40 Day Follow Up

As part of my Masters project, I've taken survey responses from many of you in the first stages of this experiment. I've put together a follow up survey. It would be a big help to me if you will follow the link below and fill it out. Like the first survey, this is anonymous other than the closing personal info you contribute. Thanks for joining me in this journey!

40 Day Sabbath Experiment Follow Up Survey

Sabbath Sparks

I've contemplated the meaning and necessity of sabbath for quite some time. It wasn't until last year that I became convincted enough to move into action about it. In the next few entries, I will begin sharing the personal stories that led me to sabbath action - Sabbath Mission. I will begin with an article I wrote for our church newsletter a few months ago. This gives you a general idea of the experience I had with some closing questions you are welcome to respond to in the comments or facebook group. In my next few entries, I'll write more about the experience as well as more explicitely about its connection to sabbath mission.

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“The desert is a dangerous place. Nobody goes there unless they really have to…” These are the words that begin countless Godly Play stories. These stories share the history of God’s people, where they came from, where they went, and most importantly how God met them wherever they were, guided them, protected them, and gave them a home. Surprisingly, or not so surprisingly, the wilderness played a critical role in these stories of lost, wandering, and lonely people. It was through the wilderness that God spoke; whether through a burning bush or by the words of an angel near a rushing river. It is in the wilderness that these people of God shed their past and entered into a new way of life, fully reliant on the one true God.

Most of us have, literally or metaphorically, had wilderness experiences in our lives. We have felt lost and lonely. We have felt the drive to go out, away from everything we know, to begin again with a new start, a new perspective. The gift of keeping these wilderness experiences metaphorical is that no matter the depth of emotion you may feel, the rest is relatively controllable. You can distract yourself with food, conversation, and the stuff of life. But when you step over that boundary by actually, physically putting yourself in the wilderness, you have chosen another layer of vulnerability. You no longer have the safety of distraction, comfort of your bed, or control over surroundings. You are lost, alone, and in even greater likelihood than before, physical danger. Wild animals roam. Weather is unpredictable and uncontrollable. Bugs are everywhere. Dirt is everywhere. It’s a different world than the one we usually construct for ourselves. Yet, we are created for, and even by, this very same wilderness.

This last July, I brought a small but courageous group of five on a wilderness excursion, rightly called: The Journey: Personal Transformation in the Wilderness. This rite of passage was developed by Pastor Joel Martyn for anyone 14 years old through adulthood. This experience is a three-fold process. The first stage is Severance. In this stage, participants reflect on where they have come from, what has brought them to the experience, and what they will need to sever themselves from in order to fully immerse themselves in the wilderness. Using the story of Jesus being led out into the wilderness after his baptism, we discussed and reflected on what it was we had to leave behind and what we brought with us to the experience. We were given time to sit alone and write out a list of all of those things. These lists ushered us into the second stage, Threshold, as we threw them into a low fire - a sign of our readiness to let go. From this point, after watching our paper turn to ash, we were led one-by-one to areas where we would spend the next two days and two nights in solitary with only water, prayer, and the Bible to sustain us.

This period of time was so intensely personal; it has been hard for me to find words to fully express what happened. I can say that I experienced what I had only previously read, straight from mystics of our religious history - The Word of God kept me full. In this time, the word “faith” took on a new meaning to me. Through the wilderness, God nourished my faith. Through the ups and downs, the points where I thought I reached my emotional and physical limits, the Spirit pushed me through, refining me with a new inner strength. At the end of this Threshold stage, when I found myself reaching a new limit of exhaustion and loneliness, I finally heard the call to return to camp. I said goodbye to this new, sacred space I had inhabited for the past 48 + hours, and trudged back down to camp.

We assembled back where we began, around the fire. After some discussion, we were invited into the third stage of our experience, Incorporation. When we felt ready, we stepped one-by-one over a line of fire where we were blessed in the name of the Trinity, into our new life. And finally, we feasted together. Fresh food filled our bellies. The joy of fellowship filled our hearts. We were new people, grounded in a new personal and spiritual strength, with no rush to be anywhere except right where we were, with each other.

