As I read the Bible, I am struck by the frequency with which people walked to Jerusalem (several days journey, usually), celebrated a festival (multiple days), and walked home.
Wedding receptions took days, not hours.
Since the industrial revolution, America has become a sweatshop. We have less holidays and time off than virtually any other leading nation.
Please hear me, I am all for hard work. I love working and have no retirement plans.
However, we are human “doings” and not “beings” in America.
We see the elimination of Sunday blue laws (which mandated rest even for minimum wage folks) as “progress.” Sunday used to be so restful.
Lately, even on our few holidays, everything is open. This is a good thing?
We are becoming an engine that runs 24/7.
And our vacation times are all individual–we don’t share calendars. In Israel, everyone went to festivals together. It was social. Collective.
Don’t have a plan to fix this–just wanted to raise the issue.
What are your thoughts?
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January 15, 2011 at 6:18 am
Stan Lock
Thanks for the new topic. Your blog got me thinking about the word “recreation” or if we break it down it is “re-creation.” Setting aside time for celebration and prayer helps re-create the new man / woman who is better suited to do God’s will. Maybe this “re-cration” should be our main priority and we should squeeze in a little time for work if we need to.
January 15, 2011 at 6:47 am
Steven Buehler
The whole Jewish culture revolved around parties–the day began at sundown, which means it began with rest and sleep instead of waking up to work; they had the annual festivals and celebrations to remember the works of God in their midst; they were mandated to take one day every week and one year every seven to rest themselves and/or the fields they worked. It was when Israel failed to follow these cycles that they struggled as a nation. Think God knew what he was doing?
January 15, 2011 at 8:15 am
Fritz Trost
It all starts with Sabbath keeping and goes from there.
Believe me, Sabbath is a gift!!!
As well as the other festivals in the bible.
It would also help if we Christians saw ourselves as we are: a Jewish sect that believes we are the actual fulfillment of the covenant between Abraham and YHWH.
Maybe we should learn the festivals and practice them:)
January 15, 2011 at 8:36 am
Jolene Anderson
We are more greed driven than an affinity for work, I think. I’m amazed @ how little work actually goes on with so many employees in some areas… could it be we actually are ‘tired” from lack of rejuvenating time? IBM did intense studies on this & supplied their employees with yoga mats to take a 20 min. nap instead of coffee breaks. Production went through the roof! Our home life is no different; all the appliances we have to save time yet no time… what happened? We absolutely need “Holi-days”. Case in point. We had a wonderful brunch @ Robinwood Church on Sunday after Christmas on Sat. Simple fellowship, a great meal, & just “chillin.” It set the relaxed tone for the rest of the day for me. We went home after a short worship session & I was so very relaxed & my thoughts were about peace, grace & thankfulness. Again, when we had our annual Baptism day @ Mother’s Beach with worship, a cookout, fellowship, & such fun. Rejuvenating. I can’t imagine how several days of this would be. Remember the “old time revivals?” My Grandpa planned for months for these & they typically lasted a week. Worship, fellowship, family & food. I’m so sorry I didn’t appreciate it even more when as a child I was forced to go. My question is how did we get so very far from the old testament celebrations? I realize Jesus’ sacrifice took away the need for burnt offerings & animal sacrifices which I’m so grateful for, but did that also mean we weren’t suppose to have these festivals of worship & thankfulness? Why can’t we incorporate some of the important Jewish festivals into our calendar as part of our worship & fellowship? Just read in 2Chronicles2:4 where Solomon writes to King Hiram that these worship festivals are to go on “forever” as ordained by God. There is also a passage in Exodus35:1 about keeping the Sabbath holy; anyone caught working would be put to death! I guess that falls under “forced relaxation.” Excellent topic Hous. This certainly deserves a lot of thought.
January 15, 2011 at 10:20 am
Wendy Housholder
Sadly, I think America would have to be willing to accept the whole concept of a “Sabbath” (which would entail their being ok with Christianity, worship, church, etc.) in order for this to return, and the tide is going the other way….
However, if we couched it in terms of “rest = higher productivity” we might get some votes… I think our biggest chance of success with this would be through companies like IBM, as Jolene was describing, taking the initiative, and seeing good results. Others may follow. I hope so.
I would be more than willing to work around stores being closed on Sunday, for instance, in order that their employees could get their rest, family time, and hopefully worship time as well.
January 15, 2011 at 12:34 pm
Terry Branham
What we really need are Christians who are just motivated and anxious to walk next door or across the street or to the inner city and Love on their neighbors as Jesus showed us – Equipped and Mission oriented We need to Praise God and the miracles of Jesus that we see happen on mission trips. Why? So we are emboldened to speak the truth, blessings and grace of Jesus Christ in our lives and all around us
January 15, 2011 at 5:27 pm
Dave Klun
this counyry will burn out eventually…….I am a recoverring workaholic and see how sad it is. My life has soooooooooooooooo much more meaning now that i have realized that life is more than a wage. I hope people wake up as it very easy to get caught up in all the hype. It takes great disciline to live the life you want.
