“Sabbath”

Sermon delivered on 22 August 2010 

 Scriptural Basis: Jeremiah 1:4-10, Luke 13:10-17

Before I get into the sermon, I’d like to thank all of the youth for their contributions to today’s worship service. The words of the prophet Jeremiah that Ruslana read a few moments ago are quite appropriate I think; “But the Lord said to me, do not say “I am only a boy (or girl); for you shall go to all whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.” Our young people are speaking for the Lord today, with words given to them from On High. I know they might be a bit nervous, but the Lord is with them and they’re doing a fantastic job.

I thought about calling this sermon “travails of a type A personality” or “confessions of a workaholic,” but that struck me as being a bit too self-serving even though this message is really as much therapy for the minister as it is, I hope, useful for you.  You may not have noticed, but I’m a textbook type A workaholic. I’m really, really bad at doing nothing. After about three days of vacation I begin to get antsy and feel an incredibly strong need to accomplish something, something beyond exploring a different part of the world or spending uninterrupted time with Karen. Sleeping and eating are necessary evils that interfere with productivity, and should be minimized whenever possible so that more might be achieved in any given day. When personal productivity goals are not met, one must sentence oneself to the woodshed for a harsh mental tongue-lashing. Every minute of every day is an opportunity to get something done, to check something off your to-do list. Fun is not a priority, unless of course it can somehow be redefined as an enjoyable but productive event. I once served under a Reserve Group Commander in the Coast Guard who was forever talking about “scraps of time,” his point being that the few minutes between meetings or the down time between training events were useful bits of time during which you could take care of an administrative task or two, or maybe update your task list so you had more things to cross off from it. I thought that Commander Riker was on to something, and wrote “scraps of time” on a post-it note and stuck it on my computer monitor. Our society generally rewards people like me with important projects and promotions because we’ll get it done, no matter the cost. Back in my Ford days, it was considered a mark of honor to forsake your life for the company; I remember being told that over sixty percent of Ford’s senior management cadre had been through a divorce, and the person telling me this seemed to think that this was something to aspire to! Vacations, when they were taken, involved carrying laptops and cell phones and working on projects before the rest of the family got up and going for the day. I remember being quite proud of myself for only using seven of an available twenty-eight vacation days one year. For me, and I think most people like me, play comes after the work is done and of course, the work is never done so the play never happens. We type A’s are masters at rationalizing activities like mowing the lawn or washing the car as “relaxation” because it gives us private time to think and reflect while we accomplish something useful. Maybe I should form a group along the lines of AA for type A’s, Workaholics Anonymous? Intellectually I know I have a problem, but I have yet to figure out what to do about it. I find myself in the rather odd and uncomfortable position of disagreeing with the Pharisee in today’s gospel reading not because he challenges Jesus’ healing on the Sabbath day but because he doesn’t celebrate the efficient use of time this healing represents.

Jesus gets it right, there was work to be done in healing this poor woman and he did it. Sabbath day or not, he did what was needed. Type A’s all around the world are vindicated by the words and actions of Jesus Christ. And of course, this interpretation of the events in the gospel lesson completely misses the point. The point isn’t effective use of a “scrap of time” to do something worthwhile, it’s that the Pharisee would have rather let the woman suffer for another day rather than do the work of healing on the Sabbath even though this same man would have watered and fed his ox or donkey on the Sabbath. The point is that some things are infinitely more important that blind adherence to the law, even if the law is one of the Ten Commandments, number four to be exact. Jesus calls the Pharisee, and all who think like the Pharisee, hypocrites because they’ve got their priorities completely out of whack. What could be more important than relieving the suffering of a faithful woman, one who has spent eighteen years unable to look up and see the sun and the stars, who has spent eighteen years looking at the dust on the ground? This woman is actually a pretty good analogy for us type A’s – head down, shuffling forward, unable to look up and see the world around her; the difference being, of course, that she had no say in the matter until Jesus healed her on the Sabbath.

