Long Talk….

This morning my morning devotional said, “The shore thirsts, but does not own the ocean that keeps it soft.   So, too, the heart and all it loves.”  As I have come to understand, in Buddhism, the feeling of I-ing, and My-ing are considered very dangerous, even poisonous to one’s spirit.  I-ing and My-ing draw us away from what truly matters.  

Picture it, it was 1980.  The movie theatre was sold-out as moviegoers gathered to see 9 to 5.  The cast included Dabney Coleman, Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, and Dolly Parton.  Dolly would introduce Texas wanna-be singer, Dora Lee Rhodes.  This would be Dolly’s first movie.  She admitted that she had never seen a movie made and thought she needed to come to the set with everything memorized the first day, and she did.  Her interest in the film was more than a need to act, it was to write the theme song.  Dolly would click those iconic long fake fingernails to make them sound like a typewriter, thus the million-selling, Grammy-winning, and Oscar-nominated song was birthed.  

There is a generation who knows these words by heart every time that intro is played.  

Well, I tumble outta bed and stumble to the kitchen
Pour myself a cup of ambition
Yawn and stretch and try to come to life

Jump in the shower and the blood starts pumping
Out on the street, the traffic starts jumping
With folks like me on the job from 9 to 5.

I have been reading from each Gospel about the call of the Disciples.  Matthew, Mark, and Luke’s versions are similar but different.  In peeling back, the layers, I am learning the importance of “being” not “doing”.  As I have re-read each of these call stories, these are not simply an invitation to go to work, but an invitation to a life with Christ.

How hard is it for us to simply be with Christ?  One of the things my sabbatical has taught me is the importance of regularly scheduled sabbath-keeping.  A set-aside time to reconnect with God.  One of my dear friends reminded me that I am in the belly of the troubled and troubling times.  I have wrapped myself in the contemporary version of Jesus’ words, “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion?  Come to me, get away with me, and recover your life?”  Matthew 11:28. 

Part of my sabbath-keeping is allowing myself to slow down and enjoy the goodness of God.  I have learned to allow myself an opportunity to worship in a variety of ways.  For me, it might be a specific time in quiet or in nature.  Perhaps listening to or reading specific scriptures or being transformed through a children’s time.  These ways and more have reminded me that worship is so important to awakening ourselves to Christ in our midst.  

The Sabbath is more about peace and rest, and less about religious practice.  God never meant for the Sabbath to become a religious duty, but rather a part of our being.  Mark 2:27, Jesus says, “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath.”

Blessings, 

Tom