Shabbat Shalom: the discomfort of resting

When we hear the word "downtime" some of us may jump immediately to the negative. Downtime with regard to technology is considered a "failure" or an "outage," something that requires immediate attention. We expect that our technology, whether it be computers, phones, televisions, cars, whatever - we expect that it will work anytime, anywhere.

 

 

Walmart and many grocery stores are open 24 hours per day.

 

Black Friday sales are beginning on Thanksgiving, earlier and earlier.

 

It's estimated that Americans are taking only 77 percent of their paid vacation time because of the pressures in business to not miss a day of work.

 

Do we even know how to take a day off anymore?

 

Do we know how to rest?

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The serious impact of busy lives

 

As my junior year of high school was finishing up, my school released the class rankings of each student in my class. The top two women and top two men were selected to help with the graduation ceremony of the senior class, a rather impressive honor. I was shocked to find out that in fact, I was number two. I'd always known I was an accelerated learner, but I was unaware that I was in fact succeeding so greatly.

 

I never considered myself competitive, but with college applications and senior year ever looming, I suddenly realized the urgency of keeping that #2 status. The others ranked in the top 10 of our class began signing up for as many AP classes as possible, getting special permission to skip lunch and cram their schedule. I signed up for 5 AP classes, and forewent lunch in my schedule so that I could remain in accelerated Symphony band. I also configured my afternoon schedule to take advanced speech credits at the University of Pittsburgh, competed in the state and national levels in debate and speech, served on a national board for Latin, contributed hundreds of volunteer hours for my senior project, played in a quartet and orchestra outside of school, attended youth group each week, played softball....the list continues. I needed to be unique to get into that perfect university, and I needed to stand out to get that full scholarship.

 

As I was walking one morning from homeroom to AP Biology, I began to crumble. I was working until all hours of the night in AP Biology, and I was barely managing to pass, let alone do well. And I hated it. I hated that I was the worst in the class; I hated that I had no idea what equations to use to figure out problems; I hated that biology was more than how the pieces of the body functioned and worked together. I hated that it took up a double block period in the first two hours of my day. I couldn't handle it; I began to lose my breath, and my heart began to pound. I felt dizzy and nauseated. I found myself walking without really deciding to the nurse's station. There I had a full panic attack, complete with hysterical crying, irregular breathing, and light-headedness. The counselor came in and helped me drop Biology without penalty, and talked me back into confidence and sanity.

 

At the tender age of 17, I realized the extreme consequences that come when we give up on rest. I learned that I am not a computer that can do everything and produce pristine results while producing no downtime. I cannot run on empty; I cannot coast through life on fumes. Continually, I have to repeat to myself that I cannot be everywhere all the time doing all the things.

 

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Disappointment, anxiety, and self-confidence

I think a lot of times, we know deep down that we can't do it all, we can't be all things to all people. That however, is not a word of comfort for us. We feel like we are letting ourselves and others down when we can't get it all accomplished, when we've bitten off more than we can chew. We sacrifice sleep, meals, quality of work, time with children - we make sacrifices so that we can try to satiate our hungry need to be busy, to do everything, to be in control.

 

Actually, though, we weren't created that way.

 

At the end of the creation of the universe, God rested:

 

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all their multitude. And on the seventh day God finished the work 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.

Genesis 2.1-3

 

Interestingly, it doesn't say, "God rested because God was tired;" nor does it say, "God worked and worked until God collapsed from exhaustion;" nor does it say, "God worked a half-day on Friday." No, it simply says that God rested after God worked hard. God blessed the day of rest and hallowed it; it is a day in which God cherished the creation God had made and appreciated it, rather than continued driving forward.

 

Our call to rest is similar. We are called to rest not when we get tired or when we've been hospitalized for exhaustion or after all of our work is completely complete; we are called to rest in a regular, disciplined fashion in order to cherish the work we have done and the Creator who sustains our lives throughout the week.

