About 6 months ago, I decided to do some research on the idea of Sabbath. At the time, I felt that to much of life was blurring past and I was missing out on a much needed pause. I read a lot of classics about the practice of Sabbath and I googled and pinterest-ed myself into content overload. I sat down with two of my colleagues and we decided to talk about the needs and the rythmns of this sabbath idea. At the time, we didn’t know we would be working together, but today I call these 2 men colleagues and I meet with them each week. During the conversation one of them shared that during a recent season of life he chose to off-line for the weekend. He disconnects himself from social media completely. He said at first it was annoying, but over time he felt so liberated that he just kept the notifications from Facebook and Twitter turned off – eventually he removed the apps from his phone completely.
I remember listening to him share and thinking “he’s nuts.” I wish my reaction was more spiritual but really I couldn’t help but think he was being extreme. What kind of nut turns off their lifeline to connection with so many people?!? So, I did what I normally do when I’m around extreme folks, I smiled and decided to ignore him. But his comment wouldn’t go away – it just kept hanging around and nagging at me. Then I started to wonder, what if I tried it during my days off? What if I just turned it off when I was with my family on our Friday-Saturday times together? First I noticed how quickly I went to push a button when I was bored – it was like an automatic reaction to check something on facebook. Then I started to watch those around me and realized how right my friend is.
I’m a people watcher. I love working from Starbucks or walking in places just so that I can watch folks. I’m not watching like a creeper or anything. I just really enjoy seeing people engage their world and how oblivious we are to our surroundings. As I began looking up instead of looking at a glowing screen, I noticed that most folks were as addicted to their screens as I was. We weren’t having conversations or connecting to one another or to the beauty around us, we were to busy thumbing messages or liking puppy pictures. I remember sitting in a room full of family and friends and most everyone was looking at a screen. And my reaction was to want to grab my phone and see what I was missing.
Now, this could come off as pretty judgy but I don’t mean that at all. That’s too easy and quite frankly we have too much of that in our world. In fact that’s one of the reasons for my post today. Most of the stuff I find on my social media feeds is pretty judgy right now. The political environment just lends itself to it. I have friends on all sides of the issues. It is normal to read one update that supports Candidate A and another who sees Candidate A as the anti-christ (and don’t even get me started on candidate b). It seems that negative is the flavor of the day – it’s everywhere, and when I have my head in my screen that negativity seeps into my soul and just is a killer!
A couple weeks ago I heard a sermon by Bishop Swanson, a Bishop in my United Methodist Church. The UMC is in the middle of the divide – truth be told, we have lived in the middle since the very beginning. Bishop Swanson was speaking passionately about craving a fresh move of God in our midst. At one point, he paused looked at the congregation and said something like “if you want to see more of God’s goodness, start thanking him for the goodness that’s around you.” He continued, “when we are a thankful people, we will find more things to be thankful for.” He wasn’t preaching some “feel good” message. He was challenging us – he was pushing us to be more than grumps but be alive.
His statement had my head spinning. I already have a ton on the daily plate – stuff that can feel overwhelming just by itself – and then I add all the stuff from my social feeds. Good grief! I start letting all that negativity creep in and the next thing I know I’m grumping to everyone I encounter. I’m convinced that this is not pleasing to God in any way. We weren’t created to be negative and grumpy. We were created for way more – we were created to reflect the goodness of a God who wants the restoration of the world! We walk in His world – a world filled with vibrancy and energy and raw beauty. Those of us who call our selves christians are the ones who have received “good news” – does it show? Can the world see it? Or are we as buried in our screens as the world around us?
For this reason, I’m taking up my “extreme” colleagues idea. I’m not bailing on Facebook and Twitter (there’s a lot of good on those tools), but I am going to try and be more aware and more awake to the world around me. I am going to try and take Bishop Swanson’s word to heart – I want to be more thankful so that I will have more things to be thankful for. And instead of disappearing from the darkness or ignoring the HUGE looming questions of our world, I’m going to do something even more extreme than stepping away from facebook. I’m going to pray as if my prayers really mattered. Instead of vilifying either candidate, instead of worrying about plans that aren’t going as I wanted, instead of drowning in a sea of my own grumpiness, I’m going to choose a thankful heart. Instead of complaining, I’m going to sing songs and take pauses and breathe in the beauty God has given me. I have much to be grumpy for, but I have even more to be thankful for!
