A Word from Pastor Nathan

Dear Church Family:

Greetings from somewhere on the Atlantic Ocean! Chad and I are away on vacation this week, so I ’m writing this brief column in advance, sitting in my living room with only the light of my laptop computer screen and a muted television.

Many ministers, myself included, really stink at the spiritual practice of sabbath – keeping and self -care. These spiritual disciplines seem like luxuries we cannot afford. The traditional Sabbath day is the most important workday of the week for the minister. Taking time for a morning run, the free art gallery at Oberlin College, or even a game of Skip -Bo at home is a difficult choice when the to -do list of ministry never ends.

Barbara Brown Taylor says, “The only promise [spiritual disciplines] make is to teach those who engage in them what those practitioners need to know —about being human, about being human with other people, about being human in creation, about being human before God.” Self -care and sabbath -keeping teach that our bodies need rest and a respite from the demands of work. If we take time to take time, we become more human. One of the earliest Christian theologians, Irenaeus, said, “The glory of God is one who is fully alive.” Unfortunately, we are more familiar with being fully exhausted and only partially alive.

In the first creation story, the narrator tells us that God rested on the seventh day, which is a strange and mysterious truth. Isn ’t God infinite, immortal, and inexhaustible? Maybe; maybe not. God expended God ’s own resources in that first creation story, and at the end of the week God needed a break, a holy rest from holy work.

Thank you, dear church, for providing time for me to be away. Vacation is a privilege, and I’m grateful for the time you give me. Our larger society does not value the spiritual practices of self -care and sabbath-keeping. Many work multiple jobs to make ends meet.

Let us covenant with one another and God to practice these spiritual disciplines so that we may rise refreshed and renewed to work for a just and equal sharing of all that life affords. As a result of our witness and rest, we ’ll show the world what it means to be fully alive.

Peace abundant,

Nathan