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

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 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?

Week 6: Sabbath Mission - Day 36

In my last post I hinted at the heart of this experiment. When I invited you to join me in this experiment, it wasn't just about practicing sabbath through our re-dedication of time. It also had to do with reconnecting to the mission of the church. The church is who we are together and in the world. The church is what we do and how we live our Christ's mission in the world.

For our final days in this 40 day experiment, I will dive more directly into the connection of sabbath and mission. I will also create a survey, similar to the one many of you took before this blog began, as a way to share and assess our growth, understanding, discoveries, and reorientation(s).

This focus nicely fits the theme of this week of the new year. This is a time when many people create new year's resolutions, which is another way of reorienting oneself to a personal mission. So today, I invite you to begin creating your "new year's mission". You may do something similar to the list shared by Spirituality and Practice below, or use their list as a jumping off point for something different. You may wish to look over the past few weeks and use those themes as a place to start. Maybe this experiment has inspired you to make other changes that you'd like to implement? Today is your day to begin putting it into mission language. When you consider your "new year's resolutions" how do they fit with sabbath rhythms and Christ's mission in the world?

If you'd like to open up this conversation with your kids, there's a few ways you can get them thinking and talking. One quick idea: Use post its! Dedicate a wall or space in your house where they can add their hopes for a new year with pictures or words. Invite them to add something new every day for the entire week. This can be an easy family activity. Maybe you can have your own post-it color stack so it becomes really colorful. Set a family time at the end of the week where you read through all of them together. Group the similar hopes and ideas together. Talk about how these things are important for a good year. Talk about what's missing too. Pray together and put the post its in an envelope marked 2014. At the end of next year, take them out and read through them together again. Talk about the year together. Which hopes became a reality? Which changed? Set up a space to do it all again for 2015!

Week 5: Rest & Distraction - Day 29

In one of my first posts I briefly wrote about my relationship with the daily vitamin. Consistency has been a difficult thing for me with things like that. Turns out that's happened with the blog as well and I missed a couple days last week. I'm also not super good with numbers. They don't hold a lot of meaning for me in my brain. So with that combination, we find ourselves on day 29 (whatever that means). More importantly, we find ourselves on a new week with a new theme.

Rest and

D                      i       

       s                        t           r

a                                                 c                                      t                             i           on.

Week 4: Peace & Bitterness - Day 22

Peace is another daunting task; a daunting perspective; a daunting commitment. It's a nice answer to the question of what we would most like to see more of in the world, but much more difficult to fully grasp, let alone live out, on a daily basis. Why is it that when we intentionally focus on sabbath, we have to face all of these things that do not have easy answers?*

Week 3: Worship & Idolatry - Day 15

Like sabbath, worship and idolatry are two words that we may think we know, but probably haven't spent much actual time defining in our lives. Instead, we probably have some generalized assumptions that make up our working definitions. The more generalized our working definitions, the easier it is for us to keep thoughts of worship and idolatry at an arm's distance, never fully immersing ourselves in what those definitions mean for our lives.

Week 2: Care for Creation & Confession - Day 8

We've entered the Sabbath Experiment with gratitude and letting go. Continuing on in the process leads us to another aspect of sabbath, Care for Creation & Confession. In my life, I've found it's difficult to truly care for another (person, place, thing...) without also facing the ways in which we have failed it. However, as humans, we are fallible. We mess up. Sometimes those mess ups feed into bigger consequences than we ever want to admit or recognize. Consider our oceans, farming practices, and over all use of our resources... The interest of money and quick turn around has led us to make choices that may not be the best in the long run. So, while we give gratitude for the beautiful gifts that surround us, we also need to take steps to care for these gifts. We also need to take steps to confess the ways we have not honored these gifts.

WEEK 1: Gratitude and Letting Go - Day 1

This first week of our Sabbath Experiment begins with a focus on gratitude and letting go. I do not think we can truly have one without the other. Gratitude is not just saying "thank you" for something that makes us feel good. Gratitude comes out of recognition of the gifts that surround us and fill our lives; gifts that have nothing to do with what we have done to deserve them or make them happen. Gratitude, in essence, is a practice of letting go. Letting go is hard. Recognizing the beauty and gifts in our lives that have nothing to do with what we think we deserve is hard. Saying "thank you" and simply receiving these things, is hard. So we begin with little steps.

