BONUS BLOG: Sabbath? Balance? More?

Sky McCracken, colleague and online friend says so much so well here —

Sabbath Keeping, the Protestant Work Ethic,

and Recovering from Workaholism

Over the years several folks have asked me about my “success” in the church as a pastor. I have usually answered with vague, general responses like, “Oh, some blessings and some luck,” or “I guess I was in the right place at the right time.” The truth of the matter is that it’s more likely due to overworking and inordinate commitments of time at an earlier time in my life, and I am not proud of that.

There’s certainly nothing wrong with devoting time to that which you love. However, Americans have created a society where devotion = worth, where time worked = loyalty to an employer, where the bestowing of titles can often assuage one’s ego… even if they don’t mean more compensation but do mean more work.

The Protestant Work Ethic, a term coined by Max Weber, has some flaws in its theorizing, but has been accepted enough that is became a common phrase used by most everyone. Basically: your productivity and stewardship (or perceived lack thereof) is a sign of your faithfulness to God and the calling God places upon your life – regardless whether you are layperson or a clergy person. The (loose) scriptural basis for such is 2 Thessalonians 3:10, “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.” So if you do set limits, boundaries, etc., you may be faithful to God but the world might see you as lazy, or not good at time management.

I probably got such an attitude honestly and genetically; it is said that my paternal grandfather was a workaholic, and no child of his ever dared to say to him on a rainy day, “Dad, I’m bored,” as he would find them work to do on the family farm. I had to seek counseling and therapy about my workaholism many years ago, which pointed out three spiritual and physical realities to me as a pastor: (1) regardless of how many New Testament loopholes you can find, keeping Sabbath is *still* one of the Big Ten, (2) it cannot be the will of God to be continually tired, and (3) no matter how many hours you work, no matter how many things you can check off your list, there will still be a mountain of things you didn’t get done… and for which people will complain about.

Regarding (1): the sabbath isn’t a burden, another rule, to keep. The Pharisees had made it such. It was intended as a respite, a refreshment, a well to drink from to allow God to refresh and renew us.

Regarding (2): the non-scriptural parable about the two men cutting wood best applies. One man works feverishly all day cutting wood, the second man works at a moderate pace with frequent stops and rest. At the end of the day, the 1st man cannot believe that the second man (whom he thought was lazy) had cut more wood. Why? During his rest, the second man sharpened his axe.

Regarding (3): pastoral work defies a business model where work is concerned. Some of pastoral work is a lot of listening – whether it’s to God or people. It takes an incredible amount of time that, if you’re not careful, can look and feel like an incredible waste of time. Yet the people you shepherd need to be heard, and for certain if one is not listening to and for God every part of your work will suffer – you’ll be trying to cut down trees with a dull axe. Driving in a car from one place to another can take up an enormous amount of time. The other facets of pastoral work go beyond what I could list – but they too take more time than we realize. It is not difficult to get to 40 hours, much less 60 hours, even 80 hours a week.

Excuses I’ve heard or made over the years: “God took off a day a week? Well, God wasn’t a United Methodist minister.” “I only have a short time on this earth. I can rest later.” “Being ordained is the burden I gladly accepted. God’s work is never done.” It was even once a badge of honor by some minsters when you had your first heart attack or cardiac surgery (yes… that’s sick).

Laudable? Maybe to humans. But none of those will hold up under God’s scrutiny. Is God impressed with our busyness? Probably not. “So this is the example you set for my people?” I don’t think I would want to answer the Almighty if I were asked such.

The fruit from overworking is not good. Families pay a price… which is part of why Catholicism may have kept their priests single. A dirty secret is that many a pastor’s spouse and child build a resentment against the church and limit their involvement. Ask some “preacher’s kid” (PKs) about their experience growing up and how it has affected them. Some success stories, some will break your heart. I remember a well-respected colleague once telling a group of pastors how he overheard a group of his son’s friends talking about going fishing, hunting, playing ball with their fathers, and his son saying, “Man, I never got to do those things with my dad. He was always gone with church stuff.” It broke his heart… and his son was now working in the church himself. A lot of PKs don’t attend church as adults.

All to say that we ALL need balance and boundaries in our lives, regardless of what we do for a living. We Americans have to work especially hard at it – it is neither encouraged nor cultivated in our society to take sabbath. A quick glance at how other countries handle paid time off per year shows how much work America has to take such seriously:

* Austria requires 25 days, plus 13 public holidays (paid)

* France and Spain are tied for second, with 36 days each

* South Korea requires 31 days

* Germany requires 30 days

* UK requires 28 days

* Japan mandates 26 days

I doubt that the U.S. will make any changes soon, but that doesn’t stop any of us from being good stewards of each day that God grants us life. Life is a gift – not to be squandered, not to be lived in drudgery, not to be lived out of obligation – but to be honored. Cherished. Loved. Carve some time out of each day to do these things, and be blessed.

“For this very reason, you must make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness, and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love. For if these things are yours and are increasing among you, they keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For anyone who lacks these things is short-sighted and blind, and is forgetful of the cleansing of past sins. Therefore, brothers and sisters, be all the more eager to confirm your call and election, for if you do this, you will never stumble. For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you.” – 2 Peter 1:5-11

– written a year ago (May 2024) from the Dingle Peninsula, Ireland