Lilly Sabbatical Grant
Outside our bungalow at the Indigo Yoga Resort!
The Lilly Endowment believes that sabbaticals for clergy members are vital to the health of minister and congregation. They have also put their substantial money where their mouth is and offer Clergy Renewal Grants to ministers across the country, up to $50,000 per person. Given that they have a special pot of money set aside for Indiana clergy, it seemed only reasonable back in the spring of 2018 to apply. The application process, as you might imagine with $50,000 potentially on the table, was no joke. There are many questions and essays the minister, as main applicant, has to write, as well as sections for the congregation. A "Grant Application Task Force" thus came together to work with me, both to write the congregation's part, as well as to support me in creating the entire portfolio.
The question we were asked over and over at Lilly's grant application orientation session was, "what makes your heart sing?" Lilly is happy to fund a wide range of activities, and they want you to have whomever you deem important with you on the journey. So they'll fund lost wages for your spouse so they can accompany you, childcare for your kids, pet care for while you are gone, and more. I knew first and foremost that whatever I and we did, I wanted it to involve water, as water is a source of spiritual sustenance and renewal for me. While the specific plans for events and experiences went through many iterations, spiritual renewal tied to water is where I ended up. My opening paragraphs for the grant:
"In the summer of 2010 I was riding a ferry across a swath of the Atlantic Ocean when something entirely unexpected occurred. As I stood alone by the railing looking out over the water, smelling the brine of the sea, hearing the waves lap against the side of the boat—I felt a joyful connection growing within, reaching out into the ocean and world around me. All my fear, anxiety, and stress—even conscious thought—it all fell away. I was unaware that I lost my sense of self for a time until someone walked behind me and brushed my shoulder. That momentary human contact resulted in my observing, perceived as if from afar, that I had raised my arms and hands up into the universal position of receiving. I remained in the moment, hands raised, connected with the love and goodness in myself, in everything, in the holy, until the ferry reached shore. Proximity to water has long been a source of spiritual connection and renewal for me; my experience of transcendent connection on the ferry was a gift and a blessing for which I am profoundly grateful.
Baptisms, sacred rivers, healing rains: water has long been valued in religion for purifying, cleansing, and anointing. My experience on that ferry represents my hope for this grant program: that minister and congregation, anointed with the healing powers of water, can engage in practices that invite us back into our best selves and renew our sense of holy connection. Much as immersion in a hot spring gently soothes, renews, and restores the body, our collective spirits as church and minister are in need of gentle renewal and restoration."
Ensuing pages spelled out experiences and trips I planned to engage in, with the centerpiece being a six-week trip to Costa Rica where I would participate in a Yoga Teacher Training on the water to deepen my yoga practice. The proposal included funding for my family, along with a nanny, to join me for five of those weeks, and many water activities for us while we were there. With the support of the Task Force, I put together a proposal and sent it off in April of 2019. The letter notifying me that I had received the grant came in August! We soon began booking the trip, and before we knew it, we were there.
The first three weeks the kids went to a local outdoor preschool half time while I was trained as a yoga teacher and my spouse, Elka, relaxed pool side and explored on their own. Once the yoga training was over and I was a certified teacher, we embarked on many fun experiences together. We went horseback riding as a family, took ATV trips exploring the peninsula, ate lots of good food, and of course went to the beach! Sticking with the theme of renewal and restoration through water, we swam, snorkeled, surfed, stand-up-paddle boarded (SUP), jet skied, went down water slides, relaxed in hot springs, body boarded, and white water river rafted. We spent the last week together in a condo in San José, taking day trips and exploring the city. Then family and nanny headed home, while I stayed one more week at a yoga resort, where I was trained and certified as a scuba diver. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for all us!
The question we were asked over and over at Lilly's grant application orientation session was, "what makes your heart sing?" Lilly is happy to fund a wide range of activities, and they want you to have whomever you deem important with you on the journey. So they'll fund lost wages for your spouse so they can accompany you, childcare for your kids, pet care for while you are gone, and more. I knew first and foremost that whatever I and we did, I wanted it to involve water, as water is a source of spiritual sustenance and renewal for me. While the specific plans for events and experiences went through many iterations, spiritual renewal tied to water is where I ended up. My opening paragraphs for the grant:
"In the summer of 2010 I was riding a ferry across a swath of the Atlantic Ocean when something entirely unexpected occurred. As I stood alone by the railing looking out over the water, smelling the brine of the sea, hearing the waves lap against the side of the boat—I felt a joyful connection growing within, reaching out into the ocean and world around me. All my fear, anxiety, and stress—even conscious thought—it all fell away. I was unaware that I lost my sense of self for a time until someone walked behind me and brushed my shoulder. That momentary human contact resulted in my observing, perceived as if from afar, that I had raised my arms and hands up into the universal position of receiving. I remained in the moment, hands raised, connected with the love and goodness in myself, in everything, in the holy, until the ferry reached shore. Proximity to water has long been a source of spiritual connection and renewal for me; my experience of transcendent connection on the ferry was a gift and a blessing for which I am profoundly grateful.
Baptisms, sacred rivers, healing rains: water has long been valued in religion for purifying, cleansing, and anointing. My experience on that ferry represents my hope for this grant program: that minister and congregation, anointed with the healing powers of water, can engage in practices that invite us back into our best selves and renew our sense of holy connection. Much as immersion in a hot spring gently soothes, renews, and restores the body, our collective spirits as church and minister are in need of gentle renewal and restoration."
Ensuing pages spelled out experiences and trips I planned to engage in, with the centerpiece being a six-week trip to Costa Rica where I would participate in a Yoga Teacher Training on the water to deepen my yoga practice. The proposal included funding for my family, along with a nanny, to join me for five of those weeks, and many water activities for us while we were there. With the support of the Task Force, I put together a proposal and sent it off in April of 2019. The letter notifying me that I had received the grant came in August! We soon began booking the trip, and before we knew it, we were there.
The first three weeks the kids went to a local outdoor preschool half time while I was trained as a yoga teacher and my spouse, Elka, relaxed pool side and explored on their own. Once the yoga training was over and I was a certified teacher, we embarked on many fun experiences together. We went horseback riding as a family, took ATV trips exploring the peninsula, ate lots of good food, and of course went to the beach! Sticking with the theme of renewal and restoration through water, we swam, snorkeled, surfed, stand-up-paddle boarded (SUP), jet skied, went down water slides, relaxed in hot springs, body boarded, and white water river rafted. We spent the last week together in a condo in San José, taking day trips and exploring the city. Then family and nanny headed home, while I stayed one more week at a yoga resort, where I was trained and certified as a scuba diver. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for all us!
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