 

This past week, we had an unstructured Youth Group time: board games, lip sync battles, signing up for future events. Students engaged in raucous board games, tossed a football around, worked on their volleyball serves, and chatted with one another. The mood felt relaxed and comfortable. While some people might see this as wasted time, I feel it is a necessary part of our pattern as followers of Christ. We work hard: we learn about God, we live out our faith, we invite others to know Christ, we serve the needs of the world. It seems counter-intuitive for us to rest, enjoy the creation around us, and enjoy our Creator.

 

For the past 10 years of my life, I have regularly practiced a Sabbath day, usually on Fridays but moveable according to work schedule. I confess that this has not always been as it sounds. I often try to accomplish a lot of menial tasks around my home on these days: laundry, cleaning, meal preparation, grocery shopping. When I trained for a half-marathon, my Sabbath was devoted to long runs and stretches. Overall, however, I have made it my practice to rest my brain from the striving part of my faith. I had the great joy of visiting a synagogue a few years ago for Shabbat service, and I found it warm and refreshing to be greeted, "Shabbat Shalom." This in fact means, "Sabbath of peace." As you greet one another with Shabbat Shalom, I personally read it as a momentary prayer for the peace and wholeness of the other person, a peace they can only find through rest. We do this when we pass the peace of Christ in our congregation, wishing one another a peace that surpasses understanding. In Sabbath, I seek to rest my mind and my will so as to be open to the will of God. In Sabbath, I submit to the will of Jesus Christ as Lord of the earth and of my life.

 

Sabbath can look different for each individual. I have clergy friends who go on sabbath retreats for multiple days of rest from the world. I have friends who set aside a sabbath hour each evening, rather than a full day. I have friends who spend the time reading and studying scripture, who spend the time knitting or doing mundane activities to calm their ever-moving brain, who exercise or do yoga, and who cut themselves out from technology. Sabbath is a spiritual discipline that requires trying new things and allowing some of them to be right for you and others to not be right. It is assessing your need for inner peace and assessing your personality to ascertain how you might achieve it.

 

So today, I challenge you to consider what Sabbath might mean in your life.

 

Is worship on Sunday mornings a part of your Sabbath? If so - how are you seeking rest the other parts of that day? Is it even possible?

 

What helps to calm your mind from the world, to give you rest from your work? How can you do that with regularity?

 

Do you feel guilty for resting too long? How can you combat that feeling of guilt?

 

Will you Sabbath alone or with others? What gives you energy and fills you with peace?

 

With that, I wish you, "Shabbat Shalom" - may you empty yourself enough that you may be filled with the peace that only Jesus Christ can bring.

 

Some resources:

Headspace - a sweet meditation tool

 

Some guided Lectio Divina Meditation

 

A blog [kind of] about football on Sundays

Worship in the Whirlwind

I don't need to tell you that teenagers can experience superhuman forms of energy...

 

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{not enough coffee in the world...}

 

coupled with superhuman forms of lethargy...

 

{source}

 

and not a whole lot in between. When I first began in Youth Ministry, many curriculums were focused on getting kids to calm down, be quiet and still, but somehow also interested and engaged in a 2000 year old text: an impossible task. This is simply not in the DNA of most teenagers.

 

Since then, some curriculum has moved forward, and I personally believe that fighting against the nature of a teenager is equivalent to fighting against the nature of the polar bear above: a losing battle. Actually, both the hyperactivity and the lethargy are essential parts of their development; their bodies are actually learning by playing, resting and balancing. We try to create a balance of games, creative energy, and rest within our Youth Group sessions so as to work with their natural development and help them to learn even better.

 

It can sometimes be hard to believe that when kids are running around playing kickball or laughing loudly during an SNL meal, that they are actually learning spirituality, but they are. I believe the key to making an impact on the spirituality of teenagers is by integrating spirituality as a daily part of life, rather than simply a Sunday thing or something they only do around church friends. When students learn that God is a part of their Cross Country practice or their math test, when students begin to pray on the bus on the way to school or tell their friends about Jesus, when students seek out daily devotionals and want to worship God in new ways, this is when we have truly done our job.

 

This week, we read two scriptures:

 

Psalm 100

 

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.

Worship the Lord with gladness;

Come into his presence with singing.

 

Know that the Lord is God.

