White Wave Manifesto: Re-entry

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(They were babies once! Christmas 2010)

For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. But in the seventh year the land is to have a year of sabbath rest, a sabbath to the LORD.  Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. (Leviticus 25:3-4)

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon, and learn from me, for I am gentle an lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28030)

We try to be intentional as a family.  We try not to over-schedule or over-commit. We try to keep a Sabbath weekly. We try to speak kindly to one another and be kind to one another. We work on sharing our things and sharing in household chores.  And our life together, with the exception of a few hiccups here and there, is pretty good.  However, my wife and I have noticed that for several years, there is something we call "re-entry."

Re-entry is that period of intensity at the very beginning of Christmas break when all three of our boys get to spend, not just a few hours a week, but entire days together.  Superficial niceness can't cover all the close contact.  And, at first, it is kind of  hard.  They have to re-learn life together.  There are more dishes to do. There is more sharing that is required. There is just more time...more time for fun, but more time for frustration.  But once we get past that moment of re-entry, the atmosphere changes and the boys rediscover just how much they enjoy being together.  It is Christmas magic...for them and for us.

In a similar way, in many of our congregations, life is pretty good.  We try to get together on the Sabbath and speak kindly to one another.  We try to be kind. We work on sharing our things and sharing the chores that come with life together. With the exception of a few hiccups here and there, is pretty good. However, after a few years, it can be...even for all of it's pleasantness...pretty superficial.  

Our churches need an intense time to be together without all the distractions that keep us from running deep with one another. This is where church-wide sabbatical comes in to play. Not for a week, but for a whole year everything that is non-essential is allowed to lay fallow.  There are no more committee meetings. The choir sings familiar music.  There is no mission trip. There is no Easter egg hunt or Trunk-or-Treat, and there aren't five services on Christmas Eve.  We take a deep breath and then hit re-entry. 

After fifty-six years, the little church that my wife and I were serving dared to do just that. We took a break and put programs on hold. We limited church work to the bare essentials.  There was still one meeting a month for essential business, but we tried to keep it short.  There was no Easter requiem or Christmas cantata and we dusted off some old hymns and used resources from the lectionary.  The youth did mission work around town instead of across the country.  The senior ministry went on hiatus.  

It was hard, at first, but once we got past re-entry, the whole atmosphere changed.  We had always felt good about ministry, but we rediscovered that we actually enjoyed being together.  We ran deep with one another and fell in love again with the One who first loved us.  We learned not only that we could rest as a church, but that we should. It was a little bit of Christmas magic.

I have come to the conclusion after nearly fifteen years of professional ministry that the best thing that the church could do for the church and for the world, is stop.  After all, His yoke is easy and his burden is light.

Church Stopping. Less doing. More being.