"Sabbath was made for humankind"-A Sermon from Proper 4, Mark 2:23-3:6
So, literally a year ago today, I was at about the end of my first month of sabbatical. And as I think about my experience of time, in that first month of sabbatical, it paradoxically felt like time was both flying by…in what felt like the blink of an eye. I remember having an “oh no” moment there at the end of my first month away thinking that my sabbatical was almost over…which was ridiculous, as it was really only about a quarter over. While in the very same moment and in so many ways, it also felt like I had been away from St. Julian’s and my regular rhythms of life for a very long time…and the thought of being away for three more months felt unsettling and uncomfortable. I truly wanted to be back among my family of faith…among you, which stands, along with my own family, as the great anchor in my life. Three more months of sabbatical felt like a very long time. My friend, Mike Adams, who is Rector of All Saints’ Episcopal Church captures this paradox by saying in the context of raising children, though I think it is also apropos for just the experience of time as we age, “The days are long…but the years are short.” So true. And I think our response, at least speaking for myself, to the old adage that “life is short” is to fill our time entirely up…to be useful and not useless. To keep on with my string of pithy sayings…the whole “an idle mind is the devil’s playground” is to be avoided at all costs…thus an ethic of productivity must indeed be established…at all costs.
Now going back even a bit further to my very first day of sabbatical…it was a Monday…May 1st. Now the evening before Sunday, April 30###sup/sup###, which was my last day at the church, Bishop Doyle had been with us for Confirmation…so it felt like I was running to the very end. I learned, though well worth it, that preparing to be away for a significant length of time makes one busier than ever. So, again, it felt like I was on a sprint leading up to sabbatical…and then it was just over. I woke up on Monday, May 1st…and thought what in the world am I going to do with all of this time. Well my typical pattern for Mondays is to write…normally a sermon for the coming Sunday…so I guess I sort of instinctually found myself, after Ashley and the kids left for school, sitting at the dining room table in front of my computer. A blank screen with a cursor blinking steadily at me…and I began to write a poem. My first of the 60 or so poems I would write during the extent of my sabbatical. And here it is…that very first poem I wrote. It is called “First Day” and then in parenthesis “of sabbatical”. It reads:
What to do
Feeling a bit useless
Listless at least
Self-compassion! Rest is good
You deserve it
Don’t burn out
Sabbath and all
It’s in the bible
Followed, of course, by self-recrimination and judgement
But remember self-compassion!
You are a rock star
The radical-est of all the rad
So, play
Cook
Read
Write
Eat
Move
Laugh
Fish
In whatever order you like
Most especially with each other
That’s what to do
So, I hope you see in the poem that I was feeling a tension in me. A real tension between giving myself permission to enjoy the gift of time, unscheduled…un-agenda-d time…to disconnect and recharge…to rest and pay attention to the people I am closest to…to play and focus on other creative passions and pursuits that feed me…and a sense of feeling and perhaps even fearing being unproductive…listless…maybe even useless.
And I am sharing all these musing about our experience of time, and in particular down time, as a way of entering into today’s gospel lesson. This story before us, from early on in Mark’s gospel, is one of the first contentious encounters Jesus has with his own religious leadership…a theme that runs throughout Mark’s gospel. And, in particular…in this story, the conflict is around the purpose and intention of God’s commandment to honor the sabbath. You recall that the sabbath was a gift of time established by God at the very beginning of the bible. In the very first book of the bible…Genesis…and further…at the beginning of that book…in the creation narrative itself. Genesis reads, “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.” So, the seventh day was set aside for all time to be about rest…about restoration and rejuvenation.
And I for one believe this is all to the good…for all work and no play indeed makes Jack a dull boy…and Jill a dull girl. And dull seems a good word to describe the frame of mind that one finds him or herself in if sabbath is not kept. Our senses are literally dulled if we are burned out and overworked. We become emotionally dulled, and thus we are not as present and available for the people we love and live with. Our energy is dulled, and thus we are not able to put our best efforts toward the good work that demands and needs our attention. Our creative spirit is dulled, and thus we are not as able to think outside the box, be creative in our problem solving, and make things that are inspirational. Absent rest and play, absent quality time both alone and connecting deeply with those we love and who inspire us, absent time for regular spiritual disciplines like prayer, our hearts, minds and bodies are indeed dulled. We walk through life diminished…as something less than the fully alive human beings that God has created us to be.
