• Who We Are
    • Who We Are
    • Mission
    • History
    • General Synod
    • Leadership and Ministry
    • Staff
    • United Church of Christ Board
  • What We Believe
    • What We Believe
    • Worship Ways
    • Daily Devotional
  • What We Do
    • What We Do
    • Office of the General Minister & President
    • Justice & Local Church Ministries
    • Wider Church Ministries
  • News
  • Church Finder
  • Donate Now
  • Search
UCC Logo United Church of Christ
  • Church Finder
  • Events
  • Contact
  • Store
  • Frontline Faith Portal
  • Donate Now
  • Search
  • Who We Are
    • Column
      • About
        • Mission
        • Constitution and Bylaws
        • History
          • UCC Archives
        • UCC Brand Guidelines
        • General Synod
          • Synod 33 Worship Videos
          • Past General Synods
        • Abuse Prevention
    • Column
      • Structure
        • Conferences
        • Affiliated Ministries
          • The Pension Boards
          • Cornerstone Fund
          • Insurance Board
          • The Council for Health and Human Services Ministries
          • Church Building & Loan Fund
          • Convergence
    • Column
      • Team
        • Elected Officers
        • Staff
        • United Church of Christ Board
          • Board Minutes
        • Office of General Counsel
        • UCCOSSN
    • Column
      • Career Opportunities
      • Annual Reports
  • What We Believe
    • Column
      • Worship
        • Statement of Faith of the United Church of Christ – La Declaración de Fe de la Iglesia Unida de Cristo
        • Worship Ways
        • Daily Devotional
        • Sermon Seeds
  • How We Serve
    • Column
      • Office of the General Minister & President
        • Welcome to Human Resources
          • Employee Relations Resources
        • Center for Analytics, Research & Development and Data (CARDD)
          • General CARDD FAQs
          • About The Center for Analytics, Research & Development, and Data (CARDD)
          • Authorized Minister Opt Out
          • Access UCC
          • Archived Reports
          • Assessment Resources
          • Information Policies and Requests
          • Faith Communities Today (FACT) Survey
          • MissionInsite
          • Statistics and Reports
          • Vital Signs and Statistics Blog
          • Data Hub FAQs
          • Data Hub
          • Yearbook and Directory
    • Column
      • Justice & Local Church Ministries
        • Justice
          • Faithful Action Ministries
            • Environmental Justice Ministries
            • Economic Justice
            • Racial Justice
          • Office of Public Policy & Advocacy in Washington D.C.
            • Justice and Peace Action Network
            • Our Faith Our Vote
            • Justice Training Resources
            • Action Center
          • Health and Wholeness Advocacy
            • Disabilities and Mental Health Justice
            • Encuentros Latinx
            • UCC HIV & AIDS Network-UCAN
            • LGBTQ Ministries
            • Our Whole Lives
            • Overdose and Drug Use Ministries
            • Scouting
            • Wellness Ministries
          • The Pilgrim Press & Stillspeaking Publications
    • Column
      • Justice & Local Church Ministries
        • Local Church
          • The Faith Education, Innovation and Formation (Faith INFO)Team
            • Weekly Seeds
            • Youth & Young Adults
          • Worship Resources
            • Worship Ways
            • Sermon Seeds
            • Synod 33 Worship Videos
            • Music and Liturgical Arts
          • Stewardship & Generosity Resources
          • Ministerial Excellence, Support & Authorization (MESA)
            • History, Polity, and Theology
            • Search and Call
            • Ministerial Profiles
            • Ministry Opportunities
            • Manual on Ministry
    • Column
      • Wider Church Ministries
        • Global Ministries
        • Global H.O.P.E.
          • Volunteer Ministries
          • Refugee and Migration Ministries
          • Disaster Ministries
          • Recovering Hope
        • Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations
  • Resources
  • News
    • Column
      • News
        • United Church of Christ News
    • Column
      • Columns
        • Witness for Justice
        • Into the Mystic
        • Getting to the Root of It
        • The Pollinator: UCC Environmental Justice Blog
        • UCC Roots
        • Encounters at the Well
        • Reflexiones
    • Column
      • Upcoming Events
        • Webinars
      • Subscriptions at the United Church of Christ
      • Changes & Deaths
  • Giving
    • Column
      • Donate Now
      • Ways to Give
        • Giving Tuesday
        • General Synod 2021 Thursday in Black Offering
        • General Synod 2021 Racial Justice Offering
        • Disaster Ministries: How to Give
        • Our Church’s Wider Mission
          • Our Church’s Wider Mission Basic Support
          • Strengthen the Church
          • One Great Hour of Sharing
          • Neighbors in Need
          • Christmas Fund
          • 5 for 5
    • Column
      • Ways We Give
        • Scholarships & Grants

