Sabbath and Culture

From Rob Merola, who blogs at DaddyRoBlog:

Sometimes it seems like there is not turning back the clock and the culture we have is the culture we’re stuck with.   But  we can change it.

Several week’s ago Anne preached a sermon encouraging us to keep the Sabbath. She talked about the value of rest. And again, if you want to know something that is dangerous, that is destructive to people’s health and the well being of our society, it’s what happens when people don’t get enough rest.

How important is it, for instance, for our kids to have one down day a week? Might that go a long way to solving many of the problems they are facing? If we don’t know how stressed our kids are, and how much they long for such a day, we don’t know our kids very well. And if we don’t realize that all too often we are the ones who are driving our kids the hardest ,then we don’t know ourselves very well either.

But as important as a day of rest might be, it seems like an impossible ask. Who will do it? As valuable as a day of rest is, it sure seems like the cultural ship has sailed on this one.

But then I think of the story I read about Clay Christensen.  You may remember he was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, has been a successful businessman who continues to enjoy sizeable wealth, and that he currently teaches at Harvard.  In other words, he is a man who is clearly successful in every way imaginable.

You may also remember that while at Oxford, he played on a championship basketball team. Unfortunately, the championship itself was on a Sunday. He told his coach and his friends that he was committed to keeping the Sabbath, and that therefore he wouldn’t play.  And though none of them understood,  he didn’t.

And you will remember that he said this was one of the most important decisions of his life, because in it he realized that life is just one series of extenuating circumstances not to do what is right. So he kept the Sabbath. Let me say that again. A man who in many ways represents the pinnacle of success in Western culture keeps the Sabbath.

It can be done.

My point? The culture we have is not the culture that has to be. We can change it. But to do so, that change starts with you and with me… and with the culture we are all creating.