"Cured on the sabbath"-Sermon for Proper 16, Luke 13:10-17:
I have always felt like God first modeled sabbath keeping, which we hear about in the creation story…that 7th day when God rested from the labor of creating time/space and all they contain…and then, further, commanded us to follow that example in the Ten Commandments no less…I have always felt like both God’s example and command were intended for us to seriously take to heart, prioritize in our schedules, intentionally commit to…setting aside time…not necessarily a particular day of any given week…or a certain number of hours or minutes in any given day…but setting aside regular, intentional time for what I might call the three “R’s” of sabbath keeping. And, those three “R’s” are: rest, recreation and relationship.
Rest, because like a field not ever allowed to lie fallow, our own productivity is deeply inhibited and diminished if are worn out, worn down and burnt to a crisp. Rest, though it requires stepping away from the many important demands at work and at home that we carry, actually makes us, as you well know, much more productive. And, not just more productive, but actually more likely to find joy and meaning in the work we get to do…and I say “get”…because good work, well done…actually provides purpose, battles boredom and cultivates creativity. A Harvard Business Review article that I recently read said it this way, “One of the most robust findings in the economics of happiness is that unemployment is destructive to people’s wellbeing” (Jan-Emmanuel De Neve and George Ward, March 2017). And, in the article, that destructiveness was not just about personal finances. It listed things like our mental health and hopefulness about the future and positive social connections…our overall wellbeing. Yet, as perhaps we also all know, work, whether of the volunteer or vocational variety, can also be extremely demanding, cause its own stress, beat down our bodies and minds, and, at times, make us feel deeply unfulfilled. So…I return to rest…to the blessing of sleep…of un-productivity…of a good book…of afternoon naps…of a hot bath…of an unscheduled, leisurely Saturday afternoon. As some scientist suggest, even more than diet or exercise, plenty of sleep and rest is the most important thing for our health. So, for our well-being, in heart, mind and body, sabbath is God’s call to intentional rest…not all the time…but certainly some of time.
And, then there is recreation…hobbies, sports, games, reading, making music or art and the like, which I will lump altogether as “play time”. The late Professor of clinical psychology, Charles Shaefer, writes, “We are never more fully alive, more completely ourselves, or more deeply engrossed in anything than when we are playing.” And, psychologist Peter Gray, writes, “The drive to play freely is a basic, biological drive. Lack of free play may not kill the physical body, as would lack of air, food, or water, but it kills the spirit and stunts mental growth.” Play, especially in adults, reduces stress, promotes creativity, improves memory function, deepens social connections, is a natural mood booster, and is just plain old fun. And, for children play is perhaps the single most important way they learn…the way they are shaped as humans. So, all work and no play does, indeed, dull our senses, diminishes our capacity to see and appreciate the beauty around us, and frays the social fabric that should instead hold us together. You have probably heard the saying families that pray together, stay together. Well, I know this may sound odd from your priest, but maybe even more so…families that play together…small families like those we share a home with and large families like those we share a church with…families we are born into and families of our own choosing…families that play together…at the very least…find those bonds of affection that bind them together…immeasurably strengthened. So, like rest, sabbath is God’s call to re-create…to recreate…to prioritize recreation…not all the time…but certainly some of the time.