  • Home
  • News
  • Column
  • Into the Mystic
  • To Breathe Differently

To Breathe Differently

by Dorhauer, John | published on Oct 25, 2021

Listen to the podcast

Read the transcript

Its been a long six years that have flown by so quickly.

I often talk about how much I love what I do. I have been given a chance to bear daily witness to commitments of a United Church of Christ centered on love, grounded in faith, and committed to building a just world for all.

I have traveled home and abroad giving voice to the proclamation of a gospel that recognizes in Jesus a pathway to shalom and a call to cultivate the beloved community. I have listened to people all over the world give thanks for that gospel and the way it has changed lives – changed their lives.

I get to live out my call to ministry every day with some of the brightest, most dedicated, creative, enduring, hopeful, persistent, motivated, humble, brilliant, and compassionate leaders. I watch how every day they speak truth to power, accompany the suffering, comfort the afflicted, advocate for impoverished, the oppressed, the marginalized, preach the gospel, care for the sick and dying, face down moral turpitude, encourage the downtrodden, give hope to the desperate, and find joy in the simple gifts. This whole enterprise that is the United Church of Christ is a wonder to behold.

I work long hours, wrestle with weighty matters, make important decisions, bear the burdens of endless travel – all of which is exhausting but none of which in any way diminishes the love I have for this Church and the work I feel so privileged to be called to do.

And now I get to rest.

I have been gifted with a sabbatical – a season of respite and a time away from the daily toils and stresses. I feel so very fortunate. The last time I did this, I was asked by my coach what I experienced. I told her, “I breathe differently.” Two weeks into the sabbatical, I noticed that the stress and tension that tightens the chest, that sharpens the mind, that heightens the senses and that is so ever-present you stop noticing it as anything but the normal way of life had disappeared. I breathed easier without that tension. I slept better and longer. I relaxed easier.

I look forward to those easy breaths.

I need more sleep.

I am grateful to work in a setting that values long-term health and encourages these seasons of renewal.

Our sacred texts speak of the wisdom and the need for sabbath rest. Both the body and the land require that in order to sustain the abundance of blessings they each have to offer.

I do run my engine hard – and that takes a toll.

For a while I will slow down – invest more in my being than my doing. I will get to be husband and dad and grandpa and neighbor and friend and sibling and son for a season during which the long days and short nights that re-orient my priorities are halted.

Gentle listener, I shall return. I will breathe a new spirit into my heart and soul and return to do the work I was called to do, a work I love doing and in which I take great pleasure. Until then, be of good cheer, stay safe, and count all your blessings on this, our journey Into the Mystic.

Categories: Column Into the Mystic

Sign Up For Our Newsletter








Privacy Policy






Related News

Into the Mystic

Kindland

Listen to the...

Read More
Witness for Justice
Witness for Justice

Climate Hope

Earlier this week, a couple of related items in my social media feed serendipitously arrived...

Read More
Justice & Peace Action Network Monthly Newsletter

JPANet February 2023 Newsletter

Each month we ask UCC advocates to help us unpack the complex justice issues that we’re...

Read More
  • Column
    • Local Church and Conference Resource Directory
    • Mission
    • Justice & Local Church Ministries
    • General Synod Resolutions
  • Column
    • Contact
    • News
    • Store

Content on ucc.org is copyrighted by the National Setting of the United Church of Christ and may be only shared according to the guidelines outlined here.

1300 E. 9th Street, Suite 1100
Cleveland, Ohio 44114

  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on Instagram
  • Subscribe on YouTube

Donate Now


UCC Crest
© United Church of Christ 2023. Privacy Policy.
Crafted by Cornershop Creative