January 15, 2011 at 6:14 pm
David Housholder
So very true.
We need to “rest the land” on a regular basis.
January 15, 2011 at 9:53 pm
David Lund
One part I loved about living in Norway 5 years was the extensive rest and people time– everything and everyone shuts down at the same time, as you suggest. It’s heavenly. Our first Christmas, no one told us that EVERY store would be closed from noon Dec 23 until 9 am Dec 27. Four of us lived on hot dogs from the gas station minimart for several days. At Easter, everything is closed from Wednesday noon until the next Tuesday morning, after the “second Easter day.” Lots of walks in nature, lots of conversation, lots of rest.
Who said elimination of shop closing laws was progress? It takes a minute of thought to see how foolish this is. Not having Sabbath, working all the time is primitive. That’s what animals do. That what neanderthals had to do. Civilization means moderation and humaneness. This is one reason why seniors move to Arizona to senior communities. At home no one has any time to spend with them, why watch TV all day when you can spend time with people who have time to spend with you? Extended family structure requires time– in daily life and during holidays.
Thanks for bringing up this subject!
January 15, 2011 at 10:01 pm
David Lund
P.S. Wendy’s got it right. Norwegians all quit every day at 3:00 on the dot– have all the holidays– and are the most productive workers in Europe per person-hour.
P.P.S. Historically, 8 hours of sleep per night is the *minimum* average amount that people got. In northern and southern climes when nights are long, the average is 10+. We are simply a totally sleep-deprived nation (as I type at 11 pm). Good night!
January 16, 2011 at 6:33 pm
Christa
oh David, come visit us in Hong Kong. You don’t know the meaning of 24/7 until you live and work in this S.A.R. (special administrative region) of Hong Kong. I’m teaching Christian Stewardship at the seminary this semester and one of my major recurring themes is going to be…. good stewardship of time means… honoring the sabbath!
January 16, 2011 at 6:42 pm
Christa
whoops, I meant special administrative region of CHINA! 🙂
January 17, 2011 at 12:16 pm
Dwaine
Thanks, Dave, for the topic. A couple of thoughts:
I’m encouraged that at least in Minnesota the Auto dealers continue to stay closed on Sunday. Why they get it and others don’t???
I found in the work-for-pay world that was largely project oriented that expanding the work day via overtime provided increasingly decreasing productivity on an hourly basis. The addage of work expanding to fill the time allowed certainly seemed to hold true for most workers. That self-discovery lead me to the response to my managers that “I can only do the important things. If what you think is more important than the things I’m doing, please change my priorities.”
My father was once asked by a doctor why he thought he should work longer than he allowed his mules to work.
If our bodies are the temple for the Lord’s Spirit, the least we could do is take care of it. Getting adequate rest with time for re-creation and spiritual nurturing seems to me to be the order of the day.
January 17, 2011 at 1:17 pm
Brian Gigee
Back in the 1980’s Gordon Dahl wrote a book for Augsburg Press called… “Work-Worship & Play” His focus was that this is a cycle of life that Jesus modelled for all… but in our culture (and now more than ever) he pointed out that we “worship our work,”, “work at our play” and thus that leaves us with “play at our worship.”
An emerging Christianity that seeks to lift up ‘ancient’ practices will have a hope-filled future…
After all, how many people in the USA bought into the used car salesman’s pitch to “come and see” during the 12 days of Christmas ending 12/24?
We are a ‘teaching’ church… so let’s keep teaching!
Brian
January 17, 2011 at 4:15 pm
Slow down! | Steven W. Buehler
[…] author, and life coach David Householder’s post about how “America Needs Holi-Weeks” was one of those that grabbed me by the neck and shook me around this past week, because I know […]
January 17, 2011 at 8:14 pm
Mike Woods
I agree, switching from a 24/7 pace of life to living life 24/6 (keeping Sabbath) is difficult because of the lack of a community to practice such a life with.
An interesting question to ask people is: What is a life giving “No” that you have said recently?
Communal rhythms require the ability to say yes and to say no. Limits create the rhythms so that we do not become machines.
I like a passage from a Rev. Barbara Brown Taylor book:
“The great Swiss theologian Karl Barth wrote, ‘A being is free only when it can determine and limit its activity.’ By that definition, I have a hard time counting many free beings among my acquaintance. I know people who can do five things at once who are incapable of doing nothing. I know people who can decide what to do without being able to do less of it. Since I have been one of these people, I know that saying no is a more difficult spiritual practice than tithing, praying on a cold stone floor, or visiting a prisoner on death row.”
