What is Virtual EMI?

Multiple days of Zoom gatherings may seem like UG (we feel you) but we would invite you to approach this year’s EMI not at a regular week at home but as an invitation to care for yourself in some deep ways. Schedule the week of EMI as Study Leave/ Continuing Education, (get pulpit supply and pastor coverage from a colleague down the road, put an out of office alert on your email, change your voice mail to say you are on study leave) just as you would if we were gathering at Stony Point. Just because we aren’t “going” anywhere doesn’t mean this week should be a regular week of office time and responsibilities on top of EMI.

Consider this week an invitation to learn, to laugh, to Zoom differently, and to keep sabbath and care for your weary souls. Look to this week as a way to be creative, to connect, to be honest, to be in the company of others who are serving and seeking God’s ways. Look at the schedule but also look at the free time. Plan on doing your workshop time outside, or in a cozy corner of your home in your pjs, with your favorite coffee, or in a local park at a table or on a blanket., maybe check into a hotel or Air B&B and create your own retreat space? Take yourself to a body of water for your cohort time. Make a list of ways to care for yourself in the spaces provided. Nap, make some art, take a walk, listen to music, write poetry, work out, watch a movie, or eat life-giving food; all guilt-free without a sermon or a bulletin or congregational member asking for your attention. The idea is to be creative and live outside the boundaries of regular Zoom and this strange in between the time we find ourselves navigating. 

Ask yourself what would feed your soul this week and what needs might be met by taking the week for you as a pastor and as a person? How would your congregation or place of service be cared for by your taking this time?   

EMI is an invitation this year to a different kind of week, different kinds of conversations, different kinds of equipping, and different kinds of compassion extended to you.

Take the time for EMI. Take the time for yourself and see where the Spirit meets you and tends to you.