Living in the Limits | SL 1.8 (May 2020)
In this newsletter
- Living in the Limits
- Keeping Sabbath, Setting Time Aside
- Two Poems for this Moment
- Re-imagining Life Under the Sun: Reading Ecclesiastes 1 with G. K. Chesterton
- Pray With Us
You can always read this newsletter in your browser.
Shoe Shine Boy, Mickey walking with his shoe shining stand (Stanley Kubrick, 1947).
Living in the Limits
Lord, you hem us in behind and before and set your hand upon us. So says the psalmist (Psalm 139). Were it not for the ever-more-noticeable lack of fellowship, all this would feel like a sabbatical of sorts, a sort of monastic lifestyle. We remain deeply thankful for the LORD's provision for us in this place and moment in time. Our hearts are with those for whom this time is not a retreat, but rather a brush with death or a drawn out crisis. If you have pressing needs or concerns, please share them—we'd love to pray for you.
Through this season I've been trying to come to terms with my limits and wrestling with my tendency to build all my value and self-worth on my productivity. The guy who lived in our house before us, Jameson Ross, was also an American PhD student in Durham. He wrote a reflection on working from home that I deeply relate to. Kinda bizarre to picture Jameson sitting in my office before me, writing his dissertation, taking his kids on the same walks we go on—but its strangely encouraging. Everything has been done before (Eccl 1:9). So we press on in faith.
Easter Sunday walk through a lambing field, lambs are not on lockdown.
Would ya look at this little girl!? Willia Eve is six months old, lovin' life & oblivious to the lockdown.
Cherry blossoms, Spring is not on lockdown.
Work & Ministry Happenings
- I've been teaching a weekly bible study of Ecclesiastes on Zoom that I'm calling "Finding Meaning in Life Despite Everything." This has been a massive encouragement to me in every way. It has been a pleasure to discover that many of you are interested in such an in-depth study. As is so often the case, working through this profound and perplexing book is proving to be exactly what I needed to reflect on during this time. If you want to jump in on the study we have five more weeks and you are welcome to join. Click the link above to go to the site for the study where you'll find all the info, a Zoom link, and even notes to catch up if you'd like to. See you tomorrow!
- I've volunteered to present a paper in an online biblical studies seminar at Durham on May 25th. It's related to my dissertation and will focus on theological interpretation of Proverbs 14:4. Now I need to write it.
- At William Tennent School of Theology we continue to work toward a Fall launch but we have no idea if that will happen or not. The board and faculty will be meeting over the next week to discuss options.
- Training Leaders International has wisely canceled my trip to India in July to teach Ephesians (and all other trips through the Summer). Bummed about this, but I intend to find other valuable ways to invest my time (the Ecclesiastes study is one of them!).
Shoe Shine Boy, Mickey at his shoe shine stand (Stanley Kubrick, 1947).
Keeping Sabbath, Setting Time Aside
This is the final installment in a little series on spiritual disciplines that I had planned for the first part of 2020. Here are the previous ones: (1) Digital Minimalism and Spiritual Headspace, (2) Spiritual Affirmations and Believing What's True, (3) Praying the Lord's Prayer During the Plague.
One of the things that God created in Genesis 1 that is often overlooked is time. When he spoke light into being and separated out darkness he created evening and morning—the cycles of light and dark that remind us that God's universe is in motion and we are marching forward. When he placed the sun and the moon and the stars in the sky, it wasn't just to give light, but to serve as "signs and for seasons, and for days and years" (Gen 1:14). Once all good things had been set in order the LORD rested on the seventh day. His rest there at the beginning of time sealed the seventh day as holy and therefore set one seventh of all time aside as a kind of chronological "tithe." Like our giving of money, our giving of time acknowledges that we are merely stewards and all things belong to the LORD. The great Jewish Rabbi, Abraham Joshua Heschel, has famously called the sabbath a "sanctuary in time." Holy time, time dedicated to the LORD.
