By DEACON AMY SCHMUCK
Bethlehem Evangelical Lutheran Church
Editor’s note: Deacon Amy Schmuck serves Bethlehem Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) as their Deacon for Welcome and Lifelong Learning.
In our community we have been in a season that may be called “Hectic May” for many households as our calendars were filled with graduation celebrations, final concert performances, dance recitals, seasonal sport championships, not to mention Mother’s Day and Memorial Day for good measure. Busy! Busy! Busy! Even as a newcomer to this community, I can safely say the people of Los Alamos are in contention for being busier than the pollinators this month.
If you take the opportunity to attend a Christian worship service this weekend, you could find a message that may be very welcome to you, or you may feel challenged, depending on how willing you are to engage in rest. In the readings, and likely the preached sermons during worship, many of our communities will delve into the meaning and application of the spiritual practice of taking a sabbath.
The Old Testament text from the book of Deuteronomy will remind us of God’s creation story of “resting on the seventh day” and God’s commandment that humanity shall honor God and creation by doing the same. This text also points to how God freed the Israelites from bondage in Egypt, and so ties in the important gift of freedom for humans to rest from our labors. Taking a sabbath means a purposeful stoppage of work in which to rest and reflect on God’s Word and the gifts of creation.
In the New Testament Gospel text, Jesus provides a new teaching about sabbath. When the religious leaders of Jesus’s time criticized him for allowing his disciples to pluck and snack on grain heads as they traveled on a sabbath day, Jesus replied, “(Then he said to them,) ‘The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.’” –Mark 2:27-28
Our fast-paced consumer and productivity-driven society tells us otherwise. We constantly receive messages that our worth as humans can be reduced to how productive we are, how hard a worker we are, and how busy we are. This is not what we were created for as God’s beloved children, but the messaging is relentless in our media, our social interactions, our families (and yes, our churches) and our work lives. When do we get a break? The answer is that without intentional resistance to the hamster wheel of busy-ness we don’t. To observe this gift of sabbath from God, we must lean into engaging in stillness.
I just purchased and started reading a very helpful book, titled Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey who founded “The Nap Ministry”. Here is a quote that I will ponder and pray this week as we focus on what sabbath means to us today,
“Imagine a world without oppression.
Take more time here. Visualize softness.
Breathe deep.
Envision a world centered in justice.
Stay here,” (Hersey, 11).
May we enter this summer season seeking out new ways to practice a sabbath, whether it is a small moment each day, or a whole day once a week, or many days in a row with a real vacation, may we find sacred rest, and encourage rest for one another in our beloved communities, Amen.
Editor’s note: ‘All Shall Be Well’ is a column written by local women clergy including ELCA Deacon Cynthia Biddlecomb, M.Div., retired (czoebidd@gmail.com); Pastor Nicolé Ferry, Bethlehem Evangelical Lutheran Church (pastornicole@bethluth.com); Associate Priest Lynn Finnegan, The Episcopal Church of the Holy Faith, Santa Fe (rev.lynn@holyfaithchurchsf.org); Pastor Deb Church, White Rock Presbyterian Church (pastor@wrpchurch.com) and The Rev. Mary Ann Hill, Rector, Trinity on the Hill Episcopal Church (momaryannhill@gmail.com).
