The Life-Giving Rhythm
It was in the cold dark days of last November that I found myself battling anxiety once again. “I thought I had gotten over this?” and similar phrases would run through my brain as I succumbed to the decision to see my counselor again and restart my medication. At least this time I knew what I had to do to get back to the healthier place I wished to operate in. As I began to reestablish healthier rhythms of life I quickly discovered the stress that was leading to my anxieties re-emergence.
The church I serve was currently navigating some difficult organizational changes that were destined to upset people. To make matters worse, how we wanted to navigate them with grace and kindness was usurped from us which led to a difficult situation becoming damaging. This was the furthest from our intentions, and how it played out deeply affected me; perhaps more than I showed at the time or even now.
I continued to wrestle through this, and even though the stress diminished the anxiety lingered. It would take a few months of searching before God revealed a profound need in my life. In late January, I attended our annual Midwinter conference in Chicago, IL. It was there, so close to my birthplace, that the Lord spoke through many people to me. Through friends, through speakers, and spiritual directors there was a constant and singular theme: Sabbath.
The speed of our world, our culture, and our lives is not refreshing, sustainable, or peaceful.
The problem is that we find ourselves located in a world seeking to utilize our time to conquer the world of space in which we inhabit. We’ve utilized clocks and electricity to push ourselves out of our natural created rhythms. We’ve succumbed to the pressures of progress and competition to be “on the clock” 24/7/365. In 2007, the birth of the digital age did us no favors as the internet and then smartphones became the norm. Tiffany Shlain makes us painfully aware of the addiction we already are suspicious of. The average adult spends 72 hours a week on their phone…more than sleeping and eating combined. They also look at their phones 80 times a day. She goes on to tell us how our online usage is compulsive, quite literally like narcotics, and they are contagious like yawning.[1]
We are pressured and addicted to a life of speed which is leaving us exhausted, weary, and hopeless.
The good news is that there is a life-giving rhythm available to us, and it has been since the beginning of time. The creation narrative in Genesis tells of a story in which there are 6 days of creative contribution that come to a climax on the 7th day of “rest”. The word we have so often translated as “rest” is actually the Hebrew word menuha. The nuance and expanse of this word help us better understand what God actually established and did on the 7th day. Menuha means restfulness, celebration, happiness, stillness, peace, and harmony. God rested although his infinitude and omnipotence gave him no reason to. He celebrated the good and very good work that he had accomplished. He was delighted with the beauty, diversity, and harmony of the created world. He was at peace and was able to be still because the processes of creation were “fruit-bearing and blessing-generating”.[2]
This 6+1 life-giving rhythm is established and modeled by God himself. It is the very breath that was used to create the world that sustains it. It is a progression of doing good, even very good things, that makes space for the holiness to be experienced in time. Abraham Heschel states that “The Sabbath preceded and completed creation…it is eternity in a day.”[3] We must stop. We weren’t designed as perpetual motion machines. In our stopping, even as resistant as we might be at first, we will discover the rest and delight that our souls are longing for under the facade of progress we often masquerade around in. The Sabbath requires us to place our trust in God and the world he created to operate without us for a day. It is an invitation to experience a glimpse of eternity each and every week, and this invitation is inevitable.
In the words of John Mark Comer “The Sabbath is coming…whether as delight or discipline.”[4] Ruth Haley Barton shares her own story of Sabbath coming as a discipline when she is literally hit by a bus.[5] Wayne Muller confirms this as well through his notion that our illness and injuries will become our Sabbaths.[6] The Sabbath is an inevitable invitation, you do not simply get to ignore the way the world (and you) were created to operate. However, the choice is yours to be proactive in attuning yourself to this rhythm or reactive to the results of ignoring it.
I think it is important to note that a day off is not the same as the Sabbath. On a day off from work, you still end up working; perhaps it is laundry, dishes, yard work, or obligations of another family member that you must tag along with and/or chaperone. These are days off from your vocation, but you know just as well as I do that they are filled with plenty of work and hurry. The Sabbath on the other hand is a day of rest, celebration, delight, and peace. That is a pretty big difference from what we have come to define as “a day off.” As to what the Sabbath could look like for you each week…you’ll have to read more about that next week. What you need to know for now is:
There is a life-giving rhythm available to you within the very core of your created being.
You may be resistant to this idea of the Sabbath and a 6+1 rhythm to your life. Maybe you’re thinking something like: “It’s a nice idea…it’s impossible for me…this is your thing Austin…I’m terrified of the stillness of a day…this is just a Jewish thing…” I understand your resistance. I was there too. So were John Mark Comer, Wayne Muller, Ruth Haley Barton, and many other wise teachers and authors on the topic. Yet, what I can promise you is that there is a freedom, a lightness, a delight found in the Sabbath each and every week. God meets me there and he waits to meet you there too.
So, who's ready for the Sabbath this week?
Grace and Peace,
Austin
[1] Shlain, Tiffany. 24/6: Giving up screens one day a week to get more time, creativity, and connection. New York, NY: Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc, 2020.
[2] Brueggemann, Walter. Sabbath as Resistance: Saying no to the culture of now. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2017.
[3] Heschel, Abraham Joshua. The sabbath, its meaning for the modern man. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005
[4] Comer, John Mark. The ruthless elimination of hurry: How to stay emotionally healthy and spiritually alive in our current Chaos. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2019
[5] Barton, R. Ruth, and Ronald Rolheiser. Embracing rhythms of work and rest: From sabbath to sabbatical and Back again. Downers Grove, IL: IVP, an imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2022.
[6] Muller, Wayne. Sabbath: Finding rest, renewal, and delight in our busy lives. New York: Bantam Books, 2000.