Community Sabbath (Week Two): Eat More Chicken

(Photo from www.freeimages.com #1563678. Thanks Adriana!)

Then he (Nehemiah) said to them, "Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to him for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord; and do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."  (Nehemiah 8:10)

If you have ever craved a chicken sandwich after church on Sunday, you probably know that you can't satisfy that craving at the local Chick-fil-A.  In fact, in every mall, on every college campus, in every city, on every Sunday, that mouth-watering bit of breaded goodness is unavailable.  

By some estimates, the act of shuttering approximately 2000 stores across the country for the Sabbath costs the giant chicken sandwich chain over 500 million dollars annually.  (The Christian Century, April 26, 2011) But Chick-fil-A founder, Truett Cathy said it was always about more than money: it's "about the way Chick-fil-A people view their spiritual life." (www.truettcathy.com)

"Spiritual life! Well, good for Chick-fil-A," says the cynic in me.  "With revenue of over six billion dollars per year, they can cultivate their 'spiritual life' with little risk!  My company simply doesn't have the kind of cushion that allows us to be holier than thou.  We must keep working.  Furthermore, it would be financially and spiritually devastating for our church to take a Sunday off. Our child's college application will suffer and I will loose my promotion if our family celebrated the Sabbath together." 

Right?

Theologian Rabbi Irving Greenberg, suggests that the real expense might be in ignoring the Sabbath:

Shabbat (the Sabbath) [provides] the necessary leisure to be one’s self and to enter into deeper relationships.

Rest is more than leisure from work, it is a state of inner discovery, tranquility, and unfolding. . . . The Sabbath commandment is not just to stop working, it is actively to achieve menuchah (rest) through self-expression, transformation, and renewal. On this day humans are freed to explore themselves and their relationships until they attain the fullness of being.

[The Shabbat’s] focus remains the enrichment of personal life. In passing over from weekday to Shabbat, the individual enters a different world. The burdens of the world roll off one’s back. In the phrase of the zemirah (Sabbath table song): “Anxiety and sighing flee.” In the absence of business and work pressure, parents suddenly can listen better to children. In the absence of school and extra-curricular pressures, children can hear their parents. Being is itself transformed. The state of inner well-being expands. As the Sabbath eve service text states: “The Lord . . . blesses the seventh day and [thereby] bestows holy serenity on a people satiated with delight.” The ability to reflect is set free. Creative thoughts long forgotten come back to mind. One’s patience with life increases. The individual’s capacity to cope is renewed. (www.publicdiscourse.com, September 18, 2014)

There is a cost to Sabbath keeping, for sure. I believe that if Truett Cathy were alive today, he would agree that 500 million dollars is a lot of money and a lot of good could be done with that additional revenue; more restaurants could be opened. More employees could be hired. More could be given back to the community. However, there is also a reward for stopping that is worth more than money. For Nehemiah it was the 'joy of the Lord." For Rabbi Irving Greenburg, it is 'holy serenity on a people satiated with delight." These are things that money simply cannot buy.

In the end, maybe the question isn't whether or not our corporations, churches, and families can afford to take a Sabbath, but if we can afford to continually ignore it.

Church Stopping. Less doing. More being.