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Tag: sabbath

Why won’t we do it?

July 1, 2019 /

This post is the final in the slow series on our summer of Sabbath rest. In it, I want to address the “why not?” of Sabbath. For all the benefits of the Sabbath, most of us will not actually engage in the practice of rest. I am sure the reasons are many, but I want to share two here:

First, we are afraid of stopping. Our identity is tied up in what we do. Want to know how much? Try going to a gather and never ask a person what they do and never say what you do. It is nearly impossible. Not being identified with our work causes us to feel lost and useless. Sabbath will confront your very sense of who you are and what you find your value in. Most of us, myself included, do not want to go there. Sabbath is not productive. We fear we are missing out. We fear we will be accused of being lazy or failing to carry out our responsibilities.

Second, fear of legalism. Certainly, there are many stories of excess rules and structures of the past. When children were not allowed to play and joy was looked upon with disdain. We are right to be apprehensive, but let us not avoid one excess by going to another excess that never stops, never delights in God and his good gifts to humanity. If your Sabbath has become a burden then it is time to change your Sabbath. Sabbath is a day to celebrate the abundance of God. A day filled with joy, laughter, beauty, rest, love, and delight. Jesus, says to come to him like a child. There is something winsome and childlike about the Sabbath. Jesus said the Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath. The Sabbath is God’s holy gift to humanity. It is a means of expressing his continual love and provision to each one of us. Sabbath is the invitation to be with God.

Blessings,
Stephen

How to Rest in Sabbath

June 20, 2019 /

“Sabbath is that uncluttered time and space in which we can distance ourselves from our own activities enough to see what God is doing.”
—Eugene Peterson

Plan Your Sabbath

1. Answer these questions:
What can only you do?
What do you need to rest from?
What is it that causes you delight?

2. Identify a twenty-four hour period. Often sundown to sundown.

3. Prepare in advance.
Rearrange work. Go shopping. Pay bills. Run errands. Complete household tasks. Cook meals. Gather supplies. Decide what is going to be completed and what will be left undone.

4. Prepare your protective container.
I will do these things: read, walk, sleep, call a friend, etc.
I will not do these things: E-mail, social media, work, etc.

On your Sabbath Stop paid and unpaid work. Rest, actual rest that restores and replenishes. Delight in the wonder of creation. Contemplate and ponder the love of God. This is a day holy to the Lord.

Practice Sabbath

1. Use Ritual
Light candles to signify to everyone and yourself that Sabbath has begun or set out something. A stuffed animal, a vase of flowers. Be creative.

2. Pray a Prayer of Blessing
As you set the item out:
“Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has made us holy through his commandments and commanded us to kindle the Sabbath light.”

On all those gathered in your household:
“May God bless you and protect you. May God’s face shine toward you and show you favor. May God look favorably upon you and grant you peace.” 

3. Practice Sabbath and enjoy God’s gift to you!
If you find that Sabbath has become a drudgery, a day you dread, then it is time to change your Sabbath. Sabbath is a day to wonder at God’s love and his gifts to us. He is the one who made laughter, love, joy, peace, humor, friendship, smiles, wonder, beauty, and rest. These should be in abundance on your Sabbath. Do things that are restorative, restful and reconciling that reconnect you with yourself, others, creation, and God.

“Then Jesus said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.’” – Mark 2:27-28

Leaving Ourselves Behind

June 13, 2019 /
elephants walking through the bush

The story has been told in a million different ways and times. A man goes on a safari. For reasons outside of his control, he arrives late and the expedition party is forced to leave without him. Unwilling to miss the opportunity, he hires a few guides to take him on an express journey through the bush to catch the group. For days they press ahead at a breakneck speed. On the fourth day of travel, his hopes are high. If his calculations are right he should be able to walk into camp just as they are putting dinner on the table. But as he walks from his tent, pumped for another day of running, his guides are sitting around the fire. It is clear they have no intentions of going anywhere today. The man is incensed. After all, he is paying them, but they refuse to move. With teeth clenched and veins popping from his head he asks them why they won’t move. With determination in their voice that clearly communicates this is not up for negotiation, they tell him for three days they have been driving hard. Now they must wait a day for their spirits to catch up.

