Sunday Worship: Busyness as Spiritual Idolatry

"How are you doing?"

"Good. Busy, but good . . . Actually, I am soooo busy."

"I know. Me too. I'm really busy."

This is a normal exchange between two Americans in 2009. Whether they are in high school, college, single and working, newly married, have children, or are retired, the constant refrain from most people is . . .

I'm busy.

I said it myself in a tweet earlier today without even thinking about it. It just rolls off the tongue (or the fingers on the keyboard) so easily. I'm busy. It is the explanation for everything. Saying that today reminded me that that is not how I want to see life.  When I say, "I'm busy," I'm saying that I'm doing stuff that I don't want to be doing and I'm running around like crazy trying to get stuff done because I have to. I am describing a state of physical, emotional, and spiritual unrest that leaves me worn out and depleted.  It is not healthy and it is usually unnecessary, for the most part.  So, I'm speaking to myself here.

Some people really are busy and legitimately so. I talked with a friend of mine the other day that is in the military. He's in a really stressful job and works 15 hours a day. He doesn't have a choice. Some days, I don't have a choice either because there are things I can't control. But, most of us have choices most of the time. We make choices about our lives and our lifestyles. The fact that those choices require constant busyness and motion might say something about the possible emptiness of our spiritual lives.

Tom Sine in The New Conspirators: Creating the Future One Mustard Seed at a Time says,

An Obstacles to Growth Survey studied 20,000 Christians in 139 countries over 5 years to discover how busy they are. They discovered that the levels of busyness were extremely high in the lives of Christians, particularly in countries like the United States and Britain, and particularly for pastors. Dr. Michael Zigarelli, at Charleston University School of Business, described the problem as "a 'vicious cycle' prompted by cultural conformity." He added that this extremely high level of busyness results in God being marginalized in our lives and "Christians becoming even more vulnerable to adopting secular assumptions about how to live, which leads to more conformity to a culture of busyness, hurry and overload. And then the cycle begins over again."

Our culture tells us what is important and it tells us what its expectations are. We have to keep up with everyone else, right? So, we go, go, go, trying to do more and constantly comparing ourselves to others. We do the same thing with our kids and have 4 year olds playing baseball multiple times a week. For what? Where is God in all this activity? How much of it really matters?

God addresses all of this and gives us a solution: the Sabbath - a day of rest to be spent in God's presence with God's people, being renewed and refocused on who God is and who He has called us to be.  We are to work 6 days and then take a Sabbath on the 7th. Christians moved the Sabbath to the first day of the week in honor of the Resurrection of our Lord. In declaring our freedom from legalism, we have thrown off all restraint and forgotten about the purpose in what God initiated for our own good. We often take our time of rest and turn it into extreme recreation (which isn't bad in and of itself, but does not replace a God ordained Sabbath).  What about a day of rest in the Lord's presence reflecting on the week that was and the week to come? What about stopping all of the motion and taking time to reflect on God, what He says is important, and the lives that we are living? God set it up so that we would take time to spend with Him and to rest. Few people find this to be practical, it seems.  It gets in the way of all that they want to do. Perhaps the source of much of our burnout, however, is the lack of spiritual rest that we get and the constant motion that we engage in. Maybe one reason that God seems so distant from us is because we do not stop our activity long enough to spend time with Him.

And, pastors are not immune to this. Just about every pastor that I know says that they are sooooo busy. Why is this? Eugene Peterson in The Contemplative Pastor has some very important things to say about this:

The one piece of mail certain to go unread into my wastebasket is the letter addressed to the "busy pastor." Not that the phrase doesn't describe me at times, but I refuse to give my attention to someone who encourages what is worst in me.

I'm not arguing the accuracy of the adjective; I am, though, contesting the way it's used to flatter and express sympathy.

"The poor man," we say. "He's so devoted to his flock; the work is endless, and he sacrifices himself to unstintingly." But, the word busy is the symptom not of commitment but of betrayal. It is not devotion but defection. The adjective busy set as a modifier to pastor should sound to our ears like adulterous to characterize a wife or embezzling to describe a banker. It is an outrageous scandal, a blasphemous affront.

