This is the last of four articles on a Framework for Life. It was written with new house officers in mind.
Cadence: a regular and repeated pattern of activity (Merriam-Webster)
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. (Genesis 2:2–3 NIV)
The last of the four Cs for a framework for life is cadence. It is a term from the world of music but now carries the meaning of rhythm: “a regular and repeated pattern of activity”. Humankind was created on the sixth day of creation and given the mandate to care for creation on God’s behalf. On the seventh day, however, Adam and Eve could do no work. It was a day of rest, a day to be blessed by God. Note that at this time Adam and Eve had done no work. The blessing they received on the seventh day was no payment for work done. It was freely given by their Creator God. I believe God was telling Adam and Eve that though they had been created for important work, they were loved for who they were, not for what they did.
Although the word Sabbath is not mentioned in the Creation account, the Sabbath principle is taught here. It is in the Ten Commandments that the Sabbath command is first articulated specifically. It marks God’s people as those who live by a rhythm of six days’ work and one day of rest when they were not to work. There are those who argue that, after Christ, our rest is found in a person, Jesus, and not in a day of the week. Indeed, Sunday as an official day of rest and worship was not established until the reign of Constantine. Still, the Sabbath concept is contained in the Creation account and I believe it is still a rhythm for human thriving. It must be noted that the Christian Sunday is the first day of the week and the Jewish Sabbath is the seventh day of the week, but we will not go into the history of how that change happened. We will stick to the fact that we were meant to function with a 6 + 1 pattern, six days for work, and one day for rest and worship. I also prefer the term work-rest pattern or work-sabbath pattern rather than a work-life pattern which implies that work is not a part of life.
This fourth component of a framework for life is perhaps the most difficult for house officers and indeed for all of us to follow. We live in a world that glorifies work and productivity and has no real understanding of the value of rest. In addition, with the internet we could work 24 hours a day if we wanted to, though the health consequences would soon be evident. Doctors will be aware of the extensive evidence for the health hazards resulting from the lack of rest. There are overwhelming medical reasons why we need to have adequate rest. But there are also very important spiritual reasons why we need to down tools one day in seven.
We have seen that we were created for meaningful work, to co-labour with God. But there is the very real danger that work itself becomes our god. After all, and surely in professions like medicine, the more we work the more rewards we get — professional respect, pay increments, fame, etc. Subconsciously we begin to build our life around our work and not on God. And work becomes an idol. The decision to down tools one day in seven is a tangible helpful reminder that life is more than work; that indeed God loves us for who we are and not how much we work. This de-hinging of work from ultimate meaning frees us to do good work, as God-centred, rested people.
However, a commitment to a work-sabbath pattern of life is hard to do in an internet age. In the Old Testament, to stop work is to lay down your tools and to stop your farming activity. How do we down tools in an internet world? I don’t think that Jesus is introducing a new legalism to punish us if we don’t abide by the Sabbath pattern (Luke 6:1–11). Christ will understand the need to be on call, or to be involved in other activities that sustain life. But it is a key pattern for life, so we do need to think long and hard, seeking the Lord as to how we do this today. Remember that our first two components for life are communion with God and community with others. Freeing one day in seven from work helps us to pursue both communion and community. This in turn empowers us to co-labour with God healthily.
Taking the work-sabbath cadence seriously — it’s about time.