This Is Not Sabbath

The Sabbath is the most precious present mankind has received from the treasure house of God

The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel

Most any Sunday Morning:

• 7:00 am Fall out of bed. GET COFFEE!
• 7:15am Turn on guitar amp. Play through worship songs
• 8:00am Negotiate with spouse for access to shower
• 8:15am Contemplate dress. Opt for jeans, nice shirt as usual. Shoes?
• 8:25am Breakfast of Champions, with sliced banana
• 8:30am Grab gear and head for church, watch for cops in neighborhood
• 8:50am Sound check, fix pedalboard problems that didn’t exist 1 hour ago
• 9:00am Rehearsal
• 9:45am Break. Sneak to Starbucks for 2nd breakfast, MORE COFFEE.
• 10:30am Worship Service
• 12:00pm Pack up gear. Find spouse. Negotiate lunch
• 12:30pm Lunch at a place acceptable to spouse
• 2:00pm Arrive at home. Contemplate nap
• 4:00pm Awaken. Regret wasting the afternoon.
• 4:01pm Engage in the sport of the season or watch movie on TV.
• 4:02pm Check social media/rant about social media
• 4:03pm Respond to/rant about spouse’s social media
• 6:00pm Check email. Discover meeting in need of preparation
• 6:01pm Prepare for/rant about meeting
• 6:15pm Respond to despondent student(s) about assignment due at midnight
• 10:00pm Contemplate bed. Wonder what happened to the day
• 11:00pm – 12:00 midnight – fall asleep after gears in brain slow down

Sunday is most decidedly NOT a day of rest (afternoon nap notwithstanding). The concept of Sabbath is so simple. And yet those who were entrusted to share it with all humans burdened it with with impossible rules and severe laws. The Christian faithful, once again trusted with sharing it with all humans, transitioned the concept away from all the rules, away from the traditional day of the week, and more toward gathering for worship, prayer and teaching. But then, two things happened.

First, humans invented the economy, which seeks growth and efficiency. Humans engaged in the bus(y)ness of life found themselves constantly stressed to work longer and harder to climb the mountain of success leaving little time for non-bus(y)ness activities that give meaning to life like family time, stillness, reflection. We moved our shopping and our family bus(y)ness to the weekends. This meant that other people had to work at restaurants, shopping malls, and tire stores in order to accommodate humans with little time. And we have moved our relationships to social media. The Busyness of Business.

But there are still many that cling to some semblance of Sabbath, which has led to the second thing, the Busyness of Church and the advent of “professional” ministry. In order to provide the high level of experience required to keep the attention of the modern religious human, we have formed corporations with multi-tiered management structures, huge technology budgets and we have applied um…. (cough) marketing techniques and production values to modern worship. The drive for growth and efficiency now requires the efforts of dozens of people, many of whom are on the payroll, who are now required to arrange, choreograph, perform, direct, produce and broadcast what we expect from the modern worship service. The Busyness of Church.

This is not an indictment on where we are. The efforts we put into our worship experiences should be offered with as much pursuit of excellence as we might apply to to our secular human endeavors. The complexity of today’s technology and the demand for talented musicians often requires the hiring of professionals. The demographic decline of religious affiliation across the country demands the use of modern marketing to get the message out to an audience whose attention is the prize of intense competition. We are where we are and the times, they are a’changin’.

But none of this is Sabbath.

None of this is Sabbath!

This is not a rant to get back to the basics, nor is it a call to eschew the modern worship experience. It is a call to recognize that Sabbath, the Sanctification of Time, is necessary and, to find our way back to it. The foundation of our relationship with the Creator was built long before technology and the invention of modern strategic management processes… long before the Busyness of Church. And all that’s required of us is our time, stillness and gratitude.

No guitars, drums, amplifiers, pianos, microphones, computers, projectors, mixing consoles, sound people, light people, choir people, camera operators, video techs, musicians, music ministers and certainly no animals were harmed in the making of this blog post.

To be still, to cherish, to be grateful…

Copyright 2019 Shawn A. Carson