by Lloyd Robertson
May is a “resting month.” What is that? Where did it come from? Why do we have them?
Well, we adopted the practice from a pastor named Zach Eswine who wrote about it in his book The Imperfect Pastor. We think there is wisdom in the practice. Eswine writes:
When I first introduced the idea of “resting months” to our congregation, they didn’t like it. Three months a year we’d give all our weekly ministries a break without guilt (April, August, and December). I did this because of the age of our congregation, made up of mostly young families with kids. These same families were doing all the volunteering at the church and in the community. Between serving and volunteering, going to Bible studies and house groups, people were wearing out. On the flip side, if anyone did take a break they felt enormous guilt, like they were letting God and us down.
Unpacking this a bit, there are several reasons for scheduling rest. We are finite beings. The limitations we have are not a defect but part of God’s design. Taking a scheduled rest lowers the chance of taking an “unscheduled” break because we’ve burnt out.
More than that, we see God has built into creation patterns of rest. We spend roughly a third of our lives at rest. The pattern of the seasons enforces a rest on the farmer. As noted earlier, this is by God’s good design. In the rules and patterns God gave Israel there are regular, enforced intervals of rest. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8) is the fourth of the Ten Commandments. Every seventh year Israel was to let the land lie fallow. (Leviticus 25)
This was (and is!) countercultural. We can act like being busy is a modern malady. It is not. In one of the Psalms written by Solomon he says “It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.” (Psalms 127:2) Sleep is a gift. Rest is a gift. It’s easy to knock the Pharisees for their rules for the Sabbath. But spurning the invitation to rest (Matt. 11:28) is not any better.
In resting, we testify that our hope does not ultimately come from the product of our labor but from the Lord. In whatever arena we operate – church, parenting, career, school – our efforts matter. But our efforts are not decisive. God is. Consider this parable from Mark: “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. 27 He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how.” (Mark 4:26-27) There is a time to “scatter seed”. But there is also a time to “sleep.”
We believe in service. But the need for rest and sleep are a continual reminder that we are not God. God instructs us to rest so that we are reminded and comforted in the fact that he is the source of all blessing.