Thanks for raising the issue.
January 18, 2011 at 7:22 pm
JACK AAMOT
HI DAVE – AGREEING WITH YOU ABOUT THE HECTIC LIFE STYLE WE HAVE ALLOWED TO DROWN US – NEED TO FIGHT IT – SIMPLIFY LIFE SO NOT SO MANY HOURS AT WORK NEEDED TO KEEP US AFLOAT – FIGHT FOR FAMILY TIME SCHEDULE IT – TAKE SOME CHEAP TRIPS – CAMPING, BORROW A FRIENDS LAKE CABIN – TAKE A TRIP – OUR KIDS ARE NOW ADULTS WITH THEIR OWN KIDS – WE GET ALL 12 OF US OUT OF OUR HOMES TO A SECLUDED PLACE TWICE A YEAR – SCHEDULED FOR ALL – WE ALSO TRY TO NOT SHOP ON SINDAYS OR HOLIDAYS – DELAY TILL THE NEXT DAY OR TWO – NEVER BUY A NEW CAR – ANY WAY SOME OF MY ATTEMPTS TO HANG ON TO A LESS HURRIED LIFE STYLE – LIKE WE HAD IN BRAZIL FOR 14 YEARS 1/2 A CENTURY AGO THANKS FOR BRINGING IT UP – BLESS YOU MY BROTHER
January 21, 2011 at 5:07 am
CBI
In an agrarian economy, one can more readily have a “holi-week” — as long as it doesn’t interfere with the sowing or (especially) reaping rush. In a more connected economy, it is much more difficult. There have been times when people take days off at a time: we usually call them “natural disasters”, however. Imagine such a general “holi-week” . . . no groceries or gas stations or hospitals (!) or police . . . . So, unless it is a “holi-week” for some, but not for others, no dice.
That doesn’t mean that individuals or groups can’t do that. My place of work takes off the entire week between Christmas and New Year. (In exchange, we work on Columbus Day, MLK Day, and several other bank holidays.) It also offers a “9/80” plan: work nine hours a day Mon-Thu, then on Fridays alternate an 8-hour day with a Friday off (three day weekend). So . . . there are possibilities. But note that these are for subgroups of the population. That works. “One size fits all, doesn’t.”
BTW, the problem that most low-end wage workers (e.g., “minimum wage”) have in my area is not that they work too much, but that they can’t get enough work — too few hours. Workaholicism is no doubt a problem with some — maybe with with many of us hard chargers — but I don’t think it’s as widespread in as many think it to be.
January 21, 2011 at 5:34 am
David Housholder
“What about hospitals and gas stations” is not the point. Of course they stay open in every nation that takes a sabbath. But only gas stations near freeways.
This is an example of using an exception (e.g. “rape and incest” in the abortion debate) to bring force to bear on the center of the argument.
February 1, 2011 at 4:50 am
CBI
The point is that an idea may sound fine, but it is really only “fine for some people but not others”. That includes community-wide ‘holi-weeks’, which are a very nice idea in theory (Dave, I’m agreeing with you!), but have significant problems, too, which should not be ignored. (Aphorisms such as “the devil is in the details” and “the exceptions test the rule” would apply.) The idea only works in an idealized world.
Because of that, there are other ways that achieve a partial benefit, such as the 9/80 workweek, or the week-of-holidays, as mentioned. In a more restricted scope, the concept of a “vacation” does the same.
January 25, 2011 at 7:22 am
Pastor Tom
“What about gas stations” illustrates how deeply ingrained this in our culture. Why do gas stations need to be open if:
a. People plan ahead and
b. most people are not going very far anyway, because they are “re-creating.”
The problem isn’t structures, it is a way of perceiving ourselves based upon doing rather than being.
I grew up in a culture where everything was closed on Sundays, and also weekdays from noon-1pm. It can be done!
February 1, 2011 at 5:04 am
CBI
Tom, there is nothing currently which prevents most gas stations and stores from closing Sundays as well as weekdays from noon-1pm. (I can think of at least one retail and one food chain which closes Sunday.) The reason that very few do so is that there are people they *serve* who prefer to make their custom at those times.
That it (Sunday closures of most retail and service establishments) *can* be done is not the real issue. That it *could* be done now, if everyone desired it, is plainly true. It isn’t being done anymore because more people like the current way compared to the former way. Really, the argument is about whether or not the government should coerce that behavior. I don’t think it should. Do you?
All this is separate from other hyperbole (e.g., that America is a “sweatshop”, which no one really believe), but gets to the practicality and, yes, morality, as well as the interface of government and culture.