Back to Work

(Sabbath work.)

You may ask, "What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant or harvest our crops?"

I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years. (Leviticus 25:20-21)

Whosoever loses their life for my sake will find it.

(Matthew 16:25)

It is sometimes difficult to come back to work after Sabbath.  It's even more difficult to come back after a day off.  After a vacation, Monday seems like cruel and unusual punishment.

You might think that I would be ready and roaring to go, refreshed and rejuvenated and full of zeal for the task at hand.  After all, I have probably slept in.  On the other hand, I have also probably stayed up late.  I probably caught up with some things that needed to be done.  The truth be known, I probably have tried to pack more in to that one day, or two, or five than I normally would in a regular day that involves a regular work day. I confess that I often exchange one form of work for another.  In fact, I often need a vacation after my vacation.

We do the same thing in church. We spend four weeks getting ready for Christmas.  And there are special programs. Their is special music.  There are special decorations. All of this happens in addition to the normal, everyday running of the church.  But we hold on and make that final big push to the end and it is glorious! It all comes together on one Silent Night. In fact, it is so glorious that we sometimes have two, or three, or four (!) services on Christmas Eve because we just can't get enough harking.  And just when we thought we could take a breath, we add twelve days of Christmas and slog our way to Epiphany. We celebrate that the light has come but we don't feel very light on our feet.

Just as there is some wisdom in getting out of the house and away from the work and routine of a normal day, there is probably some wisdom in the church getting away from the work and routine of a normal week.  We try to cut back on the non-essentials, but what is non-essential is dependent on who you ask.  Perhaps it is easier to shutter the whole thing for a week, or even two.  "Let the fields lay fallow," we are told. "You'll reap triple the sixth year to make up the difference."  (my paraphrase)

Now, I don't know of any church that has taken a year off; completely shuttered the doors for a cycle around the sun; no ministries; no sermons; no VBS for one whole year.  I like the idea and wonder what would happen if we dared, it just hasn't caught on.  However, I do know of a church in rural Kansas that shut down for the entire month of August prior to installing air conditioning in the sanctuary. It was just too hot.  They got along just fine for decades. Of course, now they have air conditioning and must have services in the summer to pay the utility bill.  And then there was a church in New York City that shut its doors for three weeks every summer.  It was a brave thing to do. Radical. And life-giving. When they reconvened, they shared together what they had learned and where they had worshipped. And they were growing, just not fast enough to keep up with an old building and the cost of upkeep. Eventually, they closed their doors for good.

False Sabbath, in our personal lives and in our churches, merely exchanges one type of work for another. It replaces boredom with exhaustion.  True Sabbath, in our personal lives and in our churches, involves the death of an old way of life but the promise of new one.  There is a false way of living where nothing changes and a true way of life where nothing stays the same.  It is much easier to cling to the status quo, but this year may we all have the courage to embrace what is true.

Church Stopping. Less Doing. More Being.