Sabbath, Connections, and getting ready for Christmas

An article by Matt    No Comments

Early this week I read an article on the disappearance of deep thinking and sacred space over at The 99%.  The message of this post has been floating around in the back of my head ever since.  I suspect that it’s refusal to leave my thoughts has to do with two things: my impending vacation time, and my dread of the Christmas season.

I believe that we all know that we all inherently know that we are over connected and under rested.  The beauty of facebook, twitter, and the like is that we can know everything that is going on right now whenever we want.  The dark side of facebook, twitter, and the like is that we can know everything that is going on right now whenever we want.  As human beings, we are created with a desire for connection… and in today’s world we are offered connection anytime we want.  The downside of this is that with unlimited on demand connection we often lose out on the beauty of sabbath rest, and our ability to think deeply.

Next week I am headed to Frisco, North Carolina for my family’s Thanksgiving week ritual.  Over the course of the week we spend the week surf fishing, playing hearts, laughing, and disconnecting from the world.  During the off season on the outer banks there is a good chance that the weather will be warm (forecasts call for mid to high sixties all next week) and there are few people.  It is not uncommon to feel like you have the entire island to yourself at times, and it is nourishing to the soul.  This is the type of ritual (granted a little longer than described that Scott Belsky talks about in his post when he says:

Perhaps those in biblical times knew what was in store for us when they created the Sabbath? The notion of a day every week reserved for reflection has become more important than ever before. It’s about more than just refraining from work. It’s about unplugging. The recent Sabbath Manifesto movement has received mainstream, secular accolades for the concept of ritualizing the period of disconnection. Perhaps you will reserve one day on the weekend where you force yourself to disconnect? At first, such efforts will feel very uncomfortable. You will deal with a bout of “connection withdrawal,” but stay with it.

What makes this time away the most refreshing for me is that for the week, I turn off the connections.  I admit, it is hard at first, but gradually you get used to it… and by Wednesday I am amazed with what happens in my journal as I soak on life.

The irony of the timing of this post is that we are headed into the season of church life that tends to be the busiest of the year.  Christmas means plays, decorations, special choirs, promotion, all sorts of preparations for visitors, and then family stuff.  The hairs on the back of my neck are starting to stand up as I remember the years on church staff as the Christmas gear up began.  Christmas is a beautiful time of year that becomes more beautiful as we allow ourselves the space to focus and soak on all that it means and all that it is.  Unfortunately with all the hustle and bustle that happens in the church during this season added to the normal over connectedness of daily life we miss the opportunity to truly soak it all in.

As we head into this season, my prayer for church staff and pastors everywhere is that during this upcoming season is that you will be preparing now to create the time and space for sabbath.  Take the time to soak and realize what the season is, and minister out of the fullness that sabbath gives you.

How do YOU create space during the busy ministry seasons for sabbath?