HELLO!

This morning I received an excellent response to my blog from yesterday. She pointed out, accurately, that many people do in fact find 1) being still, 2) being affirmed and 3) being there, refreshing, restorative, and relaxing. In short, Sabbath time. The point I was attempting to make, in my blog and the 8 minute video I included with it, was this, what becomes Sabbath time for you may not be so for others and not to let so called “conventional wisdom” be an assumption you inherit without discernment. I remember, about this very time of year, being invited by a fellow student to go fishing with him, because “he” thought he knew exactly what I needed to escape stress. This person, now a colleague in ministry, would not take no for an answer, he pressed me, using our clergy supervisor as leverage (the supervisor told me I had to do this, as he too thought it would be good for me). We two men in our mid 20s sat in camping chairs by a rural stream, with fishing rods, bait, etc… He scolded, “We will NOT be talking, you need to relax and be fully present”. I responded, “Is that an order?” He didn’t think I was funny. That day was as relaxing, restorative, and refreshing as receiving a root canal. But to many of you, and to him, this was how you escape stress.

For most of my life I have been on the receiving end of unsolicited advice. I am told, almost everyday, something someone else feels that I need to do, to believe, to have. These offerings are the reason I focused on how people will head to a beach and lay out like a lobster, not because it what they find relaxing but because someone told them to do so. I know people who assume if only others tell them how special, how clever, how wonderful, they are, they will be refreshed. I know people who travel to tourist destinations, not because they feel drawn to those experiences, but because their friends and family told them it is what people do. If these remedies to stress speak to you, work for you, are healing for you, God bless you, carry on my kin in Christ! But if you are pushing yourself to participate in these activities and they are not restoring your soul, there may be a reason. What passes for “common sense” is often what others do, not necessarily what works for you.

Years ago, Kim introduced me to her favorite minister from her home parish, David Boston. When I served in Fairview, I used to run into David as he lived in the community. I would ask him about his summer plans. For David, what was relaxing, restorative and refreshing was a part-time job he had waiting for him, every summer, in Maine. David had always been fascinated by streetcars. During a vacation in Maine, he shared his passion while riding the streetcars. https://trolleymuseum.org/ The conductor told David they were short on summertime “fill-ins” and asked if he was interested. Training was available. The rest is history. David told me he did not share his Sabbath time plans with colleagues as they all thought he needed “an intervention”, likely a fishing trip to a mosquito infested stream like I experienced. Unlike me, David kept his eccentricity to himself, for fear of being mocked. I don’t care if people make fun of me, and I share my oddness in hopes others who find their Sabbath time in unconventional places, will be encouraged to resist the conventional.

“You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you odd” Flannery O’Connor. Peace, Kevin