The point of this is to stop, slow down and think about who we are as a congregation moving forward.
Today, I chat with Kara Root, the pastor of Lake Nokomis Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis. She’s been pastor of the congregation for nearly 15 years. We talk about how a year into her call the church did something different. They decided to not worship every Sunday and take a sabbath on the Sundays they didn’t meet for worship. The story is a bit more complicated than that, but it’s a story about how a congregation redefined and renewed itself not through a new program, or a new mission, but by taking time off and not doing things. I had a great time talking with Kara about this concept of sabbath and I hope it will be as exciting for you as well.
Besides being the pastor of Lake Nokomis she is also a certified Spiritual Director and Christian Educator in the Presbyterian Church (USA). She’s written for Christianity Today, Christian Century, Working Preacher and many other publications. She is also the author of The Deepest Belonging: A Story of Discovering How God Meets Us and blogs at In the Here and Now.
Root Creative: Kara's webs ite that she shares with her husband theologian Andy Root.
Get full access to Church and Main at churchandmain.substack.com/subscribe
Previous Episode
Episode 111: Part Time Clergy Is Plenty with Jeffrey MacDonald
Mainline Protestant churches and denominational bodies don’t know how to handle part-time clergy. The standard has been clergy working full time. But has that always been the standard? (The short answer is no.) What happens when churches can’t afford a full-time clergy? Does that mean the church is no longer viable? Mainline denominations assume that all calls to ministry should be full time and if a pastor is working part-time, this is because the congregation is on the downward slope towards closure.
The thing is, the reality is far different and these denominations aren’t ready for the change. Today, I talk to G. Jeffrey MacDonald the author of Part Time is Plenty: Thriving Without Full-Time Clergy. Jeff is an ordained United Church of Christ minister and a freelance journalist whose writing credits include the Christian Science Monitor, USA Today, Religion News Service and others. He’s an interim minister of a UCC congregation and lives in New England.
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Next Episode
Episode 113: The Rise of Deacons with Nina Joygaard
In Methodist, Episcopal and Lutheran traditions the deacon is a specific ministry in the church. Their ministry is different than pastors, focused more on acts of service whereas pastors are focused more on preaching and the sacraments. The word deacon comes from the Greek word diakonos which means “service.” This understanding of the role of a deacon which adheres more to the original understanding found in the book of Acts and in the early church is not always easily understood by people in the pew who might wonder when deacons are going to be pastors. I talk to Deacon Nina Joygaard about the importance of deacons in the local church, what led her to her call as a deacon, the struggles deacons face and the future of the diaconate in the church. Nina the Deacon for Adult Ministry at Faith Lutheran Church in Forest Lake, MN.
Show Notes:
DOTAC -(Diakonia of the Americas & Caribbean) https://dotac.diakonia-world.org/
Deaconess Community of the ELCA - https://deaconesscommunity.org/
Lutheran Diaconal Association - https://thelda.org/
Diakonia World Federation - https://diakonia-world.org/
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