Sabbath and the rat at the end of the day

Where I grew up, I was not used to see water in shallow ponds, or small creeks. We lived in front of a “dry lake” from the time I was in 4^th grade until we left home. Only at the last did the city and the YMCA figure out a way to put water in it. That was just West Texas. Fortunately, all the world is not like West Texas.

Today we spent the day driving a scenic circle that started at the home of Anna's sister and husband and took us in a large square around some of the most beautiful scenery I have had the pleasure to enjoy. And I have seen a lot.

There are some things I have learned down through the years about self care, therapeutic rest, and the Old Testament concept of Sabbath. I have not always appreciated what I learned or put into practice what I learned(God's Slow Learner).

Sabbath is a confusing thing for Baptists, always has been and probably always will be. Early on as a pastor, I thought it important to help the congregation Sunday was not the “Sabbath.” It was the Lord's Day. It was one of many losing battles I fought. In my mind, it was pretty clear. Sabbath was the commemoration of Creation, worshiping the Creator and rest. It also was strictly speaking Sunset on Friday to Sunset on Saturday: the evening and the morning. Sunday was the Lord's Day and commemorated the Resurrection of Christ and the Worship of God. Same God, different focus. However, one of the things that fell away in the shift from Sabbath to the Lord's Day was the ritual of rest.

My journey in faith, in full time Christian service led me in paths where I began to understand what God had known all along. He has made us so that we are at our best when we take the time to rest. The problem is though we are fearfully and wonderfully made, we often do not understand the need or the power of whole body rest.

I have always been very curious about the meaning of being human. I remember taking a course in my curriculum for my Masters in Family Psychology, and the assignment Dr Doug Thomas gave his class. We were to provide a short theoretical paper on our concept of the self. After all, he reasoned if we were going to be treating people, we needed to know the target and its composition. That class, “Theories of Personality really challenged me to integrate my faith and psychological understandings in such a way I was better treating the whole person.

So, my etiology of the person needed to be more holistic. It was not surprising in my work I discovered problems were often more complex than presented or formulated. Teaching the Bible needed to reflect that, preaching needed to reflect that and living needed to reflect that.

I discovered some simple realities about myself. My mind could get tired. Emotionally, I could get tired. Certainly my body would get tired. However, those were not the sum of who I am. That vague “soul” could also get tired. Never really sure where it was in my body, but sure it was there. As the years have passed, I have sadly met a few soulless people. My shorthand for them are psychopaths/sociopaths.

Sabbath speaks to the pieces parts of our being. It is about rest: rest from the routine; rest from our daily rituals; rest for the weary body and often in Bible times the animals humans depended on; rest for the mind, for the emotions, and rest for the soul. Soul rest in my mind is the essence of worship. The soul which God placed in us is well described by Augustine of Hippo when he said, “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.” The soul/heart rests in worship drawing close to the Living God and the people of God. Sabbath rest for the soul is not a once a week exercise but a daily routine developed from love for God and devotion to God utilizing the Word of God, Holy Spirit enabling prayer and living out loud that renewed relationship.

There is also a sense in which mind rest, emotion rest, physical rest have a daily and a weekly cycle. However, we also need more than that. Some churches began to realize pastoral leadership needed a Sabbath rest beyond a vacation which was longer than a couple of weeks. Borrowed from academia, sabbaticals slowly came into the church. However, as technology has crept into the world, it is more difficult to withdraw from the world. Even when we are not away, well, we are not fully away.

Of course today, we have words to describe what happens when we do not do Sabbath. Pastors, ministers “burn out.” I remember hearing again and again pastors usually speaking at conferences referencing the notion “I would rather burn out than rust out!” I would remind myself and those ministers I would work with there is always a third choice: “We can wear out.” However, in order to wear out, we have to go the distance. We can only do that with Sabbath.

So Anna and I are doing Sabbath in a place where nature meets heaven offering splendorous landscapes which I am trying to capture with my camera. Deer come close to the house to feed. We found upon returning one lounging next to the road up to the house. I saw a beaver's butt scampering for safety after crossing the road thinking we were going to hit it. I remarked to my brother in law, “Not growing up around such a wondrous variety of animals, it is made harder when all I see is their butts and tails scampering for safety.” In answer to that smart remark, arriving at the front door Sandy noticed a critter behind an ornamental milk can. I saw a nose, large beady eyes, and then Sandy kicked the can and a rat ran out toward Anna. The only thing worse than hearing Anna scream into my right ear is hearing her sister equally loud, screaming into my left ear. I noticed they did not have the warm fuzzy feeling about the rat as they did about the deer.

I hope your summer plans include Sabbath.

Wash your hands, wear your masks, mind the gap and be kind.