Peterson goes on to say that a busy pastor is a hurried pastor, always rushing around doing one thing or another with little time for God or people. He is busy because he tries to impress people with his importance regarding all that he has to do and he is also busy because he is lazy. He lets others dictate to him what is important and he does not take the time to set his own schedule with what is really important. He says that what is important is prayer, being drenched in Scripture so that you are able to preach anointed messages to the people God has put in your care, and taking the time to really listen to others. These things are the building blocks of pastoral ministry and everything else must come later.

But, what about those in other vocations who have demanding bosses, deadlines, crying children, soccer practice, housework, projects, and an unending demand from relationships with others? And, what about our own desires that often drive us to do more, be more, and become more? Peterson, in his book, Where Your Treasure Is, points to prayer as being essential:

The only way to escape from self-annihilating and society-destroying egotism and into self-enhancing community is through prayer. Only in prayer can we escape the distortions and constrictions of the self and enter the truth and expansiveness of God. We find there, to our surprise, both self and society whole and blessed. It is the old business of losing your life to save it; and the life that is saved is not only your own, but everyone else's as well.

He is talking about prayer as both a private act as well as a communal act that brings us closer to God as well as into deeper relationship with one another. This is what God had in mind when He gave us the Sabbath and it is what happens when we take the time to pray together.  When we pray, we focus on God and allow His character and priorites to order our lives. Yes, there are many things that we have to do and life is filled with activity. But, when we look to God in prayer, we will live our lives in His power and we will do the things that He leads us to do. God has good works prepared in advance for us to do (Eph. 2:10), but we are not to do them with a hurried, stressed, and distracted spirit, alienated from Him and the people that He has placed in our lives.

It is late on Saturday night. Tomorrow is Sunday. All over America, people will gather for worship. They will drive to a building, sing some songs, hear a message, and leave to go to lunch. They will spend the rest of the day catching up on things and doing what they want. But, will they meet with God? Will they slow down and lay their lives at His feet?  We are so busy doing so much stuff that we rarely take the time to reflect on who God is and what He has for us. We run off after a million things thinking that we can help God along with His work, all the while our souls are depleted. I am not talking about inactivity here. Rather, I am talking about living life centered in God's will, walking in His Spirit, allowing Him to direct us, and not allowing ourselves to be frustrated by the whims of a culture drunk on its own distractions. 

There is a reason that the fourth commandment, Keep the Sabbath holy, is right up there with the commandments telling us to stay away from idolatry and from taking the Lord's name in vain. Properly keeping the Sabbath (and also mini-Sabbaths throughout the week) keeps us aware of creeping idolatry and brings us back to God. So, let us experience what God has for us in the Sabbath. Let's stop, pray, meditate on God, contemplate His goodness, marvel at His mysteries, soak in His presence. Let us lay down our burdens and take on the mind of Christ. Let us reconnect with family and friends and enjoy the abundance of beauty in relationships with others. Let us feast on the grace of God. Let us make every effort to enter God's rest and cease striving. As we do these things, let's ask God to direct our steps and to order our lives according to His will.

Let us live by the Spirit.  

Comments

[Antje]

As a self employed translator I hardly keep the Sabbath, but I am working on it (managed last week, did not manage this week, will try again next week).

Not proud of being "busy". Probably just bad time management!
I feel NOT keeping Sabbath is really bad for my overall productivity.

Thanks for this message.

True and relevant.

[ray]

Pastor Alan,

I shout out a huge Amen! Business is everywhere, and there seems to be little distinction between the church and the world in this manner. You are the first modern-day pastor I have heard extol people to slow down, to rest, to keep the Sabbath holy. As you have taught, in the new covenant, that means different things to different people. Praise the Christ for his grace in allowing us an opportunity--a time santcified--to feast on him.

I think you nailed it. Business is a form of idolatry. And I think it is possible to "smash it" like a Baal statue. The key for me is determing what is really determining what is required (like the 15 hr work day--which I may be returning to) and what is discretionary. May God's Word and His Spirit by my guide into rest.

[Susan David]

Hi,

I would like to share with you a good ebook that's free to help pastors and their wives with discouragement and burnout. You can find it at: http://www.stoppastorburnout.com . It's quite helpful.

If you have pastor friends or even their wives, we are currently inviting pastors and pastor wives to join charter membership club for free for 2 months,you might want to share this with them. You may visit http://www.susandavidlifecoach.com/index.php/sponsors for more information.

We would also like to invite you to view our video on this topic at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miF-R0bCz0A.

Feel free to share this with your friends or people you care for.

Thanks,

Susan David