Have you ever been there, running so hard to achieve a goal, to get things done, that it feels like you have left who you are behind? I know I have.

Sabbath invites us to take moments to rest and evaluate who we really are and what are our real priorities in life. We have the space to ask if the journey we are on is taking us to the place where we want to go.

Sabbath invites us to engage in practices that give life to our soul. That being said, many of us resist Sabbath because we have memories of being forced into silent drudgery. A day without laughter and play. Sabbath should be anything but. It is a day filled with life, love, beauty, fun, play, friends, laughter, things that bring life, clarity, and health to your whole being. It is a day to celebrate the fullness of God’s creation. As a parent, if Sabbath is a day your kids dread, you are doing it wrong.

So how do we do Sabbath? That is a question we will start to answer in the next post.

Have a great week!
Stephen

A Tale of Two Churches

May 23, 2019 /

It was years ago, but the impression is still deep within me. I visited a large growing church. There was a great sense of urgency to the work they were doing, a feeling that people’s eternal destiny was at stake, and so they worked. The minimum expectation for the pastoral staff was to work eighty hours a week. I spoke with one staff pastor; he said the only time he saw his kids was in-between services on Sundays; otherwise, he left for work before they got up and came home long after they had gone to sleep. But it was all worth it. The church was growing, and people were being saved.

I visited another large church recently. It is growing rapidly. There is a great sense of urgency that the work they are doing has eternal consequences for people’s destiny. So they rest. Staff are required to take time to pray and rest in Sabbath. From the senior pastor down one day a week, one weekend a month, and one month a year are spent in rest. These days are not vacation days, and they are not days off. They are days spent in study, prayer, and listening to God.

The first church was celebrated. People came from all around to learn how to do ministry. The staff were tired and rushed. People were short with one another. Anger and frustration were just below the surface, but no one could say anything because it was the work of God they were doing. Staff pastors rarely stayed for more than a year or two. Burnout was common. When the lead pastor did finally leave, his years of ministry were celebrated, and in his wake was left unhealth, pain, and broken families that would take years of healing to mend. Was it all worth it?

The second church is celebrated. People come from all around the world to learn how to do ministry. Its staff is alive and joyful. They laugh easily. They practice hospitality and never seem to be rushed. Their lead pastor recently retired. His years of ministry were celebrated. He still hangs around the place, looked upon as a beloved leader. In his wake is a new generation of leaders full and excited. Was it all worth it?

God creates all that there is. Genesis 1 tells the story. The climactic scene is of God creating humanity. When the work is done, he steps back and says, “it was very good” (vs. 31). Then he commands that on the seventh day, they are to rest. Humanity’s first task was to rest because God is holy. To rest because God has completed the work. For Adam and Eve to have worked on the seventh day would have been to say to God, “You’ve done some great work here, very impressive, now let me just make a few adjustments, and it will be perfect.” It is absurd to think of them actually saying such a thing to God, but we do it regularly when we ignore God’s command for Sabbath and rest. In Matthew 6, Jesus tells us not to worry about what we will eat, drink, wear, or even about tomorrow “For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (vs. 32-22, NIV).

What are we seeking? What are we chasing after?

Blessings,
Stephen

Running a Marathon Would be Fun

May 17, 2019 /
wolves

I think it could be fun to run a marathon. Thousands of people do it every year. How hard could it really be? I have a few hours of free time to spare this evening. Why not? With such words, I charge out the door of my house. By the time I reach the end of my driveway, I begin to wonder if I shouldn’t have had a drink of water before I left. By the time I pass my neighbor’s driveway my lungs are making unnatural sounds. When I come to the next driveway there are shots of pain raging through my body, like trolls chasing me with little knives, gleefully plunging them into my muscles. A few more feet and it all goes black, I am sure I have come to death’s doorway, I collapse in a heap as a distant pack of wolves howls with delight. The weak one has been chosen from the heard. They will eat well tonight.

Few of us would actually attempt to run a marathon on just a whim, yet it is with just such enthusiasm we live our lives. Running a marathon takes months and even years of training and preparation. It takes changes in lifestyle and priorities. No one tries to run a marathon and succeeds. One has to train for a marathon. Daily though, many of us try to run the marathon of life without training and the results are good for the wolves and bad for us.