It is he that made us, and we are his;

we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

 

Enter his gates with thanksgiving,

and his courts with praise.

Give thanks to him, bless his name.

 

For the Lord is good;

his steadfast love endures forever,

and his faithfulness to all generations.

 

Romans 12.1-2, 9-18, 21

 

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present yourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God - what is good and acceptable and perfect.

 

Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

 

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

 

Here, we find that God gives us the blueprints for how we can worship God with our daily lives. Worship, it would seem, does not have to take place in a room with mahogany pews and stained glass; worship does not require a fancy preacher with a black robe and hand sewn stole; worship does not need an organ or a rock band or even a liturgy. Worship happens over and over again when we simply hand over our lives to the will of God.

 

In the Presbyterian Church, we believe that worship requires the proclamation of God's Word in the world and the congregation's response to that proclamation. On Sunday mornings, the proclamation of God's Word occurs in the reading of Scripture and the sermon, and the people respond with prayer, song, and offering. This is a simple formula, and we like the routine. In my experience, I feel hollow when I go a week without these pieces of worship; they are a part of my bone marrow, a part of how I live. I need God's Word, and I need to be inspired to live differently and worship God. The Westminster Catechism for me is true: "The chief end of man is to worship God and enjoy him forever."

 

However, the worship service does not end here. God's Word can sometimes be proclaimed in many ways, not just by reading from the Bible and listening to a lecture.

 

Here is one church, Hot Metal Bridge Faith Community, in Pittsburgh, PA. At Hot Metal, sometimes the Word of God is proclaimed through drama:

 

{special shout-out: that's my mother-in law in the pink sweater!}

 

Here's a church plant called Sweaty Sheep, where the proclamation of the Word is experienced through exercise and meditation:

 

 

 

And our response to God's Word proclaimed is not limited to the prayer of the people and the offering. Our response to God's Word can happen in a variety of ways throughout every day of our lives.

 

Here is a church plant called The Big Table that responds to God's work by caring for people in the service industry:

 

 

And here's a church plant called Bare Bulb Coffee that responds to God's Word by creating a safe space for conversation and spiritual development:

 

 

 

Where are we headed with this?

So maybe the response to God's Word isn't forming a new church or eliminating worship in the Sanctuary or demolishing the organ. But if we are really hearing the Word proclaimed in our midst, it inspires us to live a life of worship for God. It should inspire more than simply an earlier wake-up call on Sunday morning; it should inspire worship through exercise, relationships, and life-choices. Our students spent time this weekend thinking about ways they can worship God within their family, at their schools, among their friends, in our community, and in the world. We challenged students to think differently about what it means to worship God, and called them to a life surrounded by God's presence. As Paul says in Romans, we are called to be transformed by God and to offer our whole lives as living sacrifices.

 

How will you and your family worship God every day?

 

How does the Word of God transform your life? How do you see it transforming the life of your teenager?

 

How will you as a family commit to allowing God to transform your lives?

 

More info:

Here is a website that talks about how our denomination is responding to God's Word through the 1001 New Worshipping Communities initiative. There are lots of videos and stories of creative and different ways that people are responding to God's Word in their lives - maybe they'll inspire you!

 

1001 New Worshipping Communities

 

Here are some blogs that talk about this:

 

This guy, Sweet

 

And this guy's sermon...

 

 

 

 





Cleaning Up the Mess

When Hurricane Katrina hit the gulf coast, I was 19 years old. I signed up on the first Presbyterian Disaster Assistance crew to go into the city of Biloxi, Mississippi. I can vividly remember the mess. Each street looked like this:

 

 

or worse.

 

At times, when you would meet folks who were in need before the hurricane hit and were destitute now, it seemed like the mess would never be cleaned up; that the gulf might never be put back together. I went back several times over the next 12 months, and the mantra was always: New Orleans will never be the same.

 

On Sunday at both Youth Groups, we talked about sin, brokenness, and God's initiative to put us back together. Sin, we defined, is anything that separates us from God. Sometimes sin is doing things we know we should not. Sometimes sin is just evil in the world that causes bad things to happen. Sometimes it's someone's fault, sometimes it's not.

