sabbath - Jeremiah's Vow

Lent 2022 | Day 31: Weary

²⁸Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. ³⁰For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Matthew 11:28-30 KJV

We don’t use the word weary very much in our culture today. But it is slightly different than just being tired. Being tired is what we describe feeling after physical exertion. This is the result of a long day of work or chores. The primary focus of being tired is the physical. We end up with sore muscles, inflamed joints, or just a general sense of fatigue. But this is not what it means to be weary.

We talk about being weary when we are going to a much deeper place and how the activity that we are performing affects us. When we are weary the effect on our emotions and our sense of purpose is what is deeply affected.

The causes or reasons for weariness are as varied as the people we encounter on life’s road. Whether it be a marriage that is being stressed by the circumstances of life or the toll of looking after an elderly parent. Or just the ongoing drudgery of enduring a job that you no longer find fulfilling, all these can be sources of weariness.

In the midst of the daily rhythms and routines of life, we find God breaching the feeling that we have with his presence. We see this most intently in Jesus’s birth. God becomes a man and enters into the human experience. He lives among a broken people, worn and tattered by the ravages of sin, and doing all they can to make it through another day. While we have the advantages of technology and quick access to information this does not change that the human experience in striving to meet fundamental needs has remained essentially the same.

How do we know that this human experience is more regular than we may typically consider being true? I think it’s seen in the stories that are passed on from one generation to the next. We can see it in the parables, fables, in moral tales that can be found in every culture and civilization that is lived on the planet.

The fact that we can still learn the principles and concepts contained within the stories today is a testament to a general commonality experienced by all humanity. Even separated by time and cultural understandings we can learn from others through these principles.

This is why when we talk about weariness we can know that it is not a new phenomenon in the human condition. It is actually quite common. But that is not the way we experience it. That is not the way we describe it when and if we share it with someone else. When we are in the midst of a season of weariness it can be one of the most isolating times of our life. And again, this is quite normal.

So what do we do? How do we deal with these times of weariness?

The short answer is that we must not do it alone. The temptation and tendency to cordon off those who would have an interest in helping is one we have to fight against. The example of Christ contained in the verses at the beginning of this post is quite instructive. Jesus enters into the human experience and offers to journey with us through it all. This is the example we should model. This is the mindset that we should adopt.

We all at one point to another will find ourselves feeling weary, burdened down by the weight of life. But when that moment comes we do not have to go through it by ourselves. We must learn to practice asking for help. It is not always easy. But it will always be worth the effort when we can find someone who is willing to enter into our weariness and help us to get to the other side of it.

Lent 2022 | Day 15: Rested

Over the last several years I’ve had conversations with my friend, Pastor Drew Anderson, about what it means to participate in Sabbath.

Too often this conversation becomes about taking time off or going on vacation. And while this may be a part of what it means to take Sabbath, this is not the primary emphasis for this idea.

I have been struck by the fact that too many in the Western church do not understand what it means to take Sabbath. And I say that including myself into that group. We have become so accustomed to filling every moment with activity. The idea of stillness bothers us. So much so that we can spend hours endlessly scrolling through social media feeds or news aggregators.

But what actually does it mean to take Sabbath? It’s an important question. One we must do better to answer for ourselves. So I will attempt to offer my thoughts on this topic today.

I think the primary focus of Sabbath should not be inactivity or mindless stillness. I think the primary focus of Sabbath should be a purposeful and intentional attentiveness to God. This can include an increased awareness of those things which God has blessed us with. But the idea is not to become enthralled are entangled with what’s around us. The goal should be to look at our surroundings, to consider God’s presence, and then to rejoice in those things.

One way of thinking about it can be of having a holy detachment from the world so we can see what we have around us as the gifts from God that they are.

The primary focus of Sabbath should be a purposeful and intentional attentiveness to God.
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This is not always easy. The circumstances of life can cloud our ability to do this. But I think that should give us more reason to try. To try and take the time necessary to consider what God has been doing in our lives. To give thanks to God just because he is God.

Being rested is not merely about getting enough sleep. Being rested is a spiritual state where we are not restless. We are not constantly burdened by the stressors of life.

I’m not saying we act as if nothing is wrong. I’m saying we cultivate a mindset that in the midst of all that is happening we will take time to spend with God. This is something we must do consciously. We have to make time for it. In much the same way God made time for it in the creation story. God declared the day of Sabbath and commanded that we must participate in it. This is not an incidental command because God had grown tired of creating. This was an act of Revelation for our sake.

Therefore, when we fail to take heed of this admonition, we do so to our own detriment.

I would encourage you to find some time tomorrow to rest with God. For many, it is impractical to do it all day. But it would be wise for us to begin with a set time dedicated to being with God. As we do this we will begin to experience a sense of greater peace. Not necessarily because all life’s problems of going away. We will find an abiding peace within us because we know, in a new way, how faithful God has been to us. And when we have a renewed appreciation for God’s goodness, we can look forward knowing God will continue to be good regardless of what happens on life’s road.

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The Sirens Of Busyness

The Sirens of Busyness are singing.

Can you hear them?

I can. Very clearly.

[If you don’t remember much from Greek mythology, you likely remember the imagery of the Sirens.

Half-birds, half beautiful maidens, the Sirens were singing enchantresses capable of luring passing sailors to their islands, and, subsequently, to their doom. Daughters of the river god Achelous and a Muse, they were fated to die if anyone should survive their singing. When Odysseus passed them by unharmed, they hurled themselves into the sea and were drowned. You can read more about them here.]

In our culture, and in many other cultures, “busyness” is worn with like a badge. It’s celebrated as an achievement. It’s complained about as “the cross we must bear.” It’s worshipped like a god.

And this past year, first with the quarantine and then with the continued impact of the pandemic, we saw just how much of a god busyness has become.

