Sabbath Keeping (eCrozier #157)

On November 30, 2012, in advent, Sabbath, by bishopbenhase

When we order our lives around the focus of our relationship with God by letting our Sabbath day be the highlight of our week, toward which everything moves and from which everything comes, then the security of God’s presence on that day will pervade the week.

The above quote is from Marva Dawn’s book: Keeping the Sabbath Wholly: Ceasing, Resting, Embracing, Feasting. She contends that if we remember the Sabbath and keep it holy, we will find new appreciation for this gift from God. Sabbath keeping is the key to ordering the rest of our lives. But that is a tough sell in a culture that rewards over-functioning and keeping a frenetic pace as a sign of one’s. It shouldn’t be a tough sell in the Church, after all it is a commandment from God.

Many Christians, however, believe that taking a Sabbath rest is a sign of weakness. Keeping Sabbath is not a sign of weakness or a lack of a good work ethic. On the contrary, Sabbath keeping is essential self-care. Parker Palmer writes, “By surviving passages of doubt and depression on the vocational journey, I have become clear about at least one thing: self-care is never a selfish act-it is simply good stewardship of the only gift I have, the gift I was put on earth to offer others.”

Here are three ways I’m renewing my practice of Sabbath keeping for Advent. I invite you to do the same.

1. Sabbath keeping should be a break from expectations and productivity. I don’t need to accomplish anything on the Sabbath. Like everyone else in this culture, I’ve come to believe that unproductive time is wasted time. Not so. I’m going to read some books for the fun of it. I’m not going to set my alarm clock and just sleep in (if the dogs will let me). I’m going to putter around in the back yard, but not really do anything. I’m not going to answer email or turn on anything electronic (except the coffee maker!!!).

2. Sabbath keeping should be a break from consumerism. Like everyone else, I spend so much time during the week thinking about how to pay for my kid’s college, paying other bills, and acquiring things I think I need. Our consumer society provides us with so many choices that I can easily get sucked into the cycle of always wanting more. God calls us to a life of simplicity. On my Sabbath, I’m going thank God for all with which God has already blessed me. I’m not going to purchase anything on my Sabbath day.

3. Sabbath should be a break from being in control. This may be the hardest thing for me to lay aside. Many people depend on me. I carry a heavy load of responsibility that creates an illusion that I have control. The world in which I inhabit, and particularly the world of the Diocese of Georgia, can survive if I step off the merry-go-round for a day and aren’t around to run things. This is a test of faith. I don’t need to watch God’s back. God got along quite well before I arrived. Can I trust God to take care of things in my absence? If I can do so on my Sabbath, then maybe I can do so the other six days?

+Scott

 
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eCrozier #50

On August 20, 2010, in Sabbath, by bishopbenhase

This evening and tomorrow morning we are ordaining new deacons and priests in the Diocese of Georgia and for the one, holy catholic and apostolic Church. Please pray for George Scott, Robert Polglase, and Marcia McRae who will be ordained deacons this evening, and for Bill Dolen, Jim Elliott, Lynn Prather, and Justin Yawn who will be ordained priests tomorrow morning (please especially pray for Carolyn, Bill Dolen’s wife, whose mother died this week). Please also join me in a prayer of thanksgiving for the good people of St. Peter’s, Savannah, who are graciously hosting both ordinations.

While we are remembering those called to Holy Orders, I ask you also to remember in your prayers Fr. Ron Southerland as he recovers from illness. Ron is continuing to serve at Our Savior, Swainsboro even though he is not back to full health and strength. Please also remember Fr. George Porter (Trinity, Cochran) who is home recovering from open-heart surgery and Fr. Gary Abbott (St Luke’s, Hawkinsville) who is slowly returning to work after back surgery. As St Paul reminds us: “we have this treasure in clay jars” (2 Corinthians 4:7a). Like all “clay jars” we’re each liable to crack (and sometimes, break) from time to time, so let’s take care of ourselves, pray for all our colleagues in ordained ministry, and support one another.

Our colleague, Fr Rick Buechner, will soon be off on a well-earned sabbatical (I imagine when he returns we will hear more than we might care to about European opera). Rick’s sabbatical (i.e., a Sabbath rest) leads me to remind us all of our regular need for Sabbath rest from our ministries and for longer sabbaticals after years of service in the parish. All new letters of agreement for stipendiary clergy in the Diocese now have a mandatory sabbatical provision in them. I will not approve a Letter of Agreement that does not have one. To apply for a sabbatical grant for up to $15,000, go to: http://www.louisville-institute.org/Grants/programs.aspx

Their next deadline is September 1, 2011 for sabbaticals in 2012.

Sabbath is a break from routine, a change of pace. In the midst of our busyness and achieving, God calls us to rest, to lay aside our schedules and let the Sabbath be different than the rest of the week. If our week is filled with e-mails and phone calls, turn them off for the day. If our frantic schedule has us traveling a lot (I stand convicted), a Sabbath at home is in order. If we spend our week working inside, then walking or playing outside may be in order.

