The Art of Doing Nothing

A Theology of Vacation and Rest

A secular understanding of Vacation: A vacation is a period of time spent away from regular work or school for rest and leisure. It involves stepping away from everyday routines and obligations to relax, recharge, or explore new experiences.

Concerning original meaning: the word vacation simply means “a vacancy” (from the Latin vacatus), that is, “doing nothing.”

However, this is what we would call a negative definition but a vacation (understood biblically) should have a more positive meaning than that. Getting out of our daily routines and working roles allows people to experience their life more fully and to be less programmed by what others expect.

Questions:

Is Vacationing a modern invention?

Should I feel guilty about doing nothing?

Why does this matter? (I am not just picking a topic and proof texting)

What kind of practices should we adopt?

Is Vacationing a modern invention?

Is it something sold to us by the vast vacation industry? Is it something that the large corporations created to keep their slaves (sorry meant employees) happy?

Festivals and holy days (holidays) have been part of the annual rhythm of societies from all time in history. They provided monthly or seasonal opportunities to engage in celebration, community events, religious ceremonies, feasting and merrymaking/partying. Christianity often adopted and transformed these festivals into holy days, Christmas and Thanksgiving being conspicuous examples

The Jewish tradition is rich in holidays and vacations. We can say that vacations and rest are God’s idea.

Should I feel guilty about doing nothing?

Scripture:

Exodus 20:8–11 “8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy (set apart / different / unique). 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath (day of rest and worship from Friday evening till Saturday evening) to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 (Then he tells us why) For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”

Deuteronomy 5:15 “15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.”

Therefore the two purposes of Sabbath were:

Creation

Exodus / Redemption

It symbolized that the nation of Israel had been set apart by the Lord as His special people. It formed their identity. Every week their identity was renewed remembered.

The Sabbath was also a celebration of the fact that the land they dwelt in did not belong to them but belonged to God. It was a constant reminder that what they have is a gift.

The Sabbath was to be considered by people in covenant with God as a day of joy.

Isaiah 58:13 “13 “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,”

It is a day of formation

It is a day of gratitude for His gifts

A day of celebration and happiness and security in the presence of God.

Observing it carried blessing on the family and the whole land.

Sabbatical Year

Every seventh year was to be a Sabbatical Year. The concept of the sabbatical year was that the land was to be given a rest every seventh year. This law included grain fields and vineyards. Whatever grew on the land during that time was for the poor, those who did not have any land.

During the 7th year, the whole law was to be read to the whole community. Debts were to be cancelled - creditors would release any loans made to fellow Israelites because the Lord’s time for canceling debts had been proclaimed (Deut 15:1–11). Additionally, Hebrew slaves were to be released after seven years of service1.

This would be difficult - several years of no production.

Leviticus 25:21 “21 I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years.”

They learned this in the wilderness: Exodus 16:5 “5 On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.””

GodGod had been training them that their provision does not come solely from what they produce but rather from what he provides.

Here is why this is such a big deal, you would only do this if you trusted God to take care of you and your family. Faith in God always leads to generosity.

This 7th year reminded the Israelites that the land on which they lived was a gift to them and that this covenant keeping God Himself would provide for them richly for their physical needs.

I think we can start to see why this was so important for Israel to keep. And we haven’t even touched the 50th Year, a Jubilee year. We haven’t even touched the annual festivals (vacations). Nor have we touched the consequences of Israel not obeying the Sabbath day and year...

Festivals / Feasts

Three times a year the Israelites were required to set aside the normal rhythm of work and sabbath to undertake a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

Feast of Unleavened Bread (Immediately following the Passover)

Feast of Weeks (or Pentecost)

Feast of Tabernacles

They were to leave their homes in a holiday mood.

These were far from being dull religious events, for Deuteronomy prescribes them using their tithe to buy food, wine “and whatever you like” (Deut. 14:26) for your family to experience the joy of the occasion.

The great festivals, just like the Sabbath commemorated specific occasions when God moved in power on their behalf delivering them from distress.

