A Fallow Year in L Arche. How to celebrate a Fallow Year in L Arche? How to celebrate Sabbath living in L Arche?

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Alexina Hoover
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1 A Fallow Year in L Arche Patrick and Eileen declared the year after our Golden Jubilee as a Fallow year. They are inviting us to rediscover the importance of lying fallow, of Sabbath living. We have had a year of wonderful celebration of our 50th Anniversary but now what does it mean to lie fallow? Sabbath living is about being "fallow", resting, being renewed. It would be so easy to dismiss the call to a Fallow Year as "impossible, given the needs in my community!" but it is always possible to make some changes, even if small ones. It is about making healthy choices and then being disciplined in being faithful to them and we need encouragement and support in this!!! Whether you are part of a home or a family it will be important to discuss what you might do with the others and get everyone on side with at least a simple plan, even just one small change. So what can rest and renewal look like for us in L Arche? How to celebrate a Fallow Year in L Arche? How to celebrate Sabbath living in L Arche? First reflect on your personal needs: are you extravert or introvert? What are healthy choices in your daily life for you choices for joy and life? Then reflect with your community on what choices can be made this year for your community in terms of rest and renewal. Be realistic! e.g. Let go of growth for a year Cut back on some meetings Make available time for quiet, for listening, for being present Take time to reflect on our daily life, reflecting on what is really necessary and what is simply accumulated activity and perhaps unnecessary busyness. Reflect on what in our communities needs renewal: o Accompaniment? o Prayer? o Time to build relationships? o Time for personal growth? o More gentle ways to respond to crises? o A deeper understanding of how to live our Identity and Mission? Take time to listen in order to imagine new things for the coming years. Reflect on how to simplify our life for this year. You may learn much from Jewish friends too! EVE-2015-Fallow-Sabbath in LArche-EN.docx 1

2 Some examples: DAILY: 15 minutes a day for quiet time simply being, being present in the moment, to God, with no agenda. A harassed young assistant came to Susan Zimmerman in Daybreak. Susan asked her who her role models were. She replied the long term assistants. She asked what Bill Van Buren, (the first person welcomed in Daybreak), did when he returned from work. She replied, He sits down with a paper and does nothing. Susan suggested she take him as her role model. Could we do the same? In Trosly a bell is rung midway through the morning in the office and all working there gather for tea and time together. In Asha Niketan Kolkata all gather each working day at 9 am for a short time of prayer together. In L Arche London the day in the workshops ends by lighting a candle and having a time of quiet. No computer or smart phone an hour before bedtime as their blue light tricks us into thinking it is daytime and keeps us awake. At the completion of each task pause before rushing on to the next. WEEKLY One day a week to PRAY and PLAY (the two activities for which we don t get paid but which are necessary for a blessed life! Activities we were good at as children and need to rediscover): activities designed to restore a sense of the contemplative smelling flowers, watching birds and clouds, feeling the weather, laughing, having fun N.B. This means no half Sabbaths one morning for church but then no play, or one afternoon for play but no worship and prayer. Both praying and playing are essential for good Sabbath living. The Sabbath should be a delight for body and soul. One day a week with no computer, no smart phone, no driving but public transport or walking instead, no shopping; inviting friends to eat and share study/prayer, leaving your phone on the answering machine (except for emergency numbers of course) Prepare food the day before. EVE-2015-Fallow-Sabbath in LArche-EN.docx 2

3 One evening a week which is house night: each person makes a commitment to be at home that evening to spend time together as a household. A weekly special meal. The table of fellowship is so important in L Arche and in the Bible is a sign of the kingdom of the heaven. In short: One day a week where we let go and let God, trusting God that S/He is in charge and that the world will not collapse because we are not working! Rest from worry! MONTHLY A desert day once a month: a time to do nothing but to rest, reflect, pray, play, read something that will nourish your mind and spirit... A day away from the office and home away from all the waiting work which distracts; a day with no electricitic lights so you live according to the rhythm of nature. Years ago community leaders were encouraged to make a habit of having a desert day once a month so they could have space and time to stand back from the immediate pressures and to reflect on the vision and needs of the community. In L Arche London the office has a lunch together once a month. YEARLY One week a year as a Retreat in Daily Life a week with NO meetings; a week where each one is given the opportunity to meet daily with a spiritual director. Encourage assistants to have an annual retreat. A week of pilgrimage. Reviewing community, regional, national, international activities and doing only what is really life-giving and not what has become life-draining! The theme this year for Daybreak is: TAKING TIME TO. E.g. during Advent: Taking time to wonder. What would you like to Take time for that would be restorative? Going inward and slowing down in winter months (whenever winter is in your part of the world!), perhaps trying to go to bed a bit earlier, and being more active in summer months according to the natural rhythm of nature. See the 2 prayers by Michael Leunig below: EVE-2015-Fallow-Sabbath in LArche-EN.docx 3

