The following is an email i sent to a few people at church a few weeks ago concerning my second “job” and the need to take a sabbatical.

As some of you may know, I have been assisting with the Audio\Video for the last six years here at Calvary. I enjoy doing it, but there are times that I wish I could just take a week off here and there. However trying to find a replacement has always been difficult. I have also put up with a lot when it came with several different people telling me click sooner, click later, change this word\that word, etc when I was also trying to deal with other technical issues at the exact same time. It got to the point where I came close of going off on them or just simply walking away and let somebody else deal with it on several occasions. However, I worked through it. We tried to get people that would be interested in helping us or people who we thought that was reliable enough to show up every week. That never happened.

If I remember correctly, it was sometime in early summer that I had a conversation with a friend and I was sharing some things, and he said that I have been going to church, but not going to church. When he said that, I pondered that for a few seconds and thought he was 100% correct. For the last six years I have been going to church, but not going to church. I have been going to the building, but I have not been participating in the morning worship. It was then I started to plan my exit strategy and take a leave of absence so I can get back into why we come to church in the first place and that is to worship God and become more like Christ. I came to realization that a break is necessary for me to keep my sanity before one – I snap at something very small and insignificant; two – I had enough and just walk out one Sunday morning (it has crossed my mind several times), and three – I need to get back to going to church.

Over the last few months, I have planned for my exit and there have been a couple of speed bumps, however I have kept my word and stood my ground when others have tried to tell me what needs to be done. I have also realized that those first few weeks of me not assisting with the A\V will be the most difficult. Knowing the person that I am, and how I love technology, it will be very hard for me just to sit in the pew and not think about the person that is taking my place, and how they should have click sooner or later, and all the other things I have done over the last six years that have become second nature for me and that i have perfected. So, with that said, I have told the associate pastor this, and I’m telling you this now, that for those first few weeks, I will not be on the premises of Calvary, which includes Sunday School. I will come back to Calvary, as it is my church, but please understand that it is better for me not to be there at all. My last Sunday will be January 15th. Even when I do come back, it will still be tough, but probably not as tough as those first few weeks. I am planning to take one year off, and hope that when I do come back they will have set up a rotation so I won’t be the sole person who runs the video portion.

Some may think that I am taking a break because of Kate, and I will tell you now, it has nothing to do with her at all. This decision came long before the two of us met and starting dating. Yes, I will probably go to Columbus Road, where she attends, and we will even go to Pittsfield to see the church that both Calvary and Columbus Road has invested a lot into the last couple of years. But this was my decision that should have happened a long time ago!

I am telling you this now so you won’t be caught off guard when I don’t show up at church for a few weeks. I do appreciate your friendship over the years, and hope that you will understand the reason for my decision in this matter. If you have any questions, please let me know!

Sincerely,

Seth Brammer