Protecting Our Humanity
When was the last time you got all the way through your to-do list? Felt completely caught up with family needs, housekeeping, meals, finances, your email inbox and (to top it off) registering for church events on Realm Connect?
Many of us remember the days when weekends meant rest: slow mornings, slow afternoons, slow time with beloveds. The rest of us yearn for it. Rev. Dr. Andy Jung of the Fuller Youth Institute recently interviewed our Youth for a Gen Alpha faith formation study. Where do you prefer to be on a Saturday night? Andy asked. Home, replied the Youth. Why do you stay home? he inquired. “Tired” was the singular reply.
Even our young ones are worn out.
When God gives the liberated Israelites ten commandments in Exodus, keeping the sabbath (commandment #4) is not optional. It is as central to their identity as the commandment not to kill their neighbor. Before God intervened, they were trapped in a cycle of ceaseless production of Egyptian enslavement creating millions of bricks for Pharaoh’s projects. God liberates the people and sets up rules reminding them their God does not require endless production, only their humanity.
We are worn out, but God calls us into a different life. God doesn’t want us to be machines; God wants us to be human beings. Keeping sabbath gets us back on track every week (because while I fortunately don’t need weekly reminders for “thou shalt not kill,” I do need a weekly reminder for “thou shalt be a finite human”). Here is the invitation: change your question from “what will I fail to complete?” to “how much of my humanity will I protect?”
Camille Loomis Rehnborg, Minister of Spiritual Formation and Outreach