No matter how different the wilderness experience may be for each individual; whether you join the next group on The Journey, or not, I know with a clarity I did not have before that it is in the wilderness places that God will find you. You will not be alone. You will be changed. Without wilderness experiences we lose sight of ourselves, we lose connection to the earth and each other, we forget our Creator, or God, who pulls us from the ashes of our past and repurposes us for a greater future.

When have you been called, or even forced, into a wilderness experience? How did God meet you there?

If you do not feel that you have experienced the wilderness, what is keeping you from taking the steps necessary to enter the journey? From what do you need to sever yourself in order to immerse yourself in the journey God is calling you to enter?

If you are feeling lost in the wilderness now, what are the limits you have reached? How has the Spirit pulled you through, even when you couldn’t yourself? What do you need in order to cross the fire into incorporation?

Silent Space

One of the hardest things for me to wrap words around is silence. How can I possibly write about this? Yet, silence is integral to sabbath. While we may not be able to give an entire to day sabbath rest, we can choose perspective, as most of this blog has been about. We can also choose silence. We can turn off the noise of opinions and words, meaningless sounds that we must filter through every day.

In a world of too many words, silence affects people who are no longer affected by sound. Plenty of us who are defended against sound have no defense against silence. Some of us love it and some of us flee it. That is because silence can mean anything. 

- Barbara Brown Taylor, When God is Silent

In the space of silence we face...anything. Funny that it is in the space of silence, in nothingness, we practice what it really means to listen. Maybe it is in silence that we can finally hear the word of God for which we've been searching.

People talk about God as being that one thing that fills the void in your heart, that one thing missing in your life. But what if God is that void? What if, instead of filling a void, God creates space. It's not just more time we need, it's space in an overcrowded life. What if God is the quiet emptiness we actually need? What if, instead of fearing the space and silence, we faced it and let ourselves flounder there for a bit, acknowledging the scariness of it all, the unknown of it all? What, in that formless void of space, will God create within us?

Take some time to muse on this today. In what ways do you need internal and external silence? In what ways do you need to practice listening? 

Where do you need space? Where is there already a void? (A relationship? A missed opportunity? A disappointment or unfulfilled desire? A frustration, confusion, or overwhelming emotion?...) How is God be calling you to enter that space? What message/story/voice is it calling you to listen to?

WANT MORE?

Does absolute quiet exist? Is there a place we could go to seek it out? The quest for silence spaces has inspired George Foy. Read about what he's learned here.

It's easy for those of us who hear to assume everyone wants to, including people born deaf. Check out this article about why some deaf people do and don't want hearing restored.

Curious about taking a vow of silence or silent retreat? Check out one woman's experience here.

Sabbath Mission - Day 40

I can't claim that anything I've written over the past 40 days is "new." There are countless books about the Sabbath, the necessity of rest, the ways the consumption of technology and media are affecting our brains, the troubles of an over-scheduled life, etc. etc. I don't wish to simply say more of the same thing. Instead, my hope for this experiment has had to do with building community engagement and involvement. If we are to revision and redefine sabbath for the 21st century, it is not merely a matter of Bible study and rest; though, that is where many of us may need to begin. Instead, it is the practice of both/and. As you may have noticed, each week of this process has had a theme or title that involved this practice. Week One wasn't just gratitude - it was grattitude AND letting go. In this same way, sabbath for the 21st century isn't just sabbath - it's Sabbath Mission.

Early on, as I contemplated our pressing need for sabbath, it also became clear to me that it wasn't just a matter of revisiting an old idea. It was a matter of complete renewal, even reformation. Sabbath is easily and often confused with liesure time, a break, or a holiday; rather than a perspective and rhythm by which we can shape our lives. On the other hand, mission without sabbath is often understood and spoken as action and works-based. It can be ego-driven without the balance of sabbath. It can become all about how we are bringing about the Kingdom of God. Mission needs sabbath as sabbath needs mission. Without the counterpoint of one, the other is lost. As we begin living this both/and, Sabbath Mission, we become more alive in our engagement with life itself. We live Christ-centered, rather than ego-driven.

