On Train Rides and Sabbath

It has been a long time since I wrote anything on my blog.  I confess that early on, I thought of lots I wanted to say.  I like to write, I needed to write, and I thought that maybe my words would help someone else along the way. Maybe I was right, maybe I was wrong.

Why have I neglected my blog for so long? Life as a pastor happened. For the 22 years I taught at the seminary in New Orleans, life had certain predictable rhythms. I was able to refresh in summer or at Christmas break. We took a week off in fall, a week off in Spring and a few bonus days for Mardi Gras.  It was as if I could hold my foot to the accelerator pedal because a break was coming.

Not so as a pastor. Since I became the pastor of Dunwoody Baptist Church (a church I dearly love and one that has loved me well over parts of four decades),  the rhythmic rest has been harder to come by.  That is why I write today. I am sitting on a train--the Amtrak Southern Crescent which runs from New York to New Orleans, but my leg of the run is from Atlanta to New Orleans and back. I have brought a group from the church to a conference.

During the time we have been away, things continue to happen at church--people go in the hospital, decisions need to be made about future programs, and a beloved saint in our faith community passed away. Yet because I am away, I am unable to make decisions, offer a prayer, walk through a proposal--in person.  It causes anxiety to feel like I am letting people down. I am grateful that one of the other pastors was able to guide the grieving family through end of life and after death decisions. But I wasn't there. I am the Senior Pastor and I wasn't there. And it is okay. It has to be okay because the expectation that anyone is available at any time and under any circumstance is unreasonable.

The train is wonderful.  America is passing by and what is an eight hour drive in a car is a thirteen hour ride on Amtrak. And it is wonderful. The realization for me is that I recharge when I get such a change in rhythm.  Even though the week was exhausting with long days of sightseeing and seminars, it was a reset because of the change.

I think that is what sabbath is supposed to be. It is a nap, a long train ride, a "snow day" when you are in school. It is a time where the days melt away as days and at least once a day, the days seem to lose their identity. I have to keep reminding myself that it is Saturday and tomorrow is Sunday and that means we are back in the groove of our "normal" life.

So my personal takeaway this morning is sabbath rest. I am absolutely basking in the warmth of the company of these precious people. I enjoyed every minute of showing them "my New Orleans." However, in riding a train where I have no control over going faster or going slower or stopping or going, I feel the change of rhythm that must be sabbath.  I know I must have it. God said we all must have it. I need the reset to "be still and know that He is God" and to allow Him to recharge me for the work ahead. We are somewhere in Mississippi now. I think I will take a nap