Sabbath is also a break from productivity and control. We don’t need to accomplish stuff on the Sabbath. Our culture sends us the message that unproductive time is wasted time. Not so. And control may be the hardest thing for us to relinquish. Many people depend on us. We have responsibilities that can create in us an illusion of control. The church can survive if we step away for Sabbath time and aren’t around to run things. The hard question is this: Can we trust God to take care of things in our absence?

Work hard, serve faithfully, but for heaven’s sake, keep a Sabbath rest.

+Scott

 
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eCrozier #48

On June 30, 2010, in Episcopal Church, Sabbath, by bishopbenhase

The Ecrozier is going on summer hiatus, so I’ve packed my “electronic crozier” away for safekeeping and I will take it out again mid-August. Until then, I hope y’all take time for a holiday. Do not take a vacation. That just means you vacate one place for another. Take a holiday; a holy day, to rest and renew yourselves. Matter fact, while you’re at it; take more than one holy day. Just remember to hydrate regularly and, if you are like me, wear your sunscreen as needed. From mid-July to mid-August Kelly and I will be on holiday in Maine, Chicago (with hopefully a visit to the friendly confines of Wrigley Field), and Charlottesville.

But before my holiday I want to alert y’all to a resource that you could use this fall (and beyond) when you resume a full ministry schedule in your congregation. The resource is simply titled an Anglican Spirituality Course. It is a three-session course that will help increase the competency of your parishioners in the foundational spiritual practices of Anglicanism. The course includes an educational design that is a mix of presentation, discussion, and experiential activities. The course comes with a variety of handouts and resources for the leader and participants to use. The cost is $40 and payment comes with permission to use the materials only in your congregation. You can make as many copies as you need in offering the course. See at this link at:
http://www.congregationaldevelopment.com/Parish%20Booklets%20and%20Handouts.htm

To order it, get the form at this link:
http://www.congregationaldevelopment.com/Order%20Form%20-%20booklets%20and%20handouts.htm

I recommend this course because one of the most important aspects of our ministry as church leaders is to make sure our people take mature responsibility for their spiritual growth. To do that, we need to equip them and help them become competent in that responsibility. This three-session course is something y’all could offer on a regular basis (say four times/year or even more) in your congregation. It would also be a great addendum to confirmation preparation.  If you find the cost a problem, let me know and we’ll work out some assistance.

Get some rest.

+Scott

 
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eCrozier #33

On April 30, 2010, in leadership, Sabbath, work, by bishopbenhase

Tomorrow is May Day and for many it is a day to celebrate workers and the work they do. I want to celebrate that with you and to say how honored I am to work along side you in this diocese. This also gives me an opportunity to reflect a bit on the nature of work, both our work in the church and work in general.

If cultural observers are right, we are going through a massive cultural shift not seen since the Enlightenment and the Reformation. Such a shift puts great stress on all people and raises everyone’s anxiety. When that happens many people hunker down and try to resist the change, sometimes for very good reasons. But regardless of the reasons, stress goes up and anxiety deepens. And our people bring that with them to church and sometimes dump it on us. Verna Dozier was fond of saying: “I can remember that when I was most unhappy on my job, I was most active in the church.” So, I am aware as church leaders that we often are on the receiving end of people’s unhappiness in their professional or personal lives. That is why, in my semi-humble opinion, we have one of the hardest jobs imaginable. Once again, my miter is off to all of you who work as leaders of the church.

Another Verna Dozier quote also seems apt here. She wrote: “The layperson’s primary function is out there in the world. There is a problem when the church becomes the primary focus of their lives.” She is right. And we church leaders are at least partly responsible for this distortion in function. I know as rector I learned to play the guilt game with laity. Maybe I wanted them to serve on a committee or head up a project, so I would tell them the church needed them and they needed a ministry in the church and thus they should do what I asked. The not so subtle message was that they really weren’t much of a Christian if they did not volunteer for the job I proposed. I do not think we do that consciously with laity, but the message does come across that ministry is what happens inside the church walls or with the church’s name attached to it.

Maybe this is a result of not having a fuller theology of work? St. Benedict understood even menial work as one of the primary ways we can glorify God. What if we spent a good amount of our leadership energy helping people theologize about their work and the ministry they have in and through their work? Work should not only be a way to make money and provide for one’s family. It should be an opportunity to glorify God in how we relate to our co-workers, in the moral climate that we help create and to which we contribute, and in the integrity of the product we produce or the service we render. It is not just the end product we produce or the final service we render. It is how we get to that end product or service that matters just as much, maybe more. Thus, work ought to become our primary place of ministry outside of our families. The church should do just fine being third, especially if it is equipping people to minister in their families and on their jobs.

Our leadership should model this theology of work while also inculcating the virtues of Sabbath rest, honoring the body, and practicing hospitality (even to ourselves). That means taking and keeping days off and vacation, getting enough rest each night, eating well, and exercising. If we are workaholics who discern our “value” by the long hours we keep, then what are modeling for our laity?

+Scott

 
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