And so, I don’t think I can understate the value of sabbath. If not strictly observed on literally the 7###sup/sup###day of any particular week…then some time…intentional time…calendared time…to rest, to pray, to be alone, to play, to read, to write, to be fully present with the people who fill us all the way up. This is in part the genius, God’s own original genius, in hallowing a sabbath day…for, I believe, its greatest intention is that it calls and commands each of us to, indeed, be religious about sabbath keeping. Religion actually means regulated or ruled or disciplined…and thus being religious about keeping sabbath requires us to be intentional and habitual in our choice to set the time aside we need to restore and rejuvenate our hearts, minds and bodies…that we might move from dull to fully alive…from diminished to energized…from stale to creative…making us more fully the lovers and life-givers that God has created us to be…and so desperately needs us to be, in a world so full of that which seeks to weigh us down…to cripple our capabilities to live our own one wild and precious and good and Godly life…a life that matters and makes a difference…not just for ourselves alone…but for all those entrusted to our care…those we are responsible for loving well.
Thus, our rest, our sabbath keeping, serves a greater purpose than self-care alone, as important as that is. Sabbath is about restoring and rejuvenating heart, mind and body for the good of the whole world and empowering our Godly work in it. Like a field left to lie fallow after several growing seasons, which is required for nutrients and minerals and moisture to redeposit in the soil and make it good for growing once again, we must allow the good soil that makes up our lives, from time to time, lie fallow that it might be restored and rejuvenated leading to our own growth and to be able to help others do the same. Further, it is clear that Jesus deeply values sabbath. The gospels are dappled with stories of Jesus at dinner parties and wedding receptions and quiet gatherings in the homes of loved ones and time spent alone in prayer reconnecting deeply with God, the source of all of our love and the energy for living life fully alive. Jesus clearly valued the purpose and intent I have hoped to underscore in my own reflections on the gift and value of religiously keeping sabbath.
Thus, his conflict with his own religious leadership is not about the importance of keeping sabbath, but about freeing the sabbath from the burdens that the religion of his day placed on how one technically observes it. Sabbath is a holy obligation because it leads to a greater connection to the God of love and the world and people through whom we most profoundly experience that love. Thus, if not working on the sabbath is so strictly interpreted to mean that one cannot enter a field to get food to eat…just as Jesus’ disciples did…does this really serve God’s purpose of sabbath? How can our bodies be rejuvenated or restored, if we cannot access food and the physical nourishment it provides? And if one is suffering because they are physically or emotionally ill or hurt in some way, doesn’t restoration and rejuvenation, and thus an authentic experience of sabbath, come from being healed, made well, through the loving care of others? It is my own experience that participating in the healing of a hurting person, in heart, body or mind, leads to both their restoration and rejuvenation and our own…as we rejoice in the health and well-being of the one who is healed and restored. Nothing fills my own sails more than seeing someone I care about experience a healing or renewal, a restoration and rejuvenation to a more whole and free and full life…and if God is able to use me in some way in this work, whenever and wherever that is, my joy is made more complete…and sabbath has indeed happened…restoration and rejuvenation abound.
Thus, Jesus is reinterpreting his own tradition to remind his own religious leadership, whether they want to hear it or not, and those like us who follow after him that sabbath is a God-given gift for us…not the other way around. A gift given not to create more discomfort or obligations or burdens, religious or otherwise, but a gift of time set aside, which will look different for each of us, that makes us more whole, more complete, more free…a restored and rejuvenated human being more profoundly prepared to be Jesus’ own heart and hands in a world that needs our full attention…all of our senses and energy…all of our love, care, affection and touch.
Which brings me back to the place I began, time is in a sense short…and we should use it well…but, in my opinion, there is always enough of it…to be the very people God has created us to be and accomplish the good work of helping heal a hurting world that is set ever before us. And, sabbath is a gift for determining both how to use our time well and prepare us to be fully present, not dulled but fully alive, when we are needed most. Sabbath exists for us, a God given call and command to intentionally take the time required for the restoration and rejuvenation needed in our own lives…which is then the very thing we need to use the rest of our time well…our time here on earth, which is set apart to be God’s own vessel of love for the world. Sabbath reminds us that there is indeed time to both lay down our burdens and pick them up…and to know when to do each…for they are connected eternally. There are seasons when we must let our own good soil, which is our very lives, lie fallow…and there are seasons when we need to plant and reap…hard work with our steady hand at the plow. Time for restoration and rejuvenation…time for hard work and good ministry…connected eternally…God ordered balance…that provides meaning, purpose and energy for living lives of substance…the precious time we have…well spent. Amen.