In the community we've built through this experiment we have grown in our understanding of a sabbath life. We've been inspired to pass it on, talk about it, and try something new; expressing our new growth out in the world. These deepend relationships, this new expression, is the mission of God in motion. We have stumbled upon its definition on our own and go from here living in it. That's why we need sabbath and that's why we, as a people of faith, are also a people of mission.

Sabbath Mission will not look the same for everybody or the same every day. To be a people of Sabbath Mission does not mean we will spend every day perfectly in gratitude/letting go, care for creation/confession, worship/idolatry, peace/bitterness, and rest/distraction. Some days, all we will be up for or feel we have the time for is simply breathing. Other days, we will have the gift of space, more time to wander through the rituals and practices that make sabbath Sabbath Mission for us. As the heading of this blog wonders, the point isn't so much the amount of time we have, but how we honor it. What will happen when we dedicate our time to sabbath? There is not one answer to this. It is one of those questions that constantly leads to new questions and new conclusions, depending on the day.

The biblical poet suggested that there are 613 commandments: 365 (the number of days in the year) plus 248 (the number of bones in the body, according to the science of the day). In other words, we bring all the parts of who we are, "the bad and the good," into every moment, and every moment is a commanding moment. - Irwin Kula, Yearnings

Martin Luther teaches us that we are simulatneously saint and sinner. This isn't about what we do and don't do. Rather, we are named Saint because of who we are in relation to God, forgiven sinners. It is the grace of God that has transformed this relationship into something wholly new. It is in this grace that we can face the truth of who we are both saint and sinner.

Consider what this means in our relationship to time. We are simultaneously saint and sinner, bringing both the good and bad with us into every moment. Every "commanding moment" is an opportunity to practice Sabbath Mission, an opportunity to live out our new relationship with God, freed by the radical grace of forgiveness. In the same way that our relationship with God has been transformed by grace, so has our relationship with time been claimed and sanctified (made holy). Some days, Sabbath Mission will come easy to us. Other days it will be struggle. But the unchanging truth of Sabbath Mission is the transformative power of God's grace, alive. Whether we find ourselves on a good day or bad, as we are faced by each commanding moment, we can rest in God's word, "my grace is sufficient for you" (2 Corinthians 12:9). When we finally rest in this Word, we live Sabbath Mission.

You've forced me to talk this way, and I do it against my better judgment. But now that we're at it, I may as well bring up the matter of visions and revelations that God gave me. For instance, I know a man who, fourteen years ago, was seized by Christ and swept in ecstasy to the heights of heaven. I really don't know if this took place in the body or out of it; only God knows. I also know that this man was hijacked into paradise - again, whether in or out of the body, I don't know; God knows. There he heard the unspeakable spoken, but was forbidden to tell what he heard.This is the man I want to talk about. But about myself, I'm not saying another word apart from the humiliations. If I had a mind to brag a little, I could probably do it without looking ridiculous, and I'd still be speaking plain truth all the way. But I'll spare you. I don't want anyone imagining me as anything other than the fool you'd encounter if you saw me on the street or heard me talk. Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn't get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan's angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn't think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me, My grace is enough; it's all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness. Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size - abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become. 

- 2 Corinthians 12:1-10 (The Message)

In what ways has the 40 Day Sabbath Experiment helped you face your weaknesses?

In what ways has the 40 Day Sabbath Experiment helped you recognize God's strength despite your weakness? How has it made you stronger?

How will you continue to explore Sabbath Mission in your life? 

Sabbath Again - Day 39

In the closing of our 40 day experiment, it is good to look back at the place where we started. Many of us started at a place grappling with definitions. What is sabbath? What does it mean to practice the Sabbath? Do we even need to anymore? I have used this experiment as an opportunity to reconnect to the heart of sabbath and, as I've said so often in previous posts, reorient myself through sabbath practices. In this experience, sabbath has taken on a new meaning for my daily life, as I know it has for many of you as well.

So much of our lives is just this - taking words, old ideas, a life-time of education and experiences, meeting them again, and seeing them with new eyes. It is pretty awesome to watch something we once thought dead or meaningless suddenly filled, even breathing, with new life...



