Sabbath

“Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work...” - Deuteronomy 5:12-14

Me, on a normal day. Kinda busy, right?

I have a confession to make. Actually, it's probably not much of a confession, because I think most people already know this. But anyway, it turns out that maybe I'm a workaholic.

Just maybe.

The truth is, I tend to spend a lot of time at my office, at the church, at the hospital. Meetings, sermons, Bible studies and classes, administrative stuff (yes, even pastors have to shuffle papers and organize things), visits both planned and unplanned.

There are lots of reasons (or excuses) for my work habits. I'm not the best time manager, so I probably am not as efficient in my use of time as I should be. Also, the nature of my work lends itself to unscheduled conversations—people stopping by to say “hi,” or phone calls, or someone needing prayer. The truth is, you can't put people's feelings and needs into a tidy schedule. I'm also a poor delegator, so I end up doing things that others could share.

If I'm honest, the most compelling reason behind my workaholic tendencies is a fear of ever being labeled as “lazy.” It's a fear that arises from dealings I have had with other churches in my role as a conflict mediator for the presbytery. When I have had conversations with people in other churches, sometimes they have complained that they never see their pastor doing anything. So I have been driven by the desire to avoid that accusation.

Anyway, all this serves as background to let you know that I feel ill-equipped—and yet also convicted and compelled—to write about Sabbath.

Sabbath. You know, rest. Ceasing to work, for a little bit. It's been something that I have wanted to write about, but I've been too busy.

After Easter, my wife surprised me with a week at the beach. The season of Lent had been a busy one, culminating with five worship services in four days. So Carol thought I needed some time off. She didn't ask me; she told me, “We're going to the beach. Pack your bags.”

I'm glad she did. Very glad.

It was a “forced Sabbath.” I started out the week feeling a little guilty. I had put some things off until after Easter, and now I was going to have to put them off another week. But the feeling of guilt gave way to feeling refreshed and renewed. We really had no agenda. We took early morning walks along the beach. I took a lot of pictures. We took walks along the marsh. I went running. I read something for pleasure, not because I had to. And we took more walks at the end of the day, taking in beautiful sunsets.

At the end of the week, I felt like a new person. It turns out, God knows what he's telling us when he commands us to take a day off. Every week. This Sabbath thing is a really good idea. I highly recommend it.

I discovered a couple of things in my week of “forced Sabbath,” that I would like to share with you.

One foggy morning. Eerily beautiful

For one thing, I got an opportunity to notice a whole new world outside of work. There's so much beauty in our world—right where we live. We don't have to go a long way away; we just have to open our eyes to what is all around us all the time. The world is teeming with beautiful and fascinating things, if we just stop to take time and open our eyes.

One of the coolest things Carol and I saw when I let life slow down for a few days, was a rookery of heron nests in a pine grove across a pond, with a half-dozen or so baby herons. If I had not been forced to slow down, I would've missed one of the highlights of my spring. That, and the leatherback turtles swimming offshore.

I think—actually, I'm pretty sure—that Sabbath time makes me a better husband. Carol and I easily logged 20 miles that week, walking together. We actually sat out on the beach, which is something that we have only done three or four times in the 12 years we've been on the coast. It was a gift of time, this Sabbath was.

I also know that Sabbath is good for me as a servant of God. I didn't realize how tired I was after Easter. I thought I would just take a day off, and then back to work. But this extended “forced Sabbath” was needed, because I had neglected a regular Sabbath for weeks. Even the days I had not gone to the office, I hadn't totally disconnected from my work.

I now know why God commands us to observe Sabbath. God commands it because we need it, and we might not take it if it weren't something that God says we HAVE to do. But don't look at it as a duty you have to fulfill, because that kind of makes Sabbath-taking, you know, a form of work. Instead, look at Sabbath as a gift, even if it is a mandatory gift.

When Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath,” he was reminding us that God has a great purpose in this command: It is to make us better people, in every way.

So, here's the deal: I hope you will find Sabbath time every week. God desires the very best for you. And in order for you to be an amazing child of God, you need to take time to tend to you every once in a while; and take time to focus on other things than work.

I also hope you will hold me to Sabbath-keeping, as well. Because I want to be the best pastor, best husband, best father, best child of God I can be.

As I write this, it's Friday evening, and the sun has gone down. You know what that means.

It's Sabbath. I gotta rest. God says so, and I agree.