Should we feel guilty about doing vacatus - doing nothing?

Certainly not, because when we rest and vacation in learning from Scripture, we keep at the forefront of out minds the power and greatness of our covenant God in what He has done and will continue to do.

Why does this matter?

While we are no longer under the mandate of the Sabbath Law, Jesus being the fulfillment. We now live from a place of rest (according to Hebrews 4). Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath.

However, we can and will do well to practice the discipline (formation practice) of sabbath and vacation rest in honor of the rhythm of Creation and as an expression of our faith in God.

Mark 2:27 “27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

Therefore the when and how is flexible.

Why practice the sabbath / vacation rest?

To enjoy God’s creation is an undertaking of grace that liberates us from judging our relationship with God in use-value terms.

Your value to God is not based on what you produce. This is a big deal - you are only as good as what you can do for me. They think “God loves me more when I am being productive for His kingdom and less when I am not.”

One of the best uses of time is to sit and do nothing in the presence of God to listen to him, spend time with him.

Having kids has taught me so much about God.

We forget that he just wants to spend time with us.

To practice Sabbath is to cease from work and productivity. No achieving, no accomplishing, just resting in your acceptance with God for who you are rather than what you produce.

to God and leisure in use-value terms and is an approach to the theology of time that delivers us from viewing time as a resource to be managed rather than a gift to be received.

We don’t define time, time itself carries meaning. It is not a currency that we can use to spend however we want, it is not a resource for us to invest for best life possible, rather it is a gift to be received from the Lord of time, and with this gift of time we can separate ourselves from the frantic movement of life to see God’s beauty, His work, and hear His voice.

This will help you not take yourself too seriously. Remember, you are not God’s savior, Jesus is. The Church will continue growing in health and numbers without you because Jesus is building it and we are privileged to be part of His Story.

What kind of practices should we adopt?

Be okay with “wasting” time. Silence, doing nothing. Give God a chance to reach you!

We may call this boredom.

Blaise Pascal (17th Century), who wrote that “all of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”

“I have often said that all the unhappiness of men arises from one single fact: that they cannot stay quietly in their own chamber”

The goal is not simply to enjoy emptiness but to create space where the distractions that constantly demand our attention are quieted so we can become attentive to the presence and voice of God.

Silence and solitude is not seen as isolation but rather a pathway to deeper communion with God.

Our age has solved the problem of boredom by carrying an endless stream of distraction in our pockets and homes, but in doing so we may have lost the ability to be present with God and ourselves.

Why?

Pascal observed that people fill their lives with endless activity, entertainment, work, social obligations, ambition, and noise—not because these things are bad in themselves, but because they keep us from facing the deeper questions of existence.

Who am I? What is the purpose of my life? Why do I experience suffering and death? What is my relationship to God.

In other words, the very distractions we use to escape our emptiness can prevent us from confronting the emptiness that needs healing. That healing is found in Sabbath rest.

The when is completely flexible with what works best for your context.

Block out time in your calendar, be okay with telling people you are busy.

Find out what truly refreshes you. And where.

Junk food rest vs. healthy rest.

Spend time with family laughing, singing, joking. Play games, eat good food

On Vacation:

Make time to pray, read Scripture, explore spiritual disciplines during this time.

Keep a journal or record your reflections during this time with God.

Do things you don’t normally have time for.

But don’t work too hard at these things.

Ultimately, Get in touch with God’s creation. Enjoy God and all he has given us.

Mister God, This Is Anna is a classic, semi-autobiographical book by Fynn (Sydney Hopkins) about his relationship with a precocious, neglected four-year-old girl named Anna, whom he finds in London's docks before WWII.

Rest and creation in perspective: “Why did Mister God rest on the seventh day?” she began. “I suppose he was a bit flaked out after six days of hard work,” I answered.

“He didn’t rest cause he was tired, though.” “Oh, didn’t he? It makes me tired just to think about it all.”

“Course he didn’t. He wasn’t tired.” “Wasn’t he?”

“No, he made rest.”