Holidays as a spiritual discipline - my first columnin The Melbourne Anglican for 2015
Monday, February 2, 2015 at 11:03PM I like to think of holidays as a kind of spiritual discipline. Bit of a stretch? Not for this life member of the Uniting Church chapter of the world-wide PWE (Protestant Work Ethic) club. Thanks to this membership, I have always felt intensely uncomfortable about being lazy, about having time in my life where I am doing nothing productive, altruistic or useful.
This summer, I had one of my most indulgent breaks in years – three weeks at the beach with the first six days spent utterly alone; for an introvert, nothing is more restful. I had no one to consider but myself – I ate, swam and slept when I wanted, read endlessly and drank numerous large mugs of milky tea. To be able to enjoy the time, however, I had to sell it to myself by describing the useful activity as resting, preparing for what promises to be a busy year ahead.
The irony! Christians like me are forever banging on about grace but everything in our actions and self-talk professes the opposite. If I just work that little bit harder, do that little bit more, I think to myself, I will be able to hasten the coming of the Reign of God in all its fullness. Or - and this is less likely - maybe God will really start to love me. Except, of course, that the system never works.
Although theologically inadequate this approach can generate some positive results; you get a lot done, and that’s not a bad thing. It becomes dangerous, however, when this drivenness makes us forget about grace: the core Christian conviction that God’s basic disposition towards us is unconditional love, love that cannot be earned, love that is poured unstintingly upon us whether or not we are being ‘good’ or ‘busy’.
Any secular lifestyle coach will tell you that it is important to take time off for good physical and psychological reasons. For Christians, however, it’s deeper than that. Sacred rest is a spiritual discipline. Certainly it restores our bodies, minds and souls. Even more importantly, it reminds us of grace.
One of the most effective and beautiful traditional Judeo-Christian ways of doing this is the practice of Sabbath – one day out of seven where we take our cue from the Creator and do no work. The divine mandate is for the community to rest, to reconnect with each other, with themselves, with God. And holidays (holy days) are to the year what Sabbath is to the week.
When I take holidays and deliberately switch off and rest for a week or even three, it is one way of re-learning two vital things. That God’s love for me is not dependent on anything I do. And that it is ultimately God who will bring about God’s Reign. In turn, this fills me with refreshment and energy to go back and do my tiny bit to humbly partner with God again as a faltering agent of God’s light and life.
Reader Comments (1)
Your last few pots have been crackers Clare. You seem to be plumbing new depths of meaning in relating life's ordinary experiences to the great existential needs of our common humanity. In this article alone you cover: Holidays - grace - spiritual discipline - discipleship - vocation - the Reign of God - .and then the final hopeful encouragement for everyone "to to go back and do my tiny bit to humbly partner with God again as a faltering agent of God’s light and life." WOW!!