Taking A "sabbatical" From Activity In The Church

[Teancum]

So a somewhat prominent Latter-day Saint is extolling the virtues of periodically ditching activity in the Church: A year off from Mormonism

 

I am having some mixed reactions to it, but mostly negative ones.  Some excerpts:

 

> This time fifteen years ago, I was getting ready for something new: a year-long sabbatical from Mormonism.

> I had been an active Mormon for seven years, most recently with a calling in the Relief Society presidency, and I was exhausted. I felt spiritually empty, and more prone to focus on the things that bothered me about my church than the many other reasons I had joined it in the first place.

==I can empathize with what I suppose can be called "Weary in Well Doing" syndrome.  The problem, though, is that we are are cautioned to not succumb to it, and by "succumb" I think I mean . . . do exactly what the author is advocating and ditching activity in the Restored Gospel:

 

"And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not."  (Galatians 6:9)

 

"Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great.  Behold, the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind; and the willing and obedient shall eat the good of the land of Zion in these last days."  (D&C 6433-34).

 

"Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy."  (James 5:11)

 

"And blessed are they who shall seek to bring forth my Zion at that day, for they shall have the gift and the power of the Holy Ghost; and if they endure unto the end they shall be lifted up at the last day, and shall be saved in the everlasting kingdom of the Lamb."  (1 Nephi 13:37)

 

"Behold, I am the law, and the light. Look unto me, and endure to the end, and ye shall live; for unto him that endureth to the end will I give eternal life."  (3 Nephi 15:9)

 

"And, if you keep my commandments and endure to the end you shall have eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God."  (D&C 14:7)

 

"And as many as repent and are baptized in my name, which is Jesus Christ, and endure to the end, the same shall be saved."  (D&C 18:22)

 

"But blessed are they who are faithful and endure, whether in life or in death, for they shall inherit eternal life."  (D&C 50:5)

 

"Now this was a great trial to those that did stand fast in the faith; nevertheless, they were steadfast and immovable in keeping the commandments of God."  (Alma 1:25)

 

"And he also spake unto Lemuel: O that thou mightest be like unto this valley, firm and steadfast, and immovable in keeping the commandments of the Lord!"  (