When did rest get to be a bad thing?

As a student of American history the Puritan (or Protestant) ethic was impressed upon me as basic to our country's foundation. In essence I understand it as "idle hands is the devil's playground" and a person needs to be industrious and be diligent in working on a daily basis. At the same time that ethic included the Sabbath rest of Sunday. A good Protestant Christian did not work on the Lord's day. THis was brought home to me in my growing up days on the farm when my Dad would not work on Sunday, even though other farmers did.

Today in America we have seemed to have continued the Protestant ethic, but without the religious part ---the day of rest. It isn't a new thing that we baby boomers can pin on a new generation(s). The generation of baby boomers have sometimes maintained and often created the need to work on an every day basis. But it seems like we have lost the reason for being hard-working, in order to earn a iiving. Instead, we have celebrated work for its own sake. Even on Sunday, separated in large part from our family get-togethers and weekly reunions of the past, we have indulged in this value of work. The Sunday afternoon nap that my wife's father-- a World War II veteran-- did, is a thing of the past. I even remember it being alright to nap after Sunday church and brunch when I was starting out in seminary and my ministry in the 1970s. But now Sunday, like every other day, is not sacred.

Our values have consequences. I have experienced the downside of the celebration of the "work every day ethic" in my own life, particularly in my recent "sidelining." If work is to be engaged in for its own sake, and is particularly measured by the economic value of earning our way, then what value does two months of not working have? If life is measured by the many lives you touch through your profession, what if you have no such effect on the greater community around you?

More than anything the reduction of the sacredness of rest detracts from our understanding of salvation by grace through faith. But how do we escape the culture that is around us? How do we resist the values of our society and maintain that which we believe to be so from our long-standing creeds and teachings?

More than anything we need to find a congruence between our faith and our values. We need to return to the goodness of creation being based on "rest" on the Sabbath day, or at least regular rest. I know that it has been hard for me even during these two months to not work at something all of the time, or to measure my day at its end by how much I accomplished. When I return to work I hope to be more vigilant about keeping a Sabbath. I have not always enjoyed the time I have had on the sidelines, but I do know that it has helped me to restore some balance in my life, as well as to prepare for the day when my life in retirement cannot possibly be measured by the productive work that I do in the public forum.

Jesus says in Matthew 11 "come to me, and I will give you rest!" What does this mean for you and me right now?