Stepping off the platform during a break, I walk to the front row, crouch down and slip pages of speaking notes on the floor underneath my seat. I inhale and make my way toward a crowd of strangers I’ve been speaking to all morning: clergy spouses crowded around a smorgasbord lunch. The vicar’s wife stands alone at the back of the sanctuary, staring up at the vaulted ceiling. As I approach, she makes eye contact and stops me with a question, ‘How do you rest on Sunday?’
From experience, I know what she is really asking behind that simple question. How do you organise your life practically in order to make Sabbath a reality on the busiest day of the week?
It’s the question I’ve learned to expect to hear every time I speak about Sabbath, but when it comes from ministry leaders, I know the question stems from a place of quiet desperation: a weariness that assumes inserting rest into an over-scheduled diary is unrealistic or impossible. For those with ongoing Sunday responsibilities, Sabbath as a rhythm of life seems elusive, outdated and irrelevant. Yet I see glimmers of hope in the faces of those asking. Hope that I might have a magic answer they haven’t discovered yet.
After 25 years as the wife of a vicar, I can tell you I’ve pondered the same question, but only in the past two-and-a-half years with any sense of purpose. What I discovered isn’t a magic formula or five easy steps, but a way of life that changes how I and hundreds of people approach that question.
DISPELLING SABBATH MYTHS
For many, the word Sabbath seems somewhat legalistic: one of the Ten Commandments but grounded in Old Testament thinking. The very word Sabbath is equated with legalism and a bitter remembrance: no watching television, playing outside in the dirt or laughing too loudly with your siblings. Sound familiar?
In households where rest is a spiritual hoop for sanctification, Sabbath conjures a dreaded quiet day of doldrums or a set of rules for justification. While the intent and truth of the Ten Commandments stand independent of time, shifting culture and changing circumstance, asking the ‘how’ question first is like accepting a dinner invitation based only on the menu. Jesus extends an invitation to resist working one day a week for no other purpose than to be fully present with him and deepen relationships.
When we abide with Jesus, the answer to why we work and who we ultimately work for comes clearly into focus. Therefore, how we Sabbath, though important, becomes a lower priority. We long for rest and the spirit of Sabbath longs for communion with us.
I believe it is of great consequence that God begins the fourth commandment with the word ‘remember’ and uses more words in the fourth than in the other nine to communicate. Remember the Sabbath day to keep the day holy (Exodus 20:8). He knows how easy it will be for us to forget that the Sabbath was created for us and not us for the Sabbath (Mark 2:28).
In Christ, Sabbath is a freedom; a personal invitation for weekly restoration and recreation: ‘Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me. Watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly’ (Matthew 11:28-30, The Message). If these words in the Gospel of Matthew are truth we can ingest, why do many of us approach the fourth commandment as a suggestion from a smorgasbord of options? Perhaps we have asked ‘how’ prematurely when considering Sabbath. A rhythm of rest is a state of being, not something we do.
SIGNS YOU MIGHT NEED TO STOP
As the founder of the Sabbath Society - a group of hundreds who say, ‘I’m all in,’ when it comes to making rest a rhythm of life - I’ve learned firsthand through responses to my weekly email of encouragement how one day of rest a week can transform individuals. But before I tell you how Sabbath is possible for those challenged with Sunday responsibilities, ask yourself these questions:
When others point out your overtired state, is your response, ‘I’ll rest when the work is done’? |
Do you bemoan invitations for coffee or conversation? |
Are you easily irritated by the needs of others? |
Do you argue with family members on the way home from church because they insist on staying afterwards to talk to people? |
Do you plan ways of escape to avoid interacting with people? |
Are you doing so much for God that you don’t have time to be with him? |
Do you imagine a sick day as a welcome retreat because at least you would have an excuse to rest without guilt? |
Do you fear stopping because everything might crumble in your absence? |
When you hear someone recite, ‘My yoke is easy and my burden is light’, do you assume this Bible verse is for everyone else? Perhaps he forgot the footnote, ‘with the exception of those in ministry’. |
It might surprise you to know that these questions aren’t made-up scenarios. They are real-life examples: responses from faithful volunteers and ministry leaders in different places and circumstances of life. These act as red flags that the time to stop is long overdue because identity is slanted by weariness. Perhaps you can see yourself reflected in these questions?
Creation is a story of continual new beginnings because God is in a constant state of creating. I’m going to tell you something radical and potentially disappointing, depending on your outlook: nothing is finished.
You will never find that sweet spot of being completely done and caught up because God is in the business of creating, and the business is thriving all around us with big results. The trees budding overhead, birds chirping from branches, babies crying and your stomach growling at 1pm are all signs God fills void and emptiness with what satiates the senses.
