At first sight, I fell headfirst for the concept of Sabbath. After a four week sabbath challenge to let go of all obligations every Sunday to rest, refresh, and have fun, my body and psyche kind of molded into it and I couldn’t help but let down Sunday afternoons. I couldn’t live without Sabbath.
Then I became a pastor and parent of three young kids, and everything went out the window. Kind of at least. It’s been the hardest season I’ve faced in trying to Sabbath, but my soul still confirms it’s more important than ever.
I don’t think us clergy can hide behind the pastor card. Sunday may be out, but we still need to Sabbath. After flopping around with figuring out a routine, I’ve generally found Saturday a good Sabbath day for my family. That means I have to really push it on Friday to get all the housework and church work done. That means I have to wake up extra early on Sunday to remember the message I’m going to preach.
I’ve found Adrenaline and Stress by Archibald Hart to be one of the more formative books on helping me embrace Sabbath. The premises is that to maximize productivity you need to contract into down time. I’m not sure of the author’s faith background, but it sure sounds like Sabbath to me!
Adrenaline is your friend, but only if you use it judiciously. For more on the book, you could see a blog post I did on 21 Tips I gleaned from reading it.
Brian is a father, husband, pastor, artist, small group coach/trainer, organic church planter, childhood cancer survivor, and disc golfer. He wishes he was a sky diver and a swimmer, but does not have the guts to jump out of plane, or enough confidence to wear a speedo. Brian is the Lead Pastor and Church Planter of Lakepoint Church and graduated with a Masters in Divinity from Columbia International and a Bachelors from UW-Platteville.
Facebook
GooglePlus
MailChimp
RSS
Pinterest
StumbleUpon
Twitter