4 We give thanks for the blessing of Winter. Season to cherish the heart To make warmth and quiet for the heart To make soups and broths for the heart To cook for the heart and read for the heart To curl up softly and nestle with the heart To sleep deeply and gently at one with the heart To dream with the heart To spend time with the heart A long, long time of peace with the heart We give thanks for the blessing of winter Season to cherish the heart. Dear God, Let us prepare for winter. The sun has turned away from us and the nest of summer hangs broken in a tree. Life slips through our fingers and, as darkness gathers, our hands grow cold. It is time to go inside. It is time for reflection and resonance. It is time for contemplation. Let us go inside. Amen. EVE-2015-Fallow-Sabbath in LArche-EN.docx 4

5 This year we are invited to: find ways in our communities to close the door on routine and enter into a playful, festive atmosphere of food, fun and fellowship, rediscovering one another in leisure, laughter and love - regularly learn from people with disabilities in our communities find ways to be faithful to Sabbath living: Daily, weekly, monthly, yearly Our hope is that you might be grasped, inspired and enthused by the vision of Sabbath. Do send us any stories of what you have done. Enjoy the year! Hazel Bradley Jubilee Coordinator for L Arche International January 2015 Below is some background information on the Sabbath and an article by Mireille Kheirallah, a member of our International Stewardship Board, from Mexico, on letting the land lie fallow. Background to the Jewish concept of the Sabbath What does Sabbath mean? Why is it so important? How is it possible? The 4 th Commandment for the Jewish people is: Keep the Sabbath holy. The concept of Sabbath living is a huge gift of the Jewish tradition which we can all learn from. The importance and meaning of the Sabbath Extracts from: Disciplines for Christian Living, Thomas Ryan (Paulist Press 1993) Abraham Heschel describes Judaism as a religion of time, not space. The Sabbath symbolises the sanctification of time. It represents a day of separation from space and all the material things that fill our normal days; it is a day of devotion to time and the eternity that fills it because the higher goal of spiritual living does not consist in amassing a wealth of material possessions or even information, but in participating in sacred, holy moments. Sabbath days are like great cathedrals spaces in time for God. One of the most distinguished words in the Hebrew Scriptures is qadosh, holy, a word which more than any other is representative of the mystery and majesty of the divine. What EVE-2015-Fallow-Sabbath in LArche-EN.docx 5

6 provided the first occasion for its use? Time. The seventh day, the Sabbath, holiness in time: And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy. Gen. 2:3 The holy is the summit. The things God created in 6 days He considered good. God did not just cease from his labour; he stopped and enjoyed what He had made. The seventh day He called holy, so on the Sabbath we turn from the results of creation to the mystery of creation. We need to stop to enjoy God, to enjoy his creation, to enjoy the fruits of our labour. The whole point of Sabbath is joy in what God has done. A Jewish legend relates: At the time when God was giving the Torah to Israel, God said to them, My children, if you accept the Torah and observe my law, I will give you for all eternity a thing most precious that I have in my possession. And what, asked Israel, is that precious thing which You will give us if we obey Your Torah? The world to come. Show us in the world an example of the world to come. The Sabbath is an example of the world to come. That is, a seventh part of our lives could be experienced as paradise! Judaism tries to foster the vision of life as a pilgrimage to the seventh day. The working week culminates in the joy of the Sabbath. The meaning of the Sabbath gradually evolved: 1. Cessation from work. So the people rested on the seventh day. Exodus 16: N.B. Even God rested on the Sabbath day! Gen. 2:2, 3 And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy. 2. Physical and mental rejuvenation, rest and relaxation. you shall rest so that your ox and your donkey may have relief, and your home born slave and the resident alien may be refreshed. Exodus 23:12 3. Gratitude of a people set free, a celebration of liberation. Remember that you were a slave. And the Lord your God brought you out from there Deut. 5:12,15 EVE-2015-Fallow-Sabbath in LArche-EN.docx 6