 

I demonstrated to the students how sin can be like breaking an egg. You can never put the egg back together again perfectly. You could super-glue the pieces, you could try to get every piece back together, but there is no way to get all of the yolk back inside and no way to avoid a weak crack. We read together Romans 5.6-11:

 

For while we were still weak, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person - though perhaps for a good person, someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved though him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

 

Even though the egg is broken and the mess is overwhelming, God still sees an egg worth fixing, a life worth saving. God reaches into our mess and makes us new.

 

We expect, very often, that when God reaches into our mess to save us, that God will make us into that same egg the way it was before it was broken, but it doesn't seem to be true. God makes us into a new creation, made better by our weakness, suffering, and sin. Made perfect by the grace of God.

 

There is a really neat Japanese pottery form called Kintsugi. In Kintsugi, they take broken pieces of pottery and glue them back together. Instead of trying to hide the cracks, Kintsugi artists use gold paint to highlight the cracks, to make the cracks into an artistic pattern. The cracks are a part of the finished product's beauty rather than its shame.

 

I think this is how God relates to us. God meets us in our brokenness and in the sinful, chaotic world and makes us into something new, even more beautiful, even more strong because of our brokenness. The pot itself could not put itself back together, but the potter can transform the work into something new and whole.

 

I believe this is true in our own sinful lives. Sometimes our lives can have sinful actions in them. Teenagers regularly develop bad habits out of rebellion and development. We can develop negative attitudes or bitter feelings. God has the power to transform our thoughts, feelings, and actions if we will let him do so.

 

I believe this is true in a world where evil takes place. The mantra in New Orleans was right: New Orleans has never been the same, and that is OK. In some ways, New Orleans (and the rest of the gulf coast) has evolved. Some of the ugliness of its underbelly was exposed and cut out. Some of the beauty hiding under its wings was revealed and is now celebrated and cherished. I had the great privilege of seeing God quietly transform lives every day in the gulf coast, and I came to believe that the greatest gift that God can give is hope.

 

As we look to our neighbors a mere hour down the road, hopelessness, fear, and heartache are easy to find. The work is hard and the road is long; Columbia will never be the same. And yet God promises to intervene, to show up in the ugliness, in the brokenness, in the destruction and despair, in the pain and sorrow. God will be there, and Columbia will never be the same.

 

As a note of hope, our youth have decided to help out with the relief efforts in Columbia. For the next 3 weeks, we will be collecting Clean-Up Buckets through Presbyterian Disaster Assistance to be used in Columbia. Often, PDA uses the buckets collected in a warehouse for disasters like this, but in this case, local churches have been called upon and our buckets will be delivered to Fountain Inn Presbyterian Church in Columbia to be used directly in this area. Please contact me directly if you'd like to get involved with this effort.

 

Here are some resources about how to talk about tragedies with your family:

 

Helping Children Cope With Tragedy

Helping Children/Youth Cope with Disasters

 

Here are some resources about God's love for us in spite of sin:

 

 

Nadia Bolz-Weber

 

Here are some photos of youth group on Sunday:

 

 

 

 



 



Watch Me Whip

Play when the Spirit says play...

I've been in youth ministry long enough that you would think I would learn my lesson: when you have your act together and you have everything organized and you think the kids are going to love the event, they will inevitably want to play kickball instead.

 

All week last week, my husband and I went through Netflix and our DVD collections thinking of movies that middle and high school kids would think were vintage and cool. Imagine my disappointment when I arrived on Sunday night armed with Nightmare Before Christmas and Young Frankenstein, and was welcomed with this face:

 

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In youth ministry, you learn the stages of "going with the flow."

 

Stage 1: I'm Old.

"This is it. You've hit your peak. The youth no longer find you cool or interesting. You'll now have to start shouting at kids on your lawn, shaking your cane at hooligans on the corner, and telling an inordinate number of stories that begin with 'back when I was your age...'"

 

 

Stage 2: I have failed.

"I will now hide in the corner while the children take over like a real-life version of Lord of the Flies."

 

Stage 3: Complete Panic

"Oh dear GAWD, we have an hour and a half left!!! What can I do to avoid a riot?!?!?!"

