Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone | Matthew 14:22–23
I love that the gospels, a condensed telling of Jesus’ life and work, make note of His rest. Jesus, who was fully man and fully God, respected the design of the flesh by making sure that He got regular breaks. Jesus honored the Sabbath, not only as an act of worship to His father, but also as a necessity for health.
We addressed this aspect of Solemn Rest in the latest sermon (and the one before that). We were made to have physical and emotional limitations that require us to stop and be still. God did not design people to be going all of the time; we were designed, not only to rest our muscles, but also to rest our minds.
This brings us to the issue of technology. When the Bible was written, the concept of the internet was a long way off. As a matter of fact, it wasn’t really until the mid-nineties that anyone other than tech geeks were doing much online. We have this technology, that is less than 30 years old (40 if you go all the way back to its beginning), that now shapes our society. It is almost impossible to imagine our lives without internet connectivity. While the internet has quickened our pace and allowed us to accomplish things deemed impossible by every generation before, it is not without its drawbacks. I am reminded of the prophetic warning of Neil Postman in his book Amusing Ourselves to Death:
Years from now, when it will be noticed that the massive collection and speed-of-light retrieval of data have been of great value to large-scale organizations but have solved very little of importance to most people and have created at least as many problems for them as they may have solved.
This was written in 1985, and is in reference to the trends he sees in marketing and television. The internet has accelerated this exponentially. I don’t want to downplay the positives that the internet provides. I believe ‘solved very little of importance’ may be a bit pessimistic. There is a reason why we are all drawn to what the internet offers. The amount of information that we have at the tips of our fingers and the interactivity that it offers us is mind-blowing. We do need to be honest about the side effects that come with it. While the internet makes possible things that our grandparents could not have dreamed of, it has also been damaging to some very important aspects of life.
In the last ten years, suicide rates, depression, and anxiety have gone throught the roof. There are a number of reasons for this (always are), but the charts align pretty closely with the invention of the smartphone (this article connects some of the dots, or just Google mental health and smartphone). The continual connection to information and media is creating a scenario that our minds were not created to handle. While much of the pushback has been aimed at social media (which creates its own issues) it is all of it that has overwhelmed us to the point of emotional exhaustion. The very technology that has opened up new horizons is simultaneously destroying our humanness; what are we to do?
First, we should understand what being online does to us. A great resource for this is Media Trauma Care (podcasts can be found here). We had planned to fly the founder Jenny Black out last year for a conference (but, COVID), which will hopefully happen in the future; she does a great job describing how our time online shapes us.
Second, recognize that media rest is a part of sabbath. Too often we take time off for our bodies, while staying connected via technology. The Fear-of-missing-out (FOMO) ends up wearing us down. Groups like The Sabbath Manifesto have been encouraging people to take this part of our regular rest seriously, not just as a mental break, but as a spiritual discipline.
Third, put together a plan to rest from media. This means different things for different people. Some people do the one hour a day, one day a week, one week a month method. Others start by carving out specific times organized around family and worship to disconnect. The Art of Manliness blog had a post on this years ago that I found helpful. The point is not to get it perfect, but to begin giving yourself space to recognize how much the noise of hyper-connectivity is keeping you from contemplation and rest. The more we experience quiet, the more we can recognize how much we allow outside voices to shape us. The more aware we are, the better we can manage it.
In a connected world, rest does not just happen; every moment of down time is filled. We have to intentionally free up time or it won’t happen. May we be willing to follow God’s model and command to rest, sure that He wants what is best for us.