Just Rest: August 27 at 10am

Sermon Text

We are currently in a sermon series on Sabbath. As the school year begins, and we look to the church’s program year beginning in September, the concept of sabbath can seem even harder to comprehend. Sabbath is just for summer, right? We are simply too busy to rest! But it’s precisely when it feels like we don’t have the time for sabbath, that we need it the most.

Tricia Hersey, the Nap Bishop and author of Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto writes: “As a culture, we don’t know how to rest, and our understanding of rest has been influenced by the toxicity of grind culture. We believe rest is a luxury, privilege, and an extra treat we can give to ourselves after suffering from exhaustion and sleep deprivation. Rest isn’t a luxury, but an absolute necessity if we’re going to survive and thrive. Rest isn’t an afterthought, but a basic part of being human.”

Friends, today, we consider how sabbath is not a privilege, but a basic human right. How sabbath is not just self-care for ourselves, but an issue of justice for the whole community. Sabbath and justice go hand in hand.

Deuteronomy 15:1-2, 7-11

Every seventh year you shall grant a remission of debts. 2And this is the manner of the remission: every creditor shall remit the claim that is held against a neighbour, not exacting it from a neighbour who is a member of the community, because the Lord’s remission has been proclaimed.

7 If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community in any of your towns within the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted towards your needy neighbor. 8You should rather open your hand, willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be. 9Be careful that you do not entertain a mean thought, thinking, ‘The seventh year, the year of remission, is near’, and therefore view your needy neighbor with hostility and give nothing; your neighbor might cry to the Lord against you, and you would incur guilt. 10Give liberally and be ungrudging when you do so, for on this account the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. 11Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.’

This summer, we’ve been going through several sermon series. This current one, on Sabbath, is one that is part of the Narrative Lectionary which we have, more or less, been working our way through for the past two years or so.

What I like about the Narrative Lectionary is that it includes scripture passages and stories that are not found in the better-known and more-frequently-used Revised Common Lectionary. In fact, I wonder how many of us in this sanctuary today have ever heard this scripture from Deuteronomy read aloud in church, let alone preached on? Anyone? I know I haven’t! And in some ways, I’m so glad to have it included today.

Afterall, there is so much in The Bible that’s hard for me to relate to: Shepherding? No. Fishing? Not really. 1^st century Palestine under Roman occupation? Maybe a little.

But debt. Oh, I know plenty about debt.

What’s more, as a recent recipient of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, that started including clergy in 2021, I also know, quite personally, about the remission or the canceling of debts. And let me tell you, it feels pretty darn good.

Having your debts forgiven feels like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders, like you are free from a burden that had no end in sight.

When Jesus teaches us how to pray and says, “Forgive us our debts,” it is the most liberating thing God offers us, be it spiritually, physically, or financially.

But in our capitalistic culture, the idea of forgiving debts seems so radical and extreme!

Do you remember how this country and our politicians responded recently to the possibility of forgiving student loans? If we forgive debts (and that’s a BIG IF), we expect the people to not only be “worthy,” but to pay something. Even those who qualify for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program have to pay off the debt for ten years and work in the non-profit sector before anything is forgiven! They can’t just get off Scott-free! It is antithetical to our American work ethic and our understanding of economy.

But in God’s economy the forgiveness of financial debts occurs every seventh year. Deuteronomy 15:1 – “Every seventh year you shall grant a remission of debts,” in Hebrew: a שְׁמִטָּֽה šə·miṭ·ṭāh – or a release from accumulated debt. This is also known as the sabbath year or the sabbatical year.

The Presbytery of San Francisco follows this model in that for pastors in the presbytery, on the seventh year of service to a church, we are eligible for a sabbatical. We don’t get our loans forgiven (that’d be nice); but we do get, up to, a 12-week time of rest from congregational duties and an opportunity for renewal through study and travel and respite. Incidentally, I spent my sabbatical sheltering-in-place during a pandemic which I generally would not recommend! I give it 0 out of 5 stars although, not having to work as churches figured out how to go remote, was certainly a gift in and of its own.

For the Israelites, however, the seventh year was a whole year of sabbath. You were not to tend your fields or farm your land or pick your grapes; instead, the land lay fallow and also got to rest. It was a practice in trusting that God would provide even if you didn’t till the soil yourself. And it was an opportunity to rest from your daily labors.

Can you imagine it? Every seventh day, you rest. And then every seventh year, you get a year of rest. And then at the end of the seventh seventh year, so in the 50^th year, there was a year of what is called: Jubilee! (Leviticus 25)

In Jubilee, Hebrew slaves and prisoners would be freed, and land that may have been sold off to other owners was returned to its original owners at no cost. You see, each Israelite family, when they first entered the Promised Land, were given a plot of land to use for their own thriving.

They were to be good stewards of that land, but sometimes, due to debt, or bad farming ,or bad crops, other families would buy or take over some of that property. But that very land, in the year of jubilee, would then be given back to it’s first family.

So families that may have been in debt would get those debts erased every seventh year, and families that had lost land would get that property returned to them every fiftieth year. So, a few generations may go without land and have to work for others, and for a few years you may have to face the consequences of financial ruin either because of the bad choices you or your parents made, or simply due to bad luck, but on the seventh year, you’d be free of debt. And on the fiftieth year, you and your family would have a chance to start anew.

As such, generational poverty, as we know it today, was non-existent. This, my friends, is God’s economy.

In God’s economy, there is enough for everyone.

In God’s economy, abundance is available for all.

In God’s economy, the earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world and those who live in it. It doesn’t belong to the wealthy few. It doesn’t belong to the highest bidder.

It is God’s to distribute and redistribute as needed, so that all God’s creation may thrive. And God’s people needed to be reminded of that, at least every seven years, and certainly every fifty years.

The purpose of the Year of Jubilee is to turn our anxieties away from our debts (or our debtors), our jobs, our busy lives, and reflect on God as our provider. CB Samuel writes of Jubilee:

“Jubilee was a recovery of identity, especially for the poor. It is not about simply correcting economic problems, which is very important; not even just caring for the poor because they’re poor; but it is restoring identity, which is a part of their history and very important for them. Jubilee operated as a corrective because people were tight-fisted and hard-hearted. When we talk about Jubilee now, people are reluctant – it’s a problem of the heart, not a problem of economics.”

God’s economy… I don’t know that we would necessarily call it “fair,” in the way we understand that word today. It’s a little too radical and lavish and prodigious and forgiving of those who are in debt.

But that is God’s economy.

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The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said in 1967, “One day, we must ask the question, ‘Why are there 40 million poor people in America?’

And when you begin to ask that question, you are raising questions about the economic system, about broader distribution of wealth. When you ask that question, you begin to question, the capitalistic economy.”

I think we could all agree that our economy, as we know it today, is not based on this biblical ideal that is God’s economy.

While the U.S. is not the only country that runs on capitalism, our particular brand of capitalism is unique in that we mix it with Christian values and often think of as divine ordinance. If we’re wealthy, it’s because God is on our side, and we’ve done something right.

And if we’re poor, it’s because we’ve done something wrong, and God is punishing us. It is a warped understanding of the Protestant work ethic, and it has come to take the place of the lavish grace and debt forgiveness we actually read about in scripture. My friend and colleague Leanne reminds me, “Most other countries on our planet don’t chain people to a lifetime of debt for higher education or healthcare.”

Economic justice is a part of God’s plan for God’s people. It always has been, from the start.

But what does debt forgiveness and redistribution of wealth and caring for the poor have to do with sabbath?

Sabbath most commonly means “to rest” or “to cease;” to pause from our labors and to take a break.

We are commanded to take sabbath weekly in Exodus (Exodus 20:8-10). And we are given examples of sabbath, starting with the great Creator themself in Genesis (Genesis 2:1-3).

This passage from Deuteronomy, that talks about financial inequality and giving to those in need
is presumably about economic justice, not sabbath. And justice is action, change, and progress, is it not?
Justice isn’t about taking a break. It’s about breaking open broken systems.

Well, the Women of Calvary Bible Study last season was about “Celebrating Sabbath.”

And in it, Carol M. Bechtel shares how sabbath and justice are not antithetical.

Rather, they must go hand in hand. We cannot fight for justice without taking time for our own sabbath. We will burn out. But sabbath isn’t just for me. And sabbath isn’t just “self-care.”

Sabbath is for all people. We cannot fight for justice if we do not include the right of all people and workers to rest, including rest from debt and poverty.

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Have you ever lived under crushing debt? Have you ever laid out all your bills on the table, wondering which ones you can pay this month, and which ones will have to wait? Have you ever faced food insecurity, or dealt with an eviction notice? Honestly, being poor is a full-time job sometimes, and perhaps the most oppressive work there is in our society.

True sabbath would include a break, a respite, a remittance from that labor, too.

Because, yes, people do spend more than they have, and that’s not right.

But predatory lending is a real thing, and that, too, isn’t right.

And yes, people should have to pay for the medical procedures they receive, but they shouldn’t have to sell their homes and go into debt to get the care they need. And sure, charging for medications that we take and need is understandable.

But in five years, the average price per insulin unit rose 54%, but the federal minimum wage hasn’t increased at all in fourteen years. And of course, getting an education is important, and paying a tuition makes sense.

But to borrow 30 grand for tuition and still have 30 grand left to pay twenty years later because you’ve only been paying off the accrued interest, is kind of an absurd trap for students! What if. Just what if we tried living into God’s economy just a little more than we do now.

I’m not saying forgive all debts every seven years, or give this land back to the Ohlone people since it’s been way longer than fifty years since we took it.

In fact, there is some doubt from biblical scholars whether the Israelites even ever fully lived into this kind of economy. It was what God commanded. But there are reasons to believe that these commands were not actually followed and carried out exactly the way God intended.

But bell hooks once wrote: “The function of art is to do more than tell it like it is – it’s to imagine what is possible.” So perhaps that is what our scripture is trying to do – to imagine what is possible in a society based on God’s economy, to paint a picture of a world that is so radically based on God’s lavish grace, and so committed to loving God and loving neighbor, that it puts people over profit, or property, or even piety. In scripture, we find a way to imagine what might be possible still today. Again, sabbath isn’t just about self-care. It’s about community care. And we do not have to be deserving of sabbath. It is offered freely to us by a God who rests and created us to rest, too. Ultimately, sabbath is a practice in trusting God rather than relying on ourselves.

Kara Root who developed this summer sermon series writes: Our Deuteronomy text is a striking illustration of the trust the Israelites are invited to live in. What a shift to go from many generations of slavery, to a generation of absolute and total dependence on God in the wilderness…to now owning land, having power, shaping and living in a society with all the complications and messiness that brings.  …

God says every seventh year all debts will be erased.

[And] God recognizes how insidious the mindset is, how sin creeps in and entices us to build ourselves up at others’ expense, to guard and protect our perceived worth and ignore others’ need. So, a clean slate every seven years ought to prevent the consolidation of power and the disempowering and dehumanizing of others. It ought to help them keep seeing each other as mutual caregivers, always belonging to each other and always able to help one another as God helps us. …

This is the way of freedom and trust.

Friends, sabbath leads to freedom and trust. Sabbath creates a more just world for all.

So let us live as sabbath people.

Thanks be to God, Amen.

Scripture

Deuteronomy 15:1-2, 7-11

Every seventh year you shall grant a remission of debts. 2And this is the manner of the remission: every creditor shall remit the claim that is held against a neighbour, not exacting it from a neighbour who is a member of the community, because the Lord’s remission has been proclaimed.

7 If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community in any of your towns within the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted towards your needy neighbor. 8You should rather open your hand, willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be. 9Be careful that you do not entertain a mean thought, thinking, ‘The seventh year, the year of remission, is near’, and therefore view your needy neighbor with hostility and give nothing; your neighbor might cry to the Lord against you, and you would incur guilt. 10Give liberally and be ungrudging when you do so, for on this account the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. 11Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.’