Last week we introduced the first three reasons why we need to take a Sabbath break. We need rest from being hurt, from heavy labors, and the pace of the world. These come from Matthew Sleeth’s book 24/6. If you missed the post you may read it here. This week is the second installment in our series.

We Need Rest from the Speed of Change
One of the greatest challenges colleges face today is they are training students for jobs that don’t yet exist requiring skills that are not yet known. The regular practice of Sabbath reminds us that there are some things that never change.

Jesus gives us a powerful example of the stabilizing force of routine and ritual in our lives. On the night when Jesus knows he is about to be betrayed and arrested Jesus knows that the disciples’ whole world is about to be turned on its head. What they thought they knew and understood about him, their lives and the future will be shattered. Change is coming. So, Jesus brings his disciples to the Passover meal. The central festival and meal for every Jewish person practiced faithfully from their days as young children to this day. Luke records in his Gospel “When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, ‘I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer'” (22:14-15, NIV).

The regular ritual of Sabbath (and other spiritual practices as well) are acts of training for when the marathon of life changes the rules and calls us to run.

We Need Rest from the Job
Changing jobs has become the rule rather than the exception in life. In our ever increasing gig economy, some find they are changing jobs every few months. As Matthew Sleeth says, “Resting is even more necessary in uncertain times. It helps us to remember that God is in control and that our identity is not dependent on the work that we do” (81). Stopping from the struggle and striving of work is an act of faith. It is trusting that God will provide. Jesus says:

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life” (Matthew 6:25-27, NIV)

When we stop our work to rest in God it is an intentional act of choosing not to worry.

We Need Rest from Information
It has been said that the typical U.S. high school graduate knows more about science, mathematics, sociology, and politics than Thomas Jefferson. Our phones feed us continuous streams of information. We go to the gym to get away and twelve screens blast the day’s news and gossip while headphones in our ears feed even more data. We need to rest from the flood. We need time to process, to ponder and organize what it coming in. “Uninterrupted time allows us to separate what’s important from what’s merely urgent” (Sleeth 82).

Ponder for yourself. What do you need rest from? Did one of these six stands out to you? Or maybe there is another area you need rest in, if you comfortable please share in the comments.

Blessings,
Stephen

Yes, the Zombies Will Come

May 9, 2019 /
Face in the trees

Dear Friends,

Why do we need Sabbath rest? Because a zombie apocalypse is coming and we had better be ready for it. If we all knew in the months ahead our city was going to be overrun by zombies we would begin today to prepare for it. We would take up an extensive running training regimen and we would give our neighbor lost of ice cream and chips (just as an insurance to make sure we could outrun them). Only a fool, or our neighbor, would not make plans to escape. Engaging in the weekly rhythm of Sabbath is preparation for when those moments of stress, worry, brokenness, weariness, sickness, running, and confusion come. We all will have those times. We can’t avoid being human and the human condition, but we can be prepared for when it does come.

Last week, with the return of The Milk Can, we started a series of posts on the need for Sabbath rest in our lives. The week continues our pondering on our need for rest.

In his book, 24/6, Matthew Sleeth identifies at least six areas of our life that we need rest from. This week we will look at the first three and then the last three next week.

Why do we need Sabbath rest?

We need rest from being hurt
Life and work have their way of taking their toll on us physically and emotionally. We understand that when a bone is broken our bodies need time to heal. It is no less true when our souls are beaten and broken. We need the practice of rest to heal the invisible and visible tragedies of life. In Matthew 12, Jesus offers these words of encouragement to those who would come to him. “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he has brought justice through to victory. In his name, the nations will put their hope” (vs. 20-21, NIV). Do you feel like a broken reed that is about to be crushed? Jesus offers to us Sabbath as a place to heal.

We need rest from heavy labors
This may seem rather obvious. “Manual labor has its own reminder to stop. One can only move bricks so long before muscles cry out for rest. Unfortunately, other types of labor may not remind us of the need to lay down our burdens. What about answering e-mails, going to meetings, and working with customers” (Sleeth 76). For many of us when we leave the office our work does not stay there. It follows us home on our phones and in our social media feeds. Jesus invites all those who are burdened by physical and mental heavy labor to come to him and find rest. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30, NIV).