Martin Luther's Explanation of the 3rd Commandment

As we continue to prepare for our season of sabbath, consider Martin Luther's explanation of the third commandment. Luther will begin with an introduction and history of the Sabbath day for Jews and Christians. From there he moves into discussion about sanctification and what it means to "hallow the day of rest" or "keep it holy" (depending on your translation). He closes his explanation with a focus on the centrality of the Word. 

The Two Paths

Let's consider this blog our guide and meeting place as we journey through 40 days of sabbath together.

Because this is a live blog, I am aware that many of us will be strangers to each other. If you feel comfortable, please send me a message telling me a little about yourself and letting me know you that have joined us. I would love to know who you are and what this experiment brings up for you. My desire is that over time we will become more like neighbors working through our Sabbath Experiment together and supporting each other.

I encourage your feedback and responses. They will add to our community and add to the experiment.

Participating in this anonymous Sabbath Survey will provide me with useful information as well as serve you as a starting place. At the end of the 40 days you will have an opportunity to fill out a follow up survey as a way to measure your understanding, growth, and spiritual development through this experiment.

There are two ways you can participate in this 40 day experiment. As you begin this process, you may find yourself drifting between both paths. That is completely up to you and okay with me.

Choose Your Own Adventure: For those longing for less structure or already feeling that their days are too full for assignments, you will be on the track I'm calling "Choose Your Own Adventure". Each week, I will post a theme for the week. This theme will be your guide as you develop your own rituals, actions, remembrances, reflections, and more. Though this will be much more free form than the other track, I won't leave you hanging. I will provide a list of prompts that you can use during the week. Each theme will build upon itself. So, while the theme changes each week you are meant to continue the practices you began in the week/s beforehand.

The only things I expect from you are that you follow the themes, checking in once a week, and keep a journal of some sort for yourself where you can reflect through writing or art throughout the process. Depending on your goals for this experiment and/or how you work, this journaling may occur once or twice a day, or once a week. If you hate journaling and it's just not the way you work, please commit yourself to some sort of beginning response to the Experiment, where you're starting, and some sort of closing reflection. I'll write a little more about that later too, as we get closer to the ending of the 40 day period. 

Daily Order: Some of us need structure. Some of us need a stronger external motivation to hold us accountable to a process. I'm one of those people. While I've gotten better at holding myself to daily commitments as I've gotten older, I've still never been able to take a daily vitamin consistently for longer than a week. But instead of dwelling on those little failures, I've also learned to lift up the things I have done.

This 40 Day Sabbath Experiment will include a big push to practice self love and self support. While we may not be able to completely eliminate the dramatic voice in our heads counting every "failure," we will add the practice of balancing, maybe even out-weighing the negative voice, with an awareness of what we are doing. I will say more about this as we journey on this Sabbath Experiment, but for now, just muse on that idea. How will it feel to go through a day with an awareness of what you've done, not just what you've failed to do? How will it feel to go through a day without assigning value judgments to what you are or are not doing?

I will especially encourage conversation and daily participation with those of you following the Daily Order path. This is important because sabbath is as much about the community as the individual. We will build our community together on this blog, as well as participate in our face to face communities off-line. If this is too personal a process for you to engage in publicly on this blog, please consider me your partner in this experiment and send me personal messages. 

Before I close this post, I want to make a few clarifying points you may be wondering about.

1. My grammar is not perfect. Or should that say, my grammar is imperfect? whatevz.
2. I will only capitalize sabbath when referring to the Sabbath in reference to the Sabbath of the Jewish and Christian religions. You'll also see it capitalized when referring to the Sabbath Experiment. I will do my best to keep this consistent as practice for the actual thesis I'll be writing, but as mentioned above, it may go the route of the daily vitamin...
3. I'll be figuring this out as I go, just like you. I've got some research and ideas in my back pocket, but everything I write here may not always make sense or be successful for this experiment. That's even more reason for you to respond and let me know how it's going for you. Let me know what you tweak and why, how it works and how it doesn't, all that good stuff.
4. This blog is about more than me and what I write. As you grow more involved, please respond to each other in respectful, honest, even vulnerable ways. I do not have all of the answers, but together, we may come to some powerful conclusions.
5. I am Christian, but this will not be a blog littered with verses, stripped of their context to make you feel good or special. I will not use the Bible to proof-text every single thing I write. In fact, I hope this blog is written in a way that anyone could find something useful, no matter their religious beliefs or non-beliefs. Just be aware that my Jesus following ways will probably show up in one way or another. 

If you have any other questions, please let me know. I'll do my best to respond in a helpful and timely manner.