Now, most Christians keep the Sabbath in one way or another. Sundays have a special routine, we go to church and worship together, maybe you go out to eat. But I think few of us keep the Sabbath as a spiritual discipline, setting aside this time to remember our Creator (Exod 20:8–11) and our redemption (Deut 5:12–15). Now, please understand, I am not suggesting that this is something that Christians must do—Christ has fulfilled the Sabbath and we are no longer under the law as a guardian (Gal 4:7; Col 2:16)—but the Sabbath rest remains for the people of God (Heb 4:9). I believe that like marriage or godly work, the Sabbath is what theologians call a "creation ordinance"—something God wove into the created order and then commanded for our good. In other words, the full consummation of the sign has not been realized and we remain creatures who would do well to accept our limitations and lean into God's grace. The Sabbath is a gift of time that God uses to restore us to right relationship with him and with each other.
Of all the spiritual disciplines, this one might be the most dear to my heart. As someone who chronically struggles with the idol of productivity and who routinely feels like I am not accomplishing enough, taking on enough, or able enough, the Sabbath has been an at times life-saving practice. By some fluke of grace Meghan and I decided almost from day one that we would take the Sabbath seriously. No matter how much internal or external pressure I feel, on Sundays we just stop. It is like an oasis of time, like an essential rest between laps, like a vacation to start each week. For me personally and spiritually, this practice serves as a barrier against letting my idolatry of productivity and my proclivity to anxiety run amok. It has also often motivated and encouraged me throughout my week to work diligently and faithfully, because the appropriate time for rest is coming.
The Sabbath has truly taught me, little by little, that God is in control and I am not responsible for everything.
I think that now in lockdown perhaps more than ever, the Sabbath is an essential, life-giving spiritual discipline. The days and weeks run together. For many people whatever usual routines marked out spiritual habits and work habits are gone and you probably have to create your own. If you are starting to feel frayed and disoriented, Sabbath will help you break up your days and weeks in a way that can center all of it on God and enjoying his gifts.
So here's your spiritual challenge: Will you use this period of lockdown—whether it lasts two more weeks or the rest of the year—to put a Sabbath practice into place?
Here are some suggestions that might be helpful if you choose to do so:
- It is more about setting the Sabbath apart than about "not working." In whatever practices you decide to implement or refrain from, remember that it is more about making the Sabbath holy, setting it apart from your week, than it is about "rules." Think "gift" and "grace" rather than "rule."
- Set aside 24 hours, but it probably doesn't matter which 24. It makes sense to choose Sunday cause many people have it off consistently and this is when the people of God generally gather for worship, but there is no reason why you couldn't honor the discipline on Saturday or Wednesday, for that matter, if it suits your schedule. For years and years we just set aside Sunday, but recently we've adopted the Jewish practice of sundown Saturday to sundown Sunday. This is not for any theological reason, but just because with small kids this routine feels more relaxing. If we kick it back into gear on Sunday evening, Monday morning can take a breath.
- Set some kind of guidelines for yourself to decide what you'll engage in. What activities do you want to rule in/out? This can be difficult to sort out. For years, Meghan's and my watchword has been "do nothing productive." For a long time we were fairly strict about this because I needed it for the Sabbath to work. I would have smuggled in all kinds of productivity because I "enjoyed it." But this kind of productivity-driven lifestyle is exactly what I need most to step back from. So, even if I enjoy running, or mowing the lawn, or reading some academic stuff about the Bible, I don't do it on Sunday. Now, we are more relaxed these days and our watchword has probably shifted a bit to "do nothing you don't enjoy."
- Make a grand gesture. In other words, do something extravagant and different than what you normally do. Make cookies for breakfast. Take a bath or watch a movie in the middle of the day. Go for a ridiculously long walk. Spend the day at the beach. Since lockdown started I've been making pancakes for breakfast and we've been driving to the countryside for a "special walk" since we take daily walks around Durham already. It's sacred. Set it apart.
