– Rev. Adam Benson
A prayer by Walter Brueggemann: “Holy One, in our culture characterized by restless anxiety, we are indeed weary and heavy laden. Teach us about Sabbath rest. Give us a new understanding of how that gift can free us from our commodity-driven existence
and into neighborly relationship. In the name of the One who calls us to take his yoke upon us, in whom we can find rest, Jesus Christ. Amen.” (1) What if I told you there was a way to have more life, more energy, more joy, more delight – for yourself and your churches – and it meant doing less not more? Sounds too
good to be true? Sabbath is something we practice in order to truly understand why it matters or why we need it – for ourselves and our neighbors. Maybe you have heard the phrase, “you can’t love others very well unless you’re loving yourself well.” Over time, I have come to suspect why the words “as yourself” are included in the command to “love your neighbor, as yourself” is that it is impossible to give or offer to others what we don’t possess ourselves. Sabbath is not so much a list of “don’t do’s” (no disrespect to our Puritan brothers and sisters), but it is about pure delight, enjoyment, and simply allowing ourselves the luxury of time to receive and enjoy the simple gifts of creation, conviviality with others, the gift of our very selves, and the gift of time, itself. Hence, my Lenten challenge to you and your congregation: commit to yourself and to one another in your congregations to intentionally practice Sabbath one day per week during Lent,
for the sake our congregation’s life, our lives (our pastor’s life), and (don’t laugh, hear me out!) for the life of the world.
Consider for a moment when Moses and Israel received the ten commandments in Exodus 20:2-17 and not necessarily the context that are in but rather the context they are coming out of. Where had they been? We remember the Israelites were enslaved by
Pharaoh in an Egyptian hierarchical system that valued the Israelites and their bodies for their production value or their ability to make bricks, how many bricks they could make, as fast as they could, and how efficiently they could build and advance Pharaoh’s
pyramid schemes, which were designed to keep the “big deals” on top and the “little deals” (working class and slaves) on the bottom. Considering the context Israel is coming out of, is it any wonder then why, out of all of the ten commandments in Exodus 20:2-
17, that the commandment about the Sabbath gets the most “airtime?” It’s not only the longest command in this passage, and it is interestingly the “bridge” or middle commandment between the commands about loving God (v.2-7) and the commands about loving your neighbor (v.12-17). The Sabbath commandment is literally the “hinge” holding the commandments of loving God and neighbor together. The less we intentionally practice Sabbath, the harder it’s going to be to love God and to love our neighbors, as ourselves.
Coming out of Egypt’s endless brick-production and building system, it isn’t hard to imagine why Israel needed to hear the command of Sabbath and that they mattered, their bodies mattered, and creation is first and foremost a gift to be enjoyed, rather than solely a possession for production and progress. This was a whole different way of thinking and living than they were used to. God offers an alternative way of life to Pharaoh’s hierarchical system of endless production and an alternative way of seeing themselves, their lives, and their value as people, not as slaves of a system but as a people in relationship – with God, with one another, and with creation.
Let’s face it: our free market system in the West that values production and consumption has more in common with Egypt than we would like to admit. Is it any wonder then why we need the Sabbath? Why not make a change this Lent and take a
fast from all that keeps us busy for the sake of being busy, or endlessly productive for the sake of adding one more brick? Why not rediscover this Lent how creation, our lives, and time itself are gifts given by God simply for our enjoyment with God?
Here are (in no particular order) my top 5 “Sabbath During Lent” recommendations:
1) Make a list of all the things you typically do on a Sabbath day, and after you make your list, go through and circle the things that are life-giving. Don’t circle or draw a line through the things on the list that are energy-draining. Then, show this list to a friend or family member. What stood out to you from this list? What
patterns did you notice?
2) Consider doing a book study with a small group in your congregation on Walter Brueggemann’s “Sabbath as Resistance: Saying NO to a Culture of Now,” Norman Wirzba’s “Living the Sabbath: Discovering the Rhythms of Rest and Delight,” or
Joshua Abraham Heschel’s “The Sabbath.”
3) Consider doing a silent or contemplative retreat at a spiritual retreat center, like St. Francis Springs Retreat Center in Stoneville, NC, or at a monastery, like Mepkin Abbey in Moncks Corner, SC, either alone or with a small group.
4) Consider refraining from technology for one day per week, such as not driving your car for a day, not turning on your TV, iPad, tablet, or phone for a day, or not buying anything off of Amazon for a week. Then, consider journaling about how you experienced refraining from these things: how hard was it? What did you notice about yourself? What were the challenges and the gifts in refraining from these things?
5) Lastly, I wonder if you are like me and being in creation is one of the ways you experience and encounter God. Consider going outside to enjoy creation for 15 minutes each day during Lent. Maybe on your Sabbath day, consider going outside to simply enjoy creation for a mere 30 minutes.
Just imagine with me for a moment if not only Israel kept Sabbath, or if Christians kept Sabbath… imagine if the whole world refrained from work or endless production and consumption for one day per week. Imagine what kind of healing could happen in the world if factories, plants, warehouses, cars, airplanes, companies, and pastors ceased from work just for one day per week. What if Sabbath wasn’t just for us but was for the whole world? I said not to laugh.
1 Brueggemann, Walter, “Sabbath as Resistance: Saying NO to a Culture of Now,” p. 92.