And, as we often, not always, but often play together, this leads nicely to my third “R” in sabbath keeping…which is relationship. I’m mindful of the fact that at the heart of the Christian understanding of God is relationship. We call this the Doctrine of the Trinity. God is three in one and one in three…three individual persons so bound together through the gravity of love that they can only properly be described as…one God. And, friends, science has finally caught up to what our earliest theologians divined millennia ago. Physicist Carlo Rovelli in a 1996 paper, “[P]proposes what he calls a “relational” interpretation of quantum mechanics, which says things only exist in relation to other things.” And, in a separate essay, he writes, “20th-Century physics is not about how individual entities are by themselves. It is about how entities manifest themselves to one another. It is about relations” (John Horgan, scientificamerican.org, September, 2021). And, he says this relates not only to the inner workings of atoms but to all of reality, including, the real lives we live…lives that fundamentally exist in relation to the other. I am sorry to get so heady here…because all I am really trying to point out is that the most fundamental building block in life on which everything else stands, as God created it, is relationship…our relationships…with God and one another. Our meaning, purpose, salvation, joy…our very existence…is all wrapped up in each other…in the gravity of God’s love that binds us together into one. Thus, like rest and recreation, sabbath is God’s calls for us to take time to stop doing and start being…being with each other. For, in making time to dine with friends, have tea parties with our young children, schedule date nights with our spouse, attend small groups in our church, schedule a weekly call with mom, dad or a friend who lives at a distance, and the like…the deep well of our souls are filled with living water. It is through relationships, as we love, care for, and appreciate one another that we discover who we really are. We find our own breathtakingly beautiful, profoundly capable selves…as they are reflected back to us in the eyes, words and affection of the other…in the love, God’s love, given and received between two people…in that gravity like love that is always pulling us into each other’s orbit. Thus, sabbath is God’s call to create undistracted, intentional space to fall more in love with each other…not all the time…me time, rest time and work time are, as I’ve noted, vitally important…but certainly some of the time.
And, I am thinking about sabbath with you today because, in our Gospel lesson, Jesus has something really important to teach us about the divine intent in sabbath keeping…why God thought it important enough to both model it and command it from the very beginning of our sacred story. And, what I think Jesus is trying to teach his own religious leadership and each of us in healing a woman who suffered in body, and I am sure heart and mind as well, for 18 years on the sabbath, is that sabbath exists for healing…for making us whole…for living a fully alive sort of life. And, not just for us, but for all of creation…for dirt, plants and animals also need to rest, to re-create, if not exactly recreate, and are entirely dependent on healthy, life-giving, symbiotic relationships for their well-being. Thus, their purpose, joy, salvation and very existence, like us humans, is all wrapped up in each other.
Now, I don’t know if the scholars who put together our lectionary that assigns our scripture readings for each Sunday intentionally chose this lesson to coincide with the coming of the fall…a new school year…a new program year in the life of the church. I think likely not…maybe God knew and inspired their choices…but whatever the case may be…I think this is the perfect time, a God-appointed time, a needed time for us to think about sabbath keeping, in what is often the beginning of the busiest time of year…as we ramp up after summer vacations…and get back to work…the meaningful, productive work, as I noted at the beginning, that we get to do. For my experience is that sabbath keeping, like all spiritual practices, requires some intentionality…some planning…some habit forming. As wonderful as making time to rest, play and deepen our life-giving relationships with each other sounds, it is often hard to actually make happen. But, I think, not just our productivity, but our health, our wholeness, in heart, body and mind, depends on it. For sabbath keeping…taking time to rest and care for our physical and emotional wellbeing, taking time to boost our moods and think creatively through recreational pursuits, and, most of all, making time to lean into our relationships, deepen our bonds of affection, allow the gravity of God’s love to pull us ever closer into each other’s orbit…heals us and makes us whole.
And, I think this is true and perhaps most important to attend to when we are at our busiest…when feeling swept away by loss, grief or challenging transitions…when life feels out of control and unmanageable…when the weight of the world and all the suffering, both near and far, it contains feels most unbearable. For, I believe, sabbath keeping literally can, at times, save our lives. Though not particularly scientific or theologically profound, I just know from my own experience that when I make space for the three “R’s” of sabbath keeping in my own life, I am…I am a better parent, better spouse, better friend, and better priest. I am healthier and make better choices. I am more hopeful and joyful…more productive and available…more alive…and more kind. I just am.
So, before getting lost in the fall, perhaps call a family meeting, say a prayer inviting the God of love into your sacred circle to enliven your minds, bust out google calendar, dream and scheme about time to rest, recreate and fall more in love with God and each other…then schedule it and hold each other accountable to it. God created sabbath and commands that we keep it, that we might be healed and made whole…that we and really all of creation…might be saved. Amen.