When I was growing up, there was always something to do at my grandparent’s house. Grass to cut, weeds to trim, vegetables to tend, and always some project to make the place a little easier for two aging grandparents. But no matter how much there was to do, we never did any of it on Sunday. I couldn’t understand why: after all, the whole family was already there, we all had the day off, and so why shouldn’t we get a little done?
Because my grandma said so. Sunday was the Lord’s Day, a day for church, and dinner, and naps. Us boys could play as much football as we wanted; the adults could play as much Rook as the day would allow; but we were not allowed to do any work of any kind. Period.
The older I got, the more frustrating this became. There were things I wanted to help my grandmother with. There were things that needed doing, and I didn’t always have time to come back during the week to help out: I had classes to attend, or tennis matches on Saturday morning. It didn’t matter – none of it. If helping her was important to me, then I would find time for it one of the other six days, but we had to take a Sabbath and we had to keep it holy. That part wasn’t up for discussion.
For so many of us, taking some time for rest seems holy because it’s such a luxury, not because we have made it a priority. For most of us, the idea that rest is holy because we organize everything else around it, well that’s a foreign concept. But even the most casual reader of the Bible, the one who picks it up and reads for ten minutes during a boring sermon, will see that rest was not an afterthought. Rest is right there in Chapter 1. Sabbath is non-negotiable – whatever else is important to us, we’re supposed to make time for rest.
It’s just after Memorial Day, and you likely have a vacation planned. I certainly do. Enjoy your vacation! Taking a little time away seems like it should be the most natural thing in the world, but there’s always something grabbing at you, something that just has to get done yesterday. As your priest, I’m here to tell you, “That is the voice of temptation; don’t listen!”
Instead, take a deep breath sometime while you’re gone. Take a deep breath and wonder for a minute at all you have seen happen in your life, the petty and the redemptive, the ridiculous and the sublime, the emptiness and the holiness. Take just a minute and thank God for where you’ve been and ask God where you might be headed. Take a deep breath and ask yourself how you can make time for rest every week, every day, not just on vacation.
What keeps us from resting? What keeps us from taking our Sabbath? Probably the same thing that made me argue with my grandmother all those years ago: “If you don’t let us fix it on Sunday, there won’t be any time to fix it later!” In other words, “I’m afraid there’s not enough!” Maybe the hardest part of resting is believing that there is enough – that God has provided enough, and that we don’t have to be productive every minute of our lives.
Grandma never would let us work on Sunday. And yet somehow, we always found time for what really needed doing. We cut the grass and weeded the garden and I got to have a glass of sweet tea with her on a random Thursday after class. Looking back, I’m proud of the faucets we replaced and the ceiling fans we hung in her house. But what I remember more than anything was that time I scored the winning touchdown, just as it was getting too dark to see. I remember the first time my grandma and I beat my cousin and my brother playing Rook. I’m proud of the work we did, but more, I’m glad she commanded us to rest.
