The Sabbath dance, in 6/7

I'm privileged to teach in Europe every year for a week or two. Europe, you know, is what the Republican party is afraid we're becoming if we let everybody have access to health care. It's the "post Christian" culture that so many fear we'll become, at great cost to our personal freedoms, if we don't vote properly.

These fears seem almost entirely misguided to me because, though our culture has incredible riches and unique blessings, we'd be wise to exercise some humility and recognize the vestiges of the gospel that reside across the water. What would it mean if we harvested some of our European friends cultural values?

It would mean that we'll spend less on health care per capita while our mortality rates would drop and our longevity rates rise. Church bells would ring at the beginning, middle, and end of each day, along with each hour. Public schools would celebrate "prayer day" where they learn about prayer in history, and spend time actually praying. There would be less access to AK47s and other rapid assault rifles for common citizens, and rates for homocides would be lower, as would the rate of incarceration. It would mean that a barista wouldn't lose their home because they need open heart surgery. These are good and needed changes. I'd suggest the only thing we have to fear is fear itself (to quote a favorite recent socialist).

However, rather than tackle the whole "socialist, church bells, prayer day, gun control" culture, I'd like to just talk about the Sabbath, which is practiced far better in Europe than it is here. Our culture is open for business 24/7. As a result, we've collectively lost our sense of rhythm, and this has serious consequences:

1. Because shops are open 7 days a week, we buy! This piece of our culture has the effect of enabling our propensity to wear ourselves out. In contrast, only activities that enhance leisure and relationship building (cafes, ski areas) are open on Sundays in the places I travel in Europe.

2. Because we buy, we do stuff, and the stuff we do often has the effect of displacing the leisure of eating a meal, slowly, with good friends, good wine, good conversation. Instead we're painting the fence, or cleaning the house, or whatever.

3. These things we do, combined with our love of TV, are effecting our relational capacity. A friend from Europe visited some college students here in the states and found their capacity for lingering conversation lacking, as they preferred, instead to play wii or watch movies.

Of course these are generalizations. Of course there are exceptions. Still, I'd argue that we need to learn from our European friends, how to dance to the rhythm of 6/7 time. Work hard six days a week, and then spend a day investing in rest, restoration, recovery, relationship, recreation, receiving all of it as the gift God intended.

We surely have different vestiges of our Christian heritage more prominent in our culture than our European friends have, but we both have these 'hangovers' from the Reformation (good hangovers... if ever there could be such a thing). It's high time we acknowledged that, maybe they're onto something with this Sabbath thing, and we learn from them. We might not be able to change the culture at large, but surely we can march to a different drummer ourselves can't we?

Have friends over for a meal
Sleep in
Worship
Play music with companions
Do something with your spouse: take a bath together, go for a hike, read aloud to each other

In short, make one day different, a day when you quit fighting the battle for survival, and simply enjoy the relationships, food, creation, health, that God has placed on your plate right now. Here's a book that might help get you started... and good Sabbath to you.