- Plan to rest. In Jerusalem on Friday afternoon (the start of the Jewish Sabbath), the city become frenetic with activity the closer and closer it gets to Sundown. The markets swarm, and young men with ear locks and wide brimmed black hats race through the crowds sounding trumpets to remind everyone that the Sabbath is coming, the Sabbath is coming! This should remind us that in order to rest you have to put some stuff in place. You have to do your shopping and laundry on Saturday, maybe you'll want to make a big dinner so you have left overs and don't have to cook the next day. Whatever rubrics you've set in place for yourself, do the work that it takes to make it happen. The same goes for your work week. If it is simply not an option to work on the presentation or to catch up on the bills on Sunday, you'll get it done another time. If this sounds like a hassle, remember that the Sabbath disciplines your time. This restructuring is a one of the spiritual gifts of the practice.
- Be willing to break your "rules" for the right reasons. Always break your rules for the sake of doing good (Mark 2:27; Luke 14:5). Also be willing to break your rules for the sake of community—a rare opportunity for connecting with God or with others. But if you're feeling anxious or overwhelmed or restless, this might be when you should lean into your rules and let the Sabbath discipline you.
What the Sabbath ultimately does is remind us that time is sacred. That the LORD created it and will bring it to conclusion and that he operates within it for our good and his glory and that he will one day bring all things to completion. As we cease week-to-week we honor that fact, marking out time toward the day when all things will be made new. We remember that we are mere creatures—thankful and dependent on our LORD for all things.
This is how we are designed.
Shoe shine boy (Stanley Kubrick, 1947).
Two Poems for this Moment in Time
To My Children, Fearing for Them
by Wendell Berry
Terrors are to come. The earth
is poisoned with narrow lives.
I think of you. What you willlive through, or perish by, eats
at my heart. What have I done? I
need better answers than there areto the pain of coming to see
what was done in blindness,
loving what I cannot save. Nor,your eyes turning toward me,
can I wish your lives unmade
though the pain of them is on me.
The Peace of Wild Things
by Wendell Berry
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
Shoe Shine Boy, Mickey and another boy laughing (Stanley Kubrick, 1947).
Re-imagining Life Under the Sun: Reading Ecclesiastes 1 with G. K. Chesterton
The Book of Ecclesiastes opens at a slow march:
Eccl 1:4–11 (ESV w/ modifications)
4 A generation goes, and a generation comes in,
but the earth stands forever.
5 The sun rises, and the sun comes in,
and hastens to the place where it rises.
6 The wind goes to the south
and rounds to the north;
round and round goes the wind,
and on its rounds the wind returns.
7 All streams go to the sea,
but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams go,
there they return to go.
8 All things are full of weariness;
a man cannot utter it;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing.
9 What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done,
and there is nothing new under the sun.
There is a repetitive, desultory nature to these lines. They wander the face of the whole created order in circles. Medieval commentators noted that these verses walk through the four ancient primal elements: earth, fire, wind, and water. The earth is a stage and the sun, the wind, and the water are on tracks like toy trains. The earth stands but everything else goes or walks. The sun moves east to west, the wind moves north to south. Now note how this poem sets humanity up against this backdrop—the verbs that are used to describe humanity are repeated throughout the description of the created order. (I tweaked the ESV so that all the verbal repetitions match the Hebrew.) Unlike much Hebrew poetry, the language of this passage is common, prosaic, plodding.
As modern people, we believe in the myth of progress—the idea that things are steadily improving and that we’ll solve all our problems as we improve science, technology, government, society. Covid-19 will not be as bad as the Spanish Flu because medicine has advanced in leaps and bounds. We are not so isolated as we might be cause technology allows us to hold church online and casually call our family from another continent on small metal tablets we keep in our pockets. Because of this myth of progress, I think that we can read a passage like this and it sounds so humdrum. Repetition is so boring. Give us progress!
But perhaps we can slow down and hear these verses as I think an ancient person might. For the ancients, these verses may have instead evoked a feeling of security rooted in the stability of creation.
Ps 19:1, 4–6
1 The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. ...
4 In them he has set a tent for the sun,
5 which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,
and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.
6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens,
and its circuit to the end of them,
and there is nothing hidden from its heat.
