2024 Kleinfeld Sabbatical Report

Dear Stillmeadow Family,

This is a letter brimming with gratitude. I’m spilling over with gratefulness for you, for my family, for the opportunity we had over Sabbatical, and ultimately for God’s grace that ties all of this together. This summer was one of the highlights of my 43 years of life and 21 years of marriage and ministry. Thank you for being a part of it.

Here is a snapshot of the Sabbatical experience. As I look at the Sabbatical, it can be divided into five phases. There are hundreds of photos and lots of quotes I’d like to share with you, but I’m going to focus this “Thank you” to one photo and one book reference per phase. (I promise, I’ll share more photos and quotes as we move into the next season).

Phase 1: Richmond Hill Retreat

The week after the Sabbatical Send Off, I ventured down to Richmond Hill, a familiar retreat spot in Richmond, Virginia, a place I have gone on numerous occasions throughout my ministry and where God has encouraged and spoken to me. I began the summer with the impression that I needed to pray for “Communion” and “Clarity.” Following my session with the spiritual director, I added “Childlike Faith” to my prayers. I sensed that God was calling me to focus on my identity not as a husband, father or pastor, but as God’s child. And wouldn’t you know it, right in the middle of Richmond Hill’s garden is a captivating sculpture of Jesus and His mother. As I stood before that statue, my prayers came together: Communion with God as His Child was the Clarity He has for me.

I picked up Eugene Peterson’s “Under The Unpredictable Plant” to read while I was in Richmond. The book uses the story of Jonah to explore what it means to be holy and be a pastor (two ideas that unfortunately do not always come together). And boy did that book pack a punch. On page 113 he said, “The very nature of pastoral ministry leads to the temptation of pride–we forget our need for a Savior and try to act for the Savior.” In this quote, God was reinforcing the call to childlike faith, the invitation to recognize and live with my deep need for God.

Phase 2: European Travels

After the time at Richmond Hill, our family took off for Europe. We visited Croatia, Italy (Orvieto is pictured above), France and England…soaking up the sights, taking in the cultures, enjoying the beauty of God’s world and the gift of each other. It was a “Kleinfeld Chrysalis” time, when we could grow together as we experienced the wonder of different foods and art and architecture. We had the opportunity to worship with Croatian believers in St. Anthony’s Chapel in Hvar, and with French believers at Hillsong Marseille, and with English (and tourist) believers at Westminster Abbey in London. 

History is so different in Europe. In Croatia, Italy, France and England we were in towns that had existed before Jesus was born. It was quite impressive to consider God’s grace through the generations, His faithfulness through the church through the rise and fall of empires. While the borders of those states have changed and the rulers have come and gone, His kingdom has no borders and His leadership has come and will remain forever.

While traveling across the countries, I finished “Invitation to a Journey” by Robert Mulholland. In that book, he unpacks this idea: “Spiritual formation is a process of being formed in the image of Christ for the sake of others.” He explains it as “a journey of learning to yield ourselves to God and discovering where God will take us.” This was quite fitting for us as we journeyed westward through Europe. And wouldn’t you know it, God used this book to bring my heart’s attention to childlike dependence on Him. In chapter 8, Mulholland suggests focusing on Psalm 131 which says “But I have calmed and quieted myself, / I am like a weaned child with its mother; / like a weaned child I am content.” As these verses became a part of my morning prayers, I found myself uttering them even as I gazed at the wonders that were before us in Europe. Yes, in God’s presence, we have nothing to prove and everything we need.

Phase 3: Stateside Adventures

After our time in Europe we had five weeks until Cadence, Eden and Jayne returned to school. Those weeks involved a “staycation” in York, a vacation at the Outer Banks (see Simba running above!), summer camp for the girls and my annual “guys weekend” with college friends. We were able to work around the house we moved to in December, connect with extended family, and experience God’s renewing grace through summer camp and the “guys weekend.”