7 Anyone who overworks is really a slave. Anyone who cannot rest from work is a slave to a need for success, to a materialistic culture, to exploitative employers, to parental expectations, or to all of the above. 4. A relationship between Sabbath observance and our future happiness. If you keep the Sabbath day holy. Then you shall enter by the gates of this city. Jerusalem, and this city shall be inhabited forever. Jer. 17: Communal liturgical celebration and worship. a day of holy convocation. Lev. 23: 3-4 The Sabbath is a day for life. It is not to enhance the efficiency of our work the rest of the week! The Sabbath is not for the weekdays; the weekdays are for the sake of the Sabbath. The Sabbath is the inspirer, the other days the inspired. The Sabbath is the climax of living, what the other days are for. Labour is a craft, but genuine rest is an art. The Sabbath is a day for being, not doing. It is not a day for personal anxiety or care, not a time of remembering and confessing our sins, for fasting or mourning. In the Jewish Sabbath grace after meals is the request that, there be no sadness or trouble in the day of our rest. The ancient rabbis reflected that the act of creation would not be complete unless the six days culminated in the Sabbath. They compared it to a king who made a bridal chamber which he plastered, painted and adorned. It lacked only a bride to enter it. The idea of the Sabbath as a bride or queen is an illustration of God s need for human love, of God s relationship to humankind. The Sabbath is the presence of God in the world, open to our hearts, an invitation to consecrate every seventh day to spend just with each other God and us. God s gift. In the 3 rd century Jewish scholars speak of the Sabbath as a living presence, a guest to be welcomed appropriately, putting on our best clothes to welcome the visitor with joy, lighting lamps, eating well. In Jerusalem you can see young students dancing each Friday evening to welcome in the Sabbath joyfully. Yet how many of us regularly break the commandment to keep the Sabbath?! And how many of us encourage, enable and support one another to keep the Sabbath? References: The Sabbath: its meaning for Modern Man, Abraham Joshua Heschel (New York: The Noonday Press 1951) EVE-2015-Fallow-Sabbath in LArche-EN.docx 7

8 Letting land lie fallow By Mireille Kheirallah, International Stewardship Board Member The Meaning Fallow is the stage of crop rotation in which the land is deliberately not used to raise a crop. A practice inherent to agriculture since its early days, it is mostly used to allow the land to recover its fertility but also to conserve moisture for the next growing season. The practice consists in plowing the land to incorporate in the soil any weeds and crop remains after harvest, and let it stand still before planting the next season or cycle. During the resting time, insects, worms and micro-organisms decompose plant remains, transforming them back into the elements that will nourish the next crop. Such a practice also increases the organic matter of soils thereby improving its structure and its capacity to capture and retain moisture. Although it seems like a time of inactivity, a lot is going on at the microbial level in the soil. In Europe, the land was often kept fallow in the summer after a winter cereal crop. In other areas of the world where crops are grown during the summer rainy season, winter would be the time for the land to lie fallow. This practice is particularly important in semi-arid areas where crops are rain-fed or grown on residual moisture. However, with modern, intensive agricultural practices, letting the land lie fallow is seldom used anymore. Two or more crops are grown per year using irrigation when it is not raining, the crops are fertilized every cycle with synthetic fertilizers, and weeds are controlled chemically. Consequently, the soils are being depleted from organic matter and essential nutrients; crops become more susceptible to diseases and pests that are then controlled by the application of chemical pesticides. The repeated use of herbicides and pesticides has many deleterious effects both on the environment and on our own health as consumers. But the first to be affected are all the beneficial soil organisms that make the soil more than just a substrate, it is a living entity! Despite the fact that most of our food still comes from large-scale, intensive, chemical-using farming, there is a growing trend to avoid all chemical use, to clean the environment of pesticide pollution, to bring life again to our soils, producing organic crops. In organic farming, fallowing of soils is an agricultural practice that enriches the land naturally. From a state of exhaustion, the soil takes time to build itself up. EVE-2015-Fallow-Sabbath in LArche-EN.docx 8

The Relevance for L Arche Any person, community or organization with many activities and no resting time, can become exhausted after a while and will need a fallow period to rest, recover and renew

Even at L Arche, where we live at a slower, gentler pace, where relationships are at the center of our walk together, where we are not seeking material rewards, there are periods where there is just

9 The Relevance for L Arche Any person, community or organization with many activities and no resting time, can become exhausted after a while and will need a fallow period to rest, recover and renew itself. Similar to large-scale intensive farming, our competitive, success oriented, high tech modern life is depleting us from health and vitality, tranquility and life s little pleasures. Even at L Arche, where we live at a slower, gentler pace, where relationships are at the center of our walk together, where we are not seeking material rewards, there are periods where there is just too much to do! Sometimes our passion for our mission has driven us to do more than we can, to crop our lands continuously with no pause, leading us to experience fatigue, perhaps even depletion or exhaustion. So let us take to heart Patrick and Eileen s invitation to live this coming year as a fallow year, to take the time to be silent, leading our energies inward. Similar to the inner, quiet and unseen activities in the soil during a fallow season or year, our quiet time can be used to activate our inner wisdom, celebrating, reflecting and giving thanks from another space, at another rhythm. "Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till He come and rain righteousness upon you". Hosea 10:12 EVE-2015-Fallow-Sabbath in LArche-EN.docx 9

WISDOM AND SABBATH REST DR. TIMOTHY KELLER

WISDOM AND SABBATH REST DR. TIMOTHY KELLER Leadership is stewardship the cultivation of the resources God has entrusted to us for his glory. The Sabbath gives us both theological and practical help in