We need rest from the pace of the world
Few would argue against the notion that our world is moving at an incredible pace, and seems to be getting faster every day. I know no one admits to actually watching NASCAR but it does give us a good illustration of why we need to slow down. The basic goal and premise of car racing is pretty simple: Drive left and when everyone stops be at the front of the line. If you do this you will get to spin around in circles smoking your tires and stand on top of your car while getting an oversized trophy for your efforts. When I was a kid I assumed that NASCAR drivers drove their cars like I did racing in Pole Position: with the throttle pressed all the way down through the entire race. Do you know what will happen to race car drivers if they do that? Their engines blow up. A driver has to continually monitor the temperature of their engine. Sometimes they will push their engines into the red zone to make a pass or block another driver. But they can’t stay there. They have to pull back, let their engines cool, put the margin back into their car’s engine so they have the capability to go back into the red if needed.

Our lives can be a lot like car racing. At one time or another, all of us will find our lives running in the red zone. A project is due. A co-worker is out sick and the work has to be done. A crisis hits us. We’ll have four weddings and a funeral all in the same week. We are running at full throttle and things are heating up. We can do this for a short time if needed, but if we don’t pull back and put margin back into our lives we will explode. The cycle of Sabbath gives a natural season of rest and cooling to our lives. It teaches us how to take our foot off the throttle and gives us the margin to run in the red when we need.

Jesus frequently demonstrated this in his life. The crowds had their ways of finding him. People brought their expectations, their sickness, and their needs to him to give healing and life. In Mark 6, precisely because the crowds keep coming and they are all running in the red zone, Jesus tells his disciples to come away with him and get rest. “Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, ‘Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest'” (vs. 31, NIV). Sabbath is a coming away with Jesus to find the needed rest.

As you think about these first I wonder, what do you need rest from?

Blessings,
Stephen

Running at Full Throttle

May 2, 2019 /

Welcome back!

I know, you may be saying, “But I didn’t go anywhere!” You didn’t but I did. Over the last year, blogging has become like a hermit in a cave. Easter, though, is a season of resurrection and it is time again for me to resurrect The Milk Can. The Milk Can is a regular blog to supplement our ministry and leader development at Hope Church in Galesburg. I know that many of you, though, don’t attend our church. To you, I give the privilege of listening in. Your feedback and comments help to refine and make us all so much better.

In the Christian church, Easter is often a season of celebration and chaos. Many of us spend the weeks leading up to this Holy Week in frantic preparation. Then Sunday comes, we celebrate with friends and family. Ours was great! This was one of the best Easters for me personally in all my years of ministry. (Much of the credit for the success goes to the members of our worship team whose week in and week out dedication is easily taken for granted.) Then Monday comes and you know what happens? We keep our foot on the throttle, it may not be Easter anymore but another Sunday is coming and all those things we put off while we were getting ready for Easter now demand we address them. This may describe the reality of pastors but it is not really any different than the reality of many of our lives. Americans are running with our foot jammed on the throttle we are busy and stressed. It’s become a badge of honor for us to say we are “busy.” We fear being thought of as lazy. Full throttle living is taking its toll on us. In a recent article in the New York Times, “55 percent of adults said they had experienced stress during ‘a lot of the day’ prior” and “About 45 percent of the Americans surveyed said they had felt ‘a lot’ of worry the day before.”

At creation, God established cycles and seasons to life. Even if we didn’t choose to rest or take a Sabbath, nature forced us to rest. When the sun went down, the work had to stop. When the winter storms blew the pace of life slowed. To get to the next town over might take a day’s journey on foot. Even a generation ago work was slowed. When we walked out of our offices the work stayed where it was until the next morning. Now it follows us home in our pockets on our phones. TV stations played the national anthem and went off the air. Businesses closed at night and often on Sunday as well.

Those days are long gone. But our need for Sabbath rest remains. Today we must choose to change our lives and live differently.

Finding the rest we need begins with a question: “What is it that only you can do?”

Your answer to the question will focus priorities and establish the places of healing and reconciliation that Sabbath can bring.

At Hope, we are diving deep into a Summer of Rest as we explore the applications of Sabbath for each of our lives. Over the weeks ahead The Milk Can will give further insights as well.

Blessings,
Stephen

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