People felt lost without their packed schedules.

Anxiety set in when there was so much time suddenly available. Many felt like they had to just do something. Anything.

And this quest to remain busy, merely revealed a god we had long been worshipping.

Even above The God.

Maybe you call this god by a different name than “Busy.”

Maybe you call it “Normal.”

Let me confess, that I worshipped at the altar of this god alongside most of you. That why I know it so well. Because this god had become my god too.

And I can hear the Sirens of this god calling back out to me again.

It’s like an enchanting echo. Calling out to me to come back.

And yet, I know what it leads to. The pandemic exposed it for me. Maybe it did for you too?

Anxiety.

Shallowness.

Vanity.

Stress.

Weariness.

Whether we want to admit it or not, the answers we seek for the deep longing in our soul will not be solved by going back to this god.

Going back to busyness.

Going back to “normal.”

How do I know? Because I did. For a couple weeks. About a month ago.

I had a 2 week stretch that “felt” like life before the pandemic.

Breakneck pace.

Laundry list of things to do.

Public attention for what was being done.

It was as if my soul was screaming the whole time: STOP. But I couldn’t. I had already been drawn into the rocks.

If this pandemic has taught me nothing else, it has taught me that our culturally accepted “pace of life” rarely ever matches up with Jesus’ pace of life for me.

It’s certainly not that all of life should be slow.

But I can also say it’s definitely not the opposite as well.

There’s a rhythm to how Jesus lived his life and desires for us to live ours. And for too long we’ve ignored it. We’ve simply opted for the culturally acceptable path of least resistance: busy.

But Jesus has a better plan than busy.

It’s called abundant.

This abundant life is a life of balance. Of boundaries. Of boldness.

And if we want to recover it, it will require a fight. It won’t merely come easily at first. It will require silencing the voices of the sirens.

It will require Sabbath.

Not a day of laziness.

Not a day of “church activity.”

Not a day of catching up on chores.

Not a day of hobbies.

Not a day of “prepping for the week.”

A day of rest. Truly finding rest for our souls. Resting in the presence of God.

A day of relationships. Truly relating on a soul level. Relationships with others who are also resting in the presence of God.

A day of re-creation. Truly re-setting ourselves to the rhythms of God’s creation. Re-centering our lives within the will of God.

A day of remembering. Truly reminding ourselves who God is, who we are in Him, who He desires us to be, and how we are fully satisfied only in Him. Retelling the stories God’s people and the stories of God’s work in our lives today.

I can hear the Sirens of busyness singing: Come back.
But I can feel the Spirit of the living God urging: Come home.
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I can hear the Sirens of busyness singing: Come back.

But I can feel the Spirit of the living God urging: Come home.

The god of busyness will not satisfy. Because like all false gods, it cannot deliver the abundant life it allures me to believe it can.

Only God can do that.

Only God will do that.

And I can only begin to experience it as I begin each week as God designed: with Sabbath.

Lent 2019 | Day 22: Sabbath

The command to observe the Sabbath is more important than we realize.

I missed posting yesterday. It wasn’t intentional. I just happened that my schedule was packed with a few other things. I am not all that good at writing ahead. I like to write as something hits me. That’s part of the reason I have had stretches of little to no writing.

So, today I will put out two posts. This one explaining what I came away with yesterday, and the one for today.

Yesterday one of my brothers, had tickets to a major league baseball game, and since my mom wasn’t able to go, I got the seat! I love watching baseball live. There is something about the rhythm of the game I find soothing. Even though my team lost, I had a good time. Enjoyed spending time with family.

selective focus grayscale photography of baseball — Photo by Rachel Xiao on Pexels.com

The thought that hit me and I would like to share is this: the command to observe the Sabbath is more important than we realize.

I often wonder why we don’t do it. I don’t want to get into which day of the week is the Sabbath, although I am sure that could lead to interesting discussions. I just want to briefly look at why we should take time for Sabbath. A time for rest.

We are not designed to go forever. We have a limited warranty and if we don’t take care to rest we will wear ourselves out. Literally.

God did not make us to work ourselves to death. Work has a value too, don’t get me wrong. But, when we do not rest we cannot appreciate all of the other aspects of life. Running on emotional, spiritual, relational, and physical fumes for an extended period of time will have devastating results on us, in all the areas mentioned.

We have to learn to slow down and do things that make us feel alive. That reminds us there are moments worth our time to enjoy. Yesterday I enjoyed a baseball game. And it was great… even though my team lost.

Lent Day #10 | Sabbath

The topic for today is a word and a practice not understood anymore. Well, at least I don’t think so. The idea of Sabbath describes taking rest. However, this definition is too simplistic to really be beneficial. When God talks about sabbath he is not merely saying to us stop activities or chores. There is a deeper dimension that is being described. As followers of Christ and children of God we called to take sabbath rest so that we can focus wholeheartedly on God. God has established the sabbath for us.

Let’s think about this for a moment. I find it interesting that God’s care for us extends even to our tendency to find our purpose and fulfillment in what we do, rather than in our relationship with him. However, God has commanded that we keep the sabbath because in doing so we acknowledge we are mortal and fragile. We can not just go and go and not expect to break down at some point.

The reality of our life’s is this, we have to take a break. We have talked about that some already. God does not want is to miss out on one of the most basic wonders of life, the ability to stop and marvel at what we are experiencing.

Why did God stop on the seventh day? Because after he had finished on the sixth day he saw that “it was very good” (Genesis 1:31). If we follow God’s example we will see we need to take time and enjoy what we have been able to do through the week. But, more importantly, we need to take time to give thanks to God for what he has done throughout the week.

As we journey through Lent I pray that we will grow I our enjoyment of the beauty that surrounds us by taking time to enjoy it.