David Brooks writes a fantastic column on the weariness of our time: social media. Sure, I write this on a blog and post it on social media. It’s the great paradox of our time, to be sure. But his words are worth reading.
We need Sabbath. Brooks uses Abraham Heschel to describe Sabbath and it’s beauty:
“The Sabbath, he continues, is not a rest from the other six days. It is the peak experience the other six days point toward. On this day the Orthodox do less and in slowness can glimpse the seeds of eternity.“
One of the truly wearying efforts of our time is the ongoing “culture wars”. We’re seeing it kicked up with renewed intensity regarding abortion. The agitation on the extremes is all that carries the effort. We need a Sabbath break. I need a Sabbath break.
Brooks refers to a book by Makoto Fujimura called Culture Care. He ends his column with these thoughts:
“It is an argument against the whole idea of a culture war. It advocates an environmental movement for the culture — replacing the harsh works that flow from fear with works that are generous, generative and generational.
That last word is a breath from another age. What would it mean to live generationally once in a while, in a world that now finds the daily newspaper too slow?”
I often ponder what if we laid down our useless swords in these culture wars and as believers we would once again move away from the fear motivation and move into the abundance motivation? What if we moved away from attitudes that divided into actions that simply blessed and multiplied?
At any rate, there is a weariness that only Sabbath can heal. Lent is also such a time. A time to reflect. A time to repent of fear-mongering and beg for a restoration of language that brings blessedness.
Lord, heal us.
Apprentice 2 Jesus 