Indeed, images of chaos and destruction in Scripture often have to do with creation coming unmade (Pss 18:7; 46:2; Isa 34:4; cf. Gen 8:21–22). Events like droughts or floods, where the cycles of the natural world fail in their ordered courses, are catastrophic for man.
Theologically, the stability of creation reflects the doctrine of God's impassibility.
J. Todd Billings defines God’s impassibility this way:
The doctrine of divine impassibility is the belief that God has no “passions”—that is, no disordered affections that could make his love ebb and flow. He delights in the goodness of creation and in obedience, has compassion for the suffering and hears their cry, grieves over the creation’s self-destructive sin, and is angry at evil, injustice, and wickedness. ... Unlike our own emotional lives, God’s affections are never distorted through sinful, disordered passions, nor are they controlled by greater powers. ... While our emotional responses are often manipulated by others, or caused by circumstances that make us act “not like ourselves,” God is never less than true to himself. Thus, the fundamental difference between God’s affections and our own is rooted in the reality that God is God and we are not.
In Ecclesiastes one of the fundamental problems is perception—our perspective vs. God’s perspective. From where we stand, with our feet on the ground, we lament, “there’s nothing new under the sun!” And yet God is the one who says from all eternity, “Behold, I am making all things new” (Rev 21:5; cf. Isa 43:18–19), and, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Cor 5:17). From God’s perspective our salvation in Christ is accomplished from before the foundations of the earth (Eph 1:3–4).
Viewed from this perspective, we might almost say, Thank God there is nothing new. Praise God that his plan and his purposes do not change (Jas 1:17). J. Todd Billings again, “The doctrine of impassibility affirms God’s steady, indomitable love. He has the backbone to take on our terror and overcome it in Christ.”
G. K. Chesterton captures something profoundly comforting about God's timelessness in this astounding passage:
The sun rises every morning. I do not rise every morning; but the variation is due not to my activity, but to my inaction. Now, to put the matter in a popular phrase, it might be true that the sun rises regularly because he never gets tired of rising. His routine might be due, not to a lifelessness, but to a rush of life. The thing I mean can be seen, for instance, in children, when they find some game or joke that they specially enjoy. A child kicks his legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, ‘Do it again’ to the sun; and every evening, ‘Do it again’ to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.
LORD we have indeed sinned and grown old. Fill us with the joy of your salvation that we might rejoice with you in every new day and in every flower—make us young again. In so doing help us to live in the limits that your wisdom has placed upon us. May we not grasp for more than you give us. May we let go and receive your good gifts.
Shoe shine boy, Mickey climbing a fence (Stanley Kubrick, 1947).
Pray With Us
- My heart is heavy for the many people who are experiencing real hardship or facing death at this moment. Corona makes this impossible to ignore. Pray for the LORD's mercy.
- Pray also for the many people who are thinking about death and more open to the gospel and to growing in Christ than ever before. Pray for this incredible season of spiritual opportunity and for the many ministry workers who are seeking faithfully to seize it.
- Pray for a Covid-19 vaccine that is safe and mass-producible to be developed extremely quickly.
- Pray that I can make significant progress on my dissertation during this season and that I would choose wisely how to invest my time.
Shoe shine boy (Stanley Kubrick, 1947).
Notes:
- The poems by Wendell Berry are from his wonderful new poetry retrospective: Wendell Berry, The Peace of Wild Things (UK: Penguin, 2018).
- I owe my translation of Eccl 1:6 to Robert D. Holmstedt, John A. Cook, and Philip S. Marshall, Qoheleth: A Handbook on The Hebrew Text (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2017), 58.
- The G. K. Chesterton passage is from Orthodoxy; but I found it in Daniel J. Treier, Proverbs & Ecclesiastes (Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2011), 119.
- J. Todd Billings's description of God's impassibility came from his moving reflection “Undying Love: In our suffering, we find comfort in God's impassibility,” First Things (December 2014).
- Before Stanley Kubrick became one of the most influential filmmakers of all time, he worked for LOOK magazine as a staff photographer in NYC. These photos were taken when he was still a teenager and are part of an incredible collection of nearly 5,000 photos that you can browse at the website of The Museum of the City of New York.