The process of creating has a distinct rhythm to it: a rhythm of breathing. If creation of the world is a life-giving inhale for all of us, then Sabbath is the exhale. Without the exhale, our breathing becomes shallow or non-existent. Choosing to leave work undone for rest isn’t a sign of weakness and failure. On the contrary, choosing rest over work is the ultimate act of brave trust in God’s sovereign hand upon creation. He is in charge of our minutes.
MAKING REST A REALITY
We can attempt to harness the world around us and shape the riches of creation for his glory, but harnessing time that is set apart and holy is much more challenging. How do we approach sacred time? We make it different from the other six days of the week. The Sabbath remains holy even when we don’t choose to observe it. Here are a few places to begin:
Create white space:
Carve out a time period for rest that becomes a weekly routine. For example, dedicate the first three hours of your day off to rest, reflect and abide in God’s presence before taking a shower, cleaning up breakfast dishes or starting a DIY project. I have a hunch that those three hours will stretch once you experience the benefits of peace. Many with ongoing Sunday responsibilities make rest a priority in the diary another day of the week.
Prepare:
The key to successful rest periods is preparation. Walk toward Sabbath instead of away from it. Make meal plans, grocery shop and run errands ahead of time, and find yourself anticipating the joy of an extended time period sans household duties.
Plan an artist’s date:
In her book, Right to Write, Julia Cameron encourages a weekly artist’s date to fuel inspiration for writers. The practice offers the same result for ministry leaders. Take a day trip somewhere new, stop by an art gallery on a daily commute, visit a park with a camera, or peruse a local farmers market to cultivate restoration and hope. Taking a break from regular routines, whether walking a different path or driving a new route, widens perspective and inspires creativity, circumventing ministry ruts we are apt to fall into.
Turn off the noise:
Keep your phone and laptop turned off for the time set apart for Sabbath. Eliminating distractions and creating boundaries with those in your spheres of influence provides an atmosphere of healthy respect that becomes surprisingly contagious. In the early years of ministry, before mobile phones, we didn’t respond to phone calls or impromptu visits on days off and people honoured the boundary. When the word emergency is clearly defined by you and your dependents, practising this discipline becomes easier.
Change it up:
If you enjoy reading, take a break from ministry topics and read a novel. If you normally take notes for future sermons, talks or blog posts on your computer, jot down your thoughts in a journal instead. The discovery of what pours out might surprise you when the paragraphs aren’t attached to productivity.
Celebrate:
Sabbath is about celebrating the goodness of our Creator. Stand back like an artist looking at his masterpiece from a distance, and you’ll notice the gradations of colour and vibrancy in life missed in busyness. Laugh, play, watch a movie on a wall of your house and give yourself permission for feasting. Enjoy food and drink that you normally don’t allow yourself during the other six days of the week. Sipping a favourite tea, savouring extra carbs or cracking open a bottle of champagne on the day you choose Sabbath makes it feel different and special.
WHY SABBATH IS MADE ESPECIALLY FOR MINISTRY LEADERS
If our choices are limited by linear cause and effect without realising the benefit of self-enrichment, or we believe that our joy and delight somehow robs the poor and suffering, we communicate to the world around us that service is dreary and ministry painful. And frankly, who wants to follow that? We must extend compassion to ourselves before we can be compassionate toward others. How compassionate have you been to yourself lately? When was the last time you chose to ‘waste time’ by doing something pleasurable without guilt?
When I answered the vicar’s wife that day at a clergy spouse retreat, I told her that I begin Sabbath on Saturday at sundown. I use paper plates, leave dishes in the sink, laundry unfolded, turn off the computer and plan to eat leftovers on Sunday. In silence she nods, then tilts her head sideways, making eye contact, and responds: ‘What I am hearing you say is that being fully present with people is a priority.’ Processing, she realises that a hurried on the inside approach to Sunday morning worship results in scattered and rushed responses to people who were looking for guidance and empathy.
From ministry leaders in the Sabbath Society there comes a sacred echo from intentional weekly rest. Ministry springing forth from a place of peace fuels a heightened awareness of God’s presence with us. A renewal of sensitivity to the Holy Spirit informs leadership decisions of great result. Without Sabbath, it is easier to fall into people pleasing and making decisions based on selfish motives, not only in volunteerism and ministry vocation but also in core relationships.
Ultimately, an acute awareness of God’s voice resounding through busyness transforms what we do into an everyday state of being rooted in confidence as his beloved children. Sabbath as a rhythm of life changes the questions of life from how to who. It is a weekly reminder that God cares more about who you are than what you do.
Shelly Miller is a poet with an acute taste for authentic honesty. Her stories are featured on her blog, Redemptions Beauty where you can sign up to be part of the Sabbath Society.
