Leaving Sunday: Sabbath Rest

I was in a bible study once where the book we were reading encouraged everyone to take a sabbath rest. Get quiet, be still, don't do anything and just rest. That is easier said than done in a society that is all about stimulation 24/7

One of the perks of taking this break from church has been having Sundays free.

I'm able to read, write, watch football, or just rest from the previous week. If I wanted to, I could even enjoy the fellowship of friends.

When I was growing up you had to go to church in the morning, evening, and if a church was having a gospel meeting you would have to be at church all day

When I was growing up we were never allowed to miss church. After I left that particular denomination, I found the message board for ex-ers. How we were never allowed to miss church was a big topic. Everyone on the board talked about how much we resented how much we had to go. One guy said the phrase that we all were “churched to death” and we all agreed.

Of course it wasn't made any better by the services being so boring, uninspiring, and full of gloom and doom.

In her memoir Leaving Church Mrs Brown Taylor says that after she left her church, she was able to take a sabbath rest. Church life had consumed her to the point where she wasn't able to experience intimacy with God.

If you're actively involved in a church it can be hard to spend time with God on your own because you're always busy with church work. In the fitness world we always talk about the fallacy of getting there. Many think that if they could just get “there” to the perfect weight and the perfect body then they would happy. The fallacy is that there is no there. There's no perfect body or any of that. It's an illusion that exists to keep people buying products and services. The other fallacy in the fitness world is that marketers want to tell you that you can get there fast. Crash dieting quickly only sets you up for weight gain in the future.

Christians do the same thing.  They are trying to get There and they're trying to do it quickly. Much like crash dieting, hurry religion only sets you up for problems later on. I had never thought about it like this until I read this point in Mrs Taylor’s book:

What made any of us think they the place we are trying to reach is far, far ahead of us somewhere and that the only way to get there is to run until we drop,

Where is“there” for Christians with that hurry religion mentality? I don't think it's heaven. I think the there for Christians is making life meaningful, Feeling wanted and useful, needed, as if you're making a difference for the kingdom of God but what if like in the fitness industry that mythical “there” doesn't exist either?

The moment my eyes were opened to that very real possibility came when a pastor asked for volunteers to help at a crab feed. I was relatively new to the church and so I volunteered thinking there would be others that would come as well and maybe I would finally feel as though I belonged rather than feeling like a total outsider forcing conversation as I did on Friday nights when I rushed from teaching my spin class to sit at youth nights.

I was the only one that showed up to volunteer for that crab feed and that really bothered me. I also felt extremely uncomfortable.  After that experience I questioned why I was even going on Friday nights.

I would ask if I could help and never felt like I was needed. I stood around feeling uncomfortable and out of place. I doubted I would ever be called on to do anything because they had their exclusive team and they weren't open to newcomers. Why was I rushing around and busying myself with church work? What “there” was I trying to get to?

Once I quit volunteering and went back to Sunday church only, I felt free. I felt free to spend intimate time with God on my own and I focused on what my call was in the real

World. I had time to be still.  I also felt free from the burden of having to be involved with church.

I always felt more welcomed and comfortable with people in the real world sharing stories of faith with them. I didn't feel awkward or forced and I felt like I could be myself.