Most of us know the story, The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. If you own a copy of it, take some time to read it or watch the video below. You may come to the story with reactions from previous readings... loving it, hating it, critique of this or that... As you read or listen to the story, I want you to read it from the perspective of sabbath.

Where do you see the gift of sabbath in this story? 



In his book, Yearnings, Irwin Kula discusses the different ways people usually understand The Giving Tree, closing with a description of the one he has found to be least popular, in which the story is re-titled, "The Receiving Boy."

Here the boy-turned-man is able to voice his vulnerability and accept the care of the tree. He is unafraid of showing his dependence. He is joyfully dependent, freely expressing his weaknesses, needs, and dreams. This in turn evokes unconditional generosity from the tree... This interpretation touches the part of us that longs to be cared for unconditionally; to share our neediness with our hands fully open and our hearts exposed. When we can overcome our fears, and surrender in this way, the boundaries between giving and receiving can dissolve. There is an honesty and transparency between helper and helpee. When we receive, we give. When we give, we receive.

We are created to give and receive. In sacred time, sabbath time, we live simultaneously as giver and receiver. 

Is it harder for you to give or receive? What are ways that Sabbath Mission can help you balance both of these needs?

Sabbath Mission - Day 38

Jesus shows us what it looks like to live Sabbath Mission. Through his example, we learn that sabbath is not just a day; rather, a behavior, a perspective, and a rhythm of life. The four gospels provide us with a vision of Christ’s mission for the world. As Jesus lived out his own sabbath rhythms, bumping up against the order of Jewish law, he showed us what sabbath keeping can do for the world. He showed us where human lawfulness ends and God’s call for all creation begins. In the Gospel of John, we hear Jesus specifically handing this call over to his disciples in two places, just before he is handed over to be imprisoned and ultimately crucified; “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.” (John 17:17-18); and, when he meets his disciples again, in resurrection, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” The call to live out this Sabbath Mission echoes beyond our understanding of time and space.

When we choose sabbath for our lives, we are making a point to live intentionally, not reactionary. We live lives of gratitude, care, worship, peace, and rest. We face those things we need to let go of and confess. Those things we idolize, or embitter us, and distract us from Sabbath Mission. We live watchful lives, paying attention to those moments where God's kingdom breaks in.

Sabbath is not only a gift; it is also the practice of sanctifying time. When we live in sanctified time, we live in holy time. In holy time, we are reoriented to the bearer of all time, and are sent out to live our lives pulsing in rhythm, in time, with God. Living to the beat of this rhythm of God is how we live God’s mission in the world. When we lose track of God’s time, we lose track of our mission in the world.

The church is mission. In a renewed commitment to sabbath practices and sabbath rhythms the Church is reborn with a deeper understanding of the Sabbath for daily life. In these moments of rebirth, the church can fully embody Christ in the world.

How has your personal commitment to the Sabbath Experiment reoriented your life? In what ways do you feel you have been reborn? 

When considering the Church in the world, what are some of the ways we, as a body, might benefit by a re-commitment to Sabbath Mission? What are some practical things we can do as a body to live out our Sabbath Mission better than we do now?

Sabbath Mission - Day 37

Some thoughts on mission...

"Mission is nothing but the one church of God in motion." - Wilhelm Loehe

A way of being church must emerge that orients the whole life of a Christian community around God's mission. The question that will drive such an emergence is, "What does it mean to be the church as we live?" - not as we think or remember or long for, but as we live as the people of God...What matters first and perhaps most is who we are: a people created, chosen, cleansed, claimed, and called by God in Christ. And we are who we are, for better or for worse, all the time, not just on Sunday mornings or Wednesday evenings. - Nathan Frambach

Both mission and sabbath lead us to a reflection of our whole life - our intentions, our purpose, and all of the ways we "walk the talk". Both mission and sabbath bring about a reorienting process, offering us an opportunity start fresh in the new life we were created for. Sabbath and mission are complementary. We cannot have one without the other.

What are the ways you see "the one church of God in motion"? What are the ways you see sabbath rhythms fitting into this motion?