I think it highly unlikely that God would condemn his only Son for healing a daughter of Abraham on the Sabbath day, or that any one of us will have to answer for doing good on a Sunday afternoon. Emergency rooms are open on Sunday, police officers and firefighters do their work on Sunday. However, I do think we ought to take a look at what we consider a “good” use of our time on the Sabbath day. I am of such an age that when I was younger, nothing, nothing was open on Sunday. I remember having to put gas in the car on Friday afternoon because few gas stations were open on Saturday and absolutely none of them were open on Sunday. We went grocery shopping on Thursday or Friday, and forget about going to the mall on Sunday – it was closed. Sunday afternoon was a time for family events, maybe a picnic or dinner with the grandparents and then the Lawrence Welk show. It wasn’t a time for mowing the lawn or washing the car. It wasn’t a time for soccer practice or shopping sprees. It was quiet time, time to read or have conversation or play quietly. Maybe you’d go for a walk or a bike ride, but much beyond that didn’t happen. It was time to think, time to reflect, time to pray. Time to be still, and know that God is God. And as much as it galls my type A tendencies, it was good time, time that I think we’d be well-served to recapture.

Whether I like it or not, everybody needs down time, a Sabbath. Even me. And I don’t just mean time away from work or time off from school. I mean a real Sabbath as God described it in Exodus: you shall not do any work. And don’t make the mistake of confusing recreational activities with Sabbath time. Watching a ball game might be fun and relaxing for you but it’s not being still; taking your motorcycle out for a ride might be really enjoyable but it’s not an activity that lends itself to letting your mind quiet down for a bit. I’ll accept that in our fast-paced society, with our calendars full to overflowing with church meetings and business travel and school functions and social commitments that carving out an entire day on which no work is done might be something of a challenge, and it would drive us type A’s nuts, but I won’t accept that you can’t find some time every week when you shut off your cell phone, walk away from the computer, drop the TV remote and be still. Don’t worry about the stack of magazines next to your chair or all those really great books you bought that you haven’t read yet – and yes, I’m talking to myself here. Just sit. Force yourself to not think about what needs to be done or what’s on the calendar for next Tuesday afternoon. Shut yourself down for a while. The Reverend Wayne Muller, founder of Bread for the Journey, an organization dedicated to serving families in need, wrote a book entitled “Sabbath: Restoring the Sacred Rhythm of Rest” a few years ago. In it he writes “All life requires a rhythm of rest. There is a rhythm in our waking activity and the body’s need for sleep. There is a rhythm in the way day dissolves into night, and night into morning. There is a rhythm as the active growth of spring and summer is quieted by the necessary dormancy of fall and winter. There is a tidal rhythm, a deep, eternal conversation between the land and the great sea. In our bodies, the heart perceptibly rests after each life-giving beat; the lungs rest between the exhale and the inhale. We have lost this essential rhythm. Our culture invariably supposes that action and accomplishment are better than rest, that doing something – anything – is better than doing nothing. Because of our desire to succeed, to meet these ever-growing expectations, we do not rest. Because we do not rest, we lose our way… We miss the quiet that would give us wisdom.” A true Sabbath time is quiet, with our focus on nothing but the presence of God. I suggest to you that it’s hard to focus on the presence of God when you’re cheering your favorite team on to victory or lining up a putt. Recreation isn’t the same as Sabbath.

Remember that while Jesus did work on the Sabbath, good and necessary and important work in healing the crippled woman, he often took time away to pray and rest. In Jewish tradition, the Sabbath is on Saturday, in Christian tradition it’s on Sunday. But to be honest, these are boxes on a calendar page. Your Sabbath day, or perhaps more precisely your Sabbath time can be on any day of the week. I understand that you probably can’t afford a whole day of quiet focus on the presence of God, but I’ll bet that you can find an hour or so each week. Maybe this afternoon would be a good time to start making that hour or so a part of your life. I know you’ll be better off if you do.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.