 

{source}

 

Stage 4: The Brilliant Idea (That someone else came up with)

"Kickball?? Yes, we have one of those. A field of grass to play in? Oh wow, we have that too. Let's go do that!"

 

{source}

 

Stage 5: Swag

"Boom, baby! Guess who weathered that storm like a champion!"

 

{source} 



 

After a week of rain and miserable weather, our students were ready to play outside and/or sleep. The interest level in movie night was at an all-time low. So we rolled with the punches, and played some kickball with the middle schoolers and got a visit from a special little pumpkin (baby Logan Pratt!) at high school.

 

As I stood in the semi-rainy, windy weather watching kids run wildly around our front lawn, silently bummed that I was not in the warm comfort of the youth room watching some classic films, it occurred to me that our faith journeys can so often be this way. We rest in the comfort of our church, in our comfortable scriptures, in our daily prayers and devotions; being a Christian is a source of comfort for us, giving us identity and confidence. It's as though we have arrived.

 

It is easy to be comfortable in our beautiful church. We have a gorgeous church building that is full of guests and young people every week. Just walk up and down the halls of the education wing and see the marvelous works that our children are doing. Come to an SNL supper on a Sunday night and you'll see that our Fellowship Hall is at capacity: we literally cannot feed anymore people in this room. In fact, the youth aren't even eating in Fellowship Hall. It feels good and comfortable to be a member at Unity Presbyterian Church.

 

Unfortunately, being a Christian might feel comfortable, but its deepest meaning, being a Christ-one, a follower of Christ, requires something much more uncomfortable for us.

 

In Revelation, Christ says to the church at Laodicea:

 

I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth. For you say, 'I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.' You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.

Revelation 3.15-17

 

{Seriously, what are we going to do with this new Associate Pastor...what a jerk...}

 

Ouch. These words of Revelation are harsh, and please hear: I don't think we are at Laodicea level. It is however, easy to look around and see new visitors coming, programs thriving, and the service being sharp and clean and believe, we've hit the top of our success. It is easy for us to say, "I have prospered; I need nothing." Yet Christ calls us to a much more difficult and uncomfortable walk. Christ calls us to change our plans when the programs and plans we have set forth are not the programs and plans that God has set forth. Christ calls us to stand in the windy cold parking lot where the world is in chaos even when we'd rather be in the youth wing sipping hot cocoa watching a delightful film.

 

Here is the comfort. At the end of his ministry, right before he ascends to heaven, Jesus commands his disciples:

 

And Jesus came and said to them [the disciples], 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always to the end of the age.

 





 Jesus' commands have two verbs: go and make. You can't sit in the youth room watching movies and GO at the same time. You can't make disciples when you're resting in the youth room. If you're sitting in awe at the number of visitors and youth we have coming to our programs, you can't make disciples out of them. God's call is to action: the simple joy of playing together, the thrill of movement. Just as the sigh and ache of muscles after they work hard gives us adrenaline and a rush of positive feeling, so we are called to work our spiritual muscles.

 

In this passage, Christ does not tell us that we only need to go to easy places that are sunny and 75 degrees or full of people like us. He does not tell us to plant ourselves on the comfy couches of the youth room. Rather, Christ calls us to the cold, windy weather where we do not have control and we do not have command. I am reminded of writers who wrote on this passage 10 years ago and inspired me to get on a bus and go to Biloxi, Mississippi a mere 50 days after Hurricane Katrina struck the coast. Sometimes, we are called to the devastated regions of our land (sound familiar?); sometimes we are called to orphanages in Mexico. Sometimes we are called to far-off towns in Malawi; sometimes we are called to the messy bedroom of our teenage child who has had a difficult day and needs a shoulder to cry on. Jesus does not describe where we are going but does promise that he will be with us always.

 

With us.

Always.

Period.

 

That is something to get excited about.

 

Maybe God has altered your plans this week as he did mine. I hope that you will find God's presence in that alteration, and realize the purpose God has for you. Here are some other people who have written about this:

 

My buddy, Jay Freyer

 

Krista Tippett