During this phase, I got theologically nerdy and finished Faith and History, which is Part 1 of The Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, which is Volume 1 of Christian Theology, the most recent systematic theology from the Church of the Nazarene. It is a personal joy to read the author, Dr Thomas Noble, since I had him at Nazarene Theological Seminary and can almost hear his Scottish brogue as I read his words. Near the end of the work he summarizes his emphasis on faith and history by saying: “The resurrection of Jesus, specifically the empty tomb and the risen Lord revealing himself to the apostles, challenges us to consider…that the Creator God…has in fact been at work with a redemptive purpose throughout the long centuries of human evil, and has acted in the history of Israel and definitively in the resurrection of Jesus. Jesus is therefore to be recognized as God Incarnate, the Messiah in whom the hidden God is revealed and vindicated.” (243). Our faith is based not on an idea, a theory or a feeling, but on the fact of an actual Person in human history, whose resurrection reveals God’s loving purpose and started the history changing movement of the church that lives out His love.

Phase 4: School Beginnings

Speaking of human history, the second to last phase of my Sabbatical involved sending our daughters off to school. It’s a big year for our family: All three are in high school! Cadence is in her senior year, Eden her junior year, and Jayne her freshman year. Aubrey and I couldn’t be more proud of each of them as we walk with them through this important season.

During that week, I finished How To Inhabit Time by James KA Smith. I will be relishing the insights of this book for quite some time. He says, “We need to remember that at the heart of Christianity is not a teaching or a message or even a doctrine but an event. God‘s self revelation unfolds in time, and redemption is accomplished by what happens” (13). This both connected with what Noble was talking about and helped me see this current moment as sacred and filled with God’s presence. During the Sabbatical season we paid attention to God’s presence in our rest, and as we enter the high school season as a family and as we enter the next season as a church, I firmly believe that God will continue to reveal Himself to and through us if we will be faithful to pay attention to Him.

Phase 5: Reintegration

What a wonder it was to come back and hear stories of God’s faithfulness through the summer. Before the Welcome Bash, I spent the week meeting with the core pastoral staff and office staff members. They each shared examples of God speaking to them and ways they had seen God’s activity among our people at Stillmeadow over the summer season. Then hearing the stories and seeing the cardboard testimonies at the Welcome Bash filled my heart with thankfulness. And although I am leaving Simba lonely at home during the day, I am grateful to be joining back in active ministry with the team at Stillmeadow.

One final book that is overlapping from Sabbatical time into reintegration time is Sacred Fire by Ronald Rolheiser. He organizes spiritual growth into three phases: 1) Getting your life together, 2) Giving your life away, and 3) Giving your death away. Once again childlike faith was emphasized to me as he urged his readers to pray like a child and hide nothing from God (175). But what is really sticking with me is how he says that gratitude is synonymous with love and holiness because the child of God who gratefully receives salvation through Christ cannot help but love God and others and live a holy life like Jesus (244). And gratitude is what I feel as I return to serve with Stillmeadow. Gratitude for the gift of each and every one of you, and all of you together. 

Thank you, thank you, thank you

I am especially grateful to the board and staff and special speakers who guided the church in my absence. I did get to watch all of the messages from the Stillmeadow Lane Campus and loved the journey through the Nazarene Articles of Faith and thought that our preachers (from Stillmeadow and beyond) did an incredible job proclaiming the good news. And I am grateful to each one of you who sent encouragement, gave financially and supported us in prayer. This Sabbatical season is one that will have a joyful and gospel impact for the season ahead.

The next season

In this next season, I want to serve the One who gave us new life in Him and gave us new family with each other. I want York County to know about the God who gives rest and restoration. I want to see each generation experience the joy of being cherished by God and by His people. We each have friends and families and enemies who need to experience the effects of that cosmos-changing event: Easter Sunday! So, I am glad to be back and to proclaim Jesus, pray relentlessly, cultivate growth, embrace unity, equip servants and love sacrificially with you!

Gratefully Yours in Christ,

Pastor Josh