Issue 470
Are you tired of being tired? As one week finishes and another begins, do you sometimes struggle to find the energy to keep going? Are you weighed down with debt? Do you carry it like a heavy backpack on your shoulders? Do you get enough annual holiday or vacation, punctuating your years with commas – times to breathe? How has your life been so far? Has there been enough of a combination of intensity and pause? These matters touch on the issue of rhythms. (For the wordsmiths among you, one of the few words in the English language with no vowel). Nehemiah’s mind, however, was more used to the Hebrew language and the languages of the Middle East. As he and his people articulate their list of promises, their attention turns from the treatment of the “daughter” to the handling of their markets. Today we talk of the markets never sleeping. We boast of our busy lives and our pressurised schedules. To be overstretched is a status symbol and to be unavailable is a badge of importance. Nehemiah saw, in the ancient words of his forefathers, the wisdom of God when it comes to rhythms. So they promise, next in their list, to live by three radical rhythms. Every seventh day they would not trade. Every seventh year they would stop working the land. Every seventh year they would cancel all debts. In adopting these three rhythms they were giving their bodies the chance to breathe and rest, the land a chance to recuperate, and the economy a chance to heal. I would like to ask you to consider Nehemiah’s thinking as he records these choices. Today we know from stress research that working more than 48 hours in a week becomes counterproductive. Stress levels go up and productivity goes down. That’s six 8 hour days. Interestingly, the European Working Time Directive advocates no more than 48 hours work per week. Employers complain, politicians opt out, companies try to ignore this principle and insist it would be damaging to business. The same research field has discovered, however, that our overworked workforces are highly stressed and not necessarily more productive. Ask yourself how you perform when you are tired of being tired. I’m no farmer but I do know that land needs to rest as well. For thousands of years farmers have known that rotating crops and allowing land lie fallow allows the soil to replenish and recover. Right now the global economy and our individual lives are riddled with debt. We are like diseased trees losing strength and dignity. We are confused about how to live in the financial crises we have created. Yet, if you look, you will see the principle of debt cancellation implemented all over the world, not voluntarily, but because lenders and borrowers have been forced to cancel or default, by a global economy struggling to heal. I’m no economist, but could it be that the concept of planned debt cancellation might be as important for economic health as planned rest is for our bodies and for our land? Nehemiah seemed to think so and perhaps it’s worth you thinking about. There is a last surprise I suggest you include. Each of us has favourite rhythms when it comes to music. Please consider that simply adopting these three rhythms is not enough. Our music will still not work. Hidden in plain sight in Nehemiah’s words is a fourth rhythm. It’s not just the Sabbath, but holidays when they will not trade. Now you can see, not just an idea, but a reason. The reason for the Sabbath was holiness. It is about a God-centred week, a God-centred market, a God-centred economy and a God-centred approach to the land. It’s not three-four but four-four which is the tempo of life. Nehemiah knew that if these promises were to be meaningful they were to be promises to God. It’s not just about a day off, a farming policy or an economic policy but about following the ways of the Lord. The seventh day meant thinking about the other six. The seventh year meant handling the other six as to the Lord. Perhaps our stress levels, environmental challenges and economic crises are not just a matter of management, but of worship. These are the days that the Lord has made, the earth is the Lord’s and He owns the silver and gold. That’s Nehemiah’s mental rhythm. Consciously, he wanted to dance to the Creator’s rhythm. Over the same city, years later, the Lord Himself said: “We played pipe for you but you would not dance…” Maybe life only works to His rhythms. BIBLE SECTION Nehemiah 10:31 “When the neighbouring peoples bring merchandise or grain to sell on the Sabbath, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on any holy day. Every seventh year we will forgo working the land and will cancel all debts.
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Work well
Geoff Shattock
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