Sabbath as resistance

During lent I am re-reading the book of this 👆🏼 title by Walter Brueggemann with a friend. So far many home truths have reasserted themselves for me, in the nick of time. One of them is that guarding time off for rest and recreation is increasingly difficult, because it’s an act of resistance in a culture where the prevailing value is about increase of production and consumption. No wonder that retaining this boundary requires a lot of effort which feels, ironically, like work. It is work. But perhaps some of the most important work we can do.

The most useful work we can do may be to break the cycle of anxious production and worry that there won’t be enough, simply by actually resting. I am finding that it’s only after rest that I can see the wood for the trees, and begin making better decisions about how I spend my time.

“There are limits to how much food Pharoah [and we] can store and consume and administer. The limit is set by the weekly work pause that breaks the production cycle. And those who participate in it break the anxiety cycle. They are invited to awareness that life does not consist in frantic production and consumption that reduces everyone else to threat and competitor. And the work stoppage permits a waning of anxiety, so energy is redeployed to the neighbourhood. The odd insistence of the God of Sinai is to counter anxious productivity with committed neighbourliness. The latter practice does not produce so much; but it creates an environment of security and respect and dignity that redefines the human project.” (Brueggemann Sabbath as Resistance Louisville, KT: John Knox Press, 2014 p.27-28)

All of this is resonating a lot for me. I am seeking to re-learn from a past mistress of proper rest how to really REST!