Last updated on February 14, 2023
Featured Photo by Krists Luhaers on Unsplash
I recently became an official member of my first liturgical church. My church experience up to this point had been in various non-liturgical protestant churches, with some exposure to Catholicism through my extended family. I didn’t really know what liturgical meant. To me, it sounded like one of those old-timey church traditions that keep people trapped and not experiencing the delight available when following Christ in freedom. I thought it was for overly ritualistic people, and frankly, I worried that they might be putting too much emphasis on ritual and not enough on their relationship with God.
Liturgy
In preparation for Roots & Light in 2023, I decided I wanted to dig into the habits of the Christian faith. I bought three books that are popular on the subject, and when I asked my pastor if he had any reading suggestions, one of his recommendations was You Are What You Love by James K. A. Smith. I was not expecting a book focused on liturgy, but it has been helpful, and not as stuffy a read as I would expect from a book on the topic.
If you’re not familiar with the term liturgy, it’s typically used to describe rituals of religious, particularly Christian, worship. In the context of the public church service, it tells God’s story through the actions and elements of the gathering. It can also be applied, as Smith does in his book, to the rituals we engage in on a daily basis.
Liturgy functions as a formative tool. A tool to orient us toward and engage us in a particular story. In the case of Christian liturgy, it intends to orient us toward and engage us in God’s story. But there is also our everyday liturgy that is orienting us toward and engaging us in potentially different stories.
Sabbath
At the same time I was reading through Smith’s book, I decided to listen to another book, 24/6 by Matthew Sleeth, M.D., which had been camping out in my Audible library for some time. This book discusses sabbath in an easy-to-listen-to way that opened my spiritual eyes to the impact sabbath-keeping (or not keeping) could have on my spiritual growth in Christ.
In Exodus 20:8-11 God institutes the regular observance of Sabbath for his people, the Israelites who had just left Egypt after hundreds of years of servitude. He trains them, through this and other practices (liturgies), out of the culture of slavery in which they were formed and into his culture of freedom. This Sabbath liturgy turns them away from the burdens of their fallen story and toward God’s story of salvation.
Longing for Sabbath
On our dive into habits of the Christian faith for 2023, this liturgy of Sabbath-keeping is where I’d like to begin our conversation.
In my life, and likely in yours, we are not always aware of the burdens upon us. But we are aware that we want to escape them. It can be termed escapism, and we all engage in it to some degree.
Whether it’s bingeing Netflix, playing bubble pop games on our devices, spending hours with our nose in a novel, drinking a bottle of wine, toking after the kids are in bed, or just staring blankly at the wall as we lose track of time, we have a longing to step away from our burdens.
What I wonder is whether this is us exhibiting a longing for Sabbath.
Is it built into our God-imaging nature, Christian or not? Even if we aren’t observing a formal Sabbath, is our need for it still evident when we are looking for a way to get away from our burdens?
I think it is.
But getting away from our burdens isn’t the whole solution. What are we directing ourselves toward when we turn away from them? What story are we engaging in in those moments?
It’s a powerful opportunity for reflection.
Reflecting on our sabbath liturgies
In the interest of my own growth in the Gospel, I took some time to do just that. While I tell you how that went for me, perhaps consider whether doing the same might be a means of your own growth in the Gospel.
For additional help, scroll to the end of this article for a free tool I put together as a guide to walk you through your own reflection.
Q: What do I need a rest from the burden of?
A: “I need a rest from the burden of concern for my daughter’s well-being.”
My husband and I have three children. Two sons (23 and 15) and one daughter (10 going on 18). It takes a lot of work being her mom in this phase of her life. Most of her outside-of-school hours are spent making sure she’s eating appropriately, getting enough rest, engaging in enough stimulating activity to counteract the time she’s zoning out to YouTube, checking on her social life, etc. I watch her navigate her changing emotions and maturing thoughts as she grows into the young woman she’s becoming and am always trying to discern when to step in and when to give her space to work through things on her own.
It’s necessary but hard work on this mama, and often, especially on days where the conversations seem to be going nowhere, I just need a rest from being concerned about how she’s doing.
Q: What do I do to meet that need?
A: “I isolate from people and write them off to fend for themselves with an ‘I’m checking out. Whatever happens, happens.’ attitude. Or I will sometimes tune in to a show with fun or sweet relationships that I have no responsibility for maintaining.”
When I feel over-extended in caring for my daughter, all the other care responsibilities in my life feel heavy, too. I become so frustrated at all the people I’m caring for and can feel uncared for, myself. So I go into my bedroom, or leave in my vehicle and just blow everyone off.
Another way I isolate is to pick one of my favorite shows and get lost in the stories of the characters. Hello Hallmark, you get to be my people for the next 90 minutes.
Q: How does that direct me to think and feel?
A: “My response directs me toward a story of self-pride, anger, bitterness, resentment, and lack of compassion. Watching the fictional stories of the characters directs me to long for what I do not have and gives me feelings of disappointment and defeat.”
When I’m in my place of isolation, I usually grow more bitter and angry and resentful. I spin scenarios through my thoughts about how ungrateful people are, or about how difficult this whole momming job is and how unfair it is. Yep, total temper tantrum straight out of my internal three-year old self. I don’t feel any better. I don’t go back into the situation after my isolation better prepared to engage with those I care for.
I pretty much get away and, well, let my inner self fester. Yeesh.
And watching a show just makes me look at the grass on the other side of the screen and imagine it’s so much greener than the grass in my yard. And mine will never be like that, right?
Q: How does God’s story, the Gospel, address my need?
A: “God’s story answers my need for rest by calling me to come to him and he will give me rest. He will care for my daughter’s well-being and mine while I turn to him and engage in my relationship with him. I can then look on from within the rest he provides and be able to see what is already very good in the story he is telling with my life, and what will one day be very good in the grand story he is telling.“
He calls me to him and the first way I can come is to remember his words. Here is a passage I remember often when I’m looking for rest.
“Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30 CSB
This reminds me that I always have a safe, restful place available to me, in Christ. It reminds me that the burdens of my life ultimately lie within his complete control and goodness. He made my daughter and the others I care for. He knows what she/they need better than I possibly can, and can provide for those needs better than I possibly can. I can release them out of my care and my people will still be cared for.
I can then pray and talk with him about the reality of my feelings. I can tell him what hurts, what feels too heavy, where I feel forgotten, or what I wish were true that isn’t. And I can wait for his Spirit to minister to me through his comfort, his wisdom, his restoration, and his direction through his written word.
“When I am filled with cares, your comfort brings me joy.”
Psalm 94:19 CSB
I can honestly look at the reality of my life and see what is broken, what is good, and remember that God’s hand is in it all, he has a great story, and the best is yet to come.
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.”
Romans 8:18 CSB
Q: How does it lead me to think, feel, and be?
A: “In this, I feel cared for, seen, relieved, known, liked, loved, safe, and at peace.”
Looking toward God’s story brings me to his peace. The peace that passes understanding. He reminds me that he cares for me. He knows me more intimately than I know myself. He knows what I need more than I even know what I need. He takes the burdens off my shoulders that are not mine to bear and he allows me rest from my work. He enjoys exactly who I am, and he loves me completely. I am perfectly safe in his purposes and I truly can rest.
Growing in the Gospel
A sabbath liturgy that leans into the story of God leads to wholeness rather than brokenness. We will each engage in a sabbath liturgy again and again when we feel the need for rest from our burdens.
May we be aware of the liturgies we usually turn to and consider the story they are telling us.
May we be bold enough to turn ourselves, with God’s help, toward liturgies that engage us in his good story, the Gospel.
Ready for your own reflection? Here’s that tool I mentioned earlier. Just click the picture below to access the full size.
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