“Do you give your people a chance to rest?�: Another great question! Sadly, I believe that most churches unwittingly endorse a form of evangelical workaholism. There is significant pressure, even among laypeople, to perform, to produce, to use one’s spiritual gifts in ministry, to attend all of the church functions and meetings, etc. To put it bluntly, many evangelicals are over-churched. They are so busy “doing church� that there is precious little time left for those outside the church.
One of the most significant moments of 2006 for me was when I took a few days for a personal retreat in the aftermath of a difficult summer. As I was driving up to my campsite, I asked God if he had any words for me for this time. Often when I pray prayers like this, I get frustrated because I don’t “hear� anything. But this time I distinctly heard him say, “Linger.� I began to think about what that word means and what it would look like to linger during my retreat. (I tend to be a rather driven, task-oriented person, who finds it difficult to simply “enjoy the moment� because I am already thinking about the next task.) It is no coincidence that I had just begun working through a set of meditations (Ignatius of Loyola’s spiritual exercises) specifically designed to help me learn to linger in God’s presence. The intro to the meditations states, “Enjoy your time, even if it is seemingly unproductive or quiet.� It was a real stretch for me at first to become comfortable with “quiet times� that might not necessarily “yield fruit.� But I am growing to love these meditations, to give up the right to see results from my devotions. I am only beginning to understand that “linger� was not just a word for my retreat, but a word for the rest of my life.
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