Typing out this title has given me a little pause: It has been four Sabbaths--an entire month--since I started writing this blog. There was one Sabbath of social distancing before that, so it has now been more than a month. I don’t know if that feels long or short, or if time feels like it has little meaning these days. I do know this: I’m tired, and so, I’m guessing, are you.
Everyone’s situation is unique, but I am hearing distress calls from multiple quarters about the pressures of telecommuting, of balancing full-time work with full-time parenting, of keeping up with virtual classes, and of trying to stay motivated while the world is standing still. The title of this blog is “Meanwhile, Life Goes On,” and it was originally meant to keep a tone of positivity as the world panicked. Now, it feels more like an affirmation: “The world is nuts, and this is not normal. Meanwhile, life goes on because we keep going.” But oh, we’re all so tired. And either lonely (extroverts) from social distancing or exhausted (introverts) from forced contact with our housemates. In the sheer force of effort it has taken many of us to keep things together, it can be easy for us to lose sight of the fact that, perhaps less violently than 9/11, we are still experiencing a mass trauma on that scale. Because it’s not as dramatic as planes and buildings going up in flames, it’s easy to overlook that we are legitimately under a long-term level of strain exacerbated by mundane, repetitive kinds of trauma. We need a break. When I read the story of Good Friday as recorded in the Gospel of Luke, I am always struck by Jesus’ sheer exhaustion in having the weight of the world on His shoulders. His last words, “Into Your hands, I commit my spirit!” are, in a way, just letting all of that go. Trusting His father to take it from there. If the Messiah Himself, who was God incarnate, needed to do that, how much more do we? Curiously, in John the story continues from there and we see Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea tending to Jesus’ body and stopping their work at sundown, because the Sabbath was coming. Luke describes the women who were anointing Jesus’ body stopping at sundown, even though burial was, and is, an incredibly important task. They let go of their grim task and rested on the Sabbath day. Perhaps, for all of us to have our Sabbath rest this weekend, we need to let go. To stop trying so hard. The rest of the week, there is very real work to be done and efforts to be made. We are not made to sustain that 24/7, though. There are many, many good reasons for God to prohibit work on the Sabbath day. An important one is to remind all of us that we can’t actually do everything that needs to be done. We can’t actually fix all the world’s problems through our own work. Only the power of God (often working through us, but it’s His power), can accomplish everything. I don’t know what task you need to put down. Many of us put down our paid labor for Sabbath but never put down our emotional labor. Ask God to help you search your heart for what work you need to commit to His very capable hands. Surrender your worries and your cares. This is not ignoring the existence of these weighty loads; they need to be acknowledged to be surrendered. Naming them can be painful, but by naming them, they can be let go. Every Easter weekend, I remember how Jesus rested in the tomb on Sabbath. As an immortal being who helped form the fabric of the universe, it was probably His only true rest day in His entire existence. If He needed it, so do we. Just as He said, “Into Your hands, I commit My spirit,” let us commit ours to Him.
1 Comment
Tamara Hirata
4/12/2020 07:43:31 am
Thank you for this breath of fresh air. For some reason this weekend was tough. I couldn’t figure out how to shake it off. I see more light and a brighter time ahead.
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AuthorJillian Lutes is the youth pastor at West Covina Hills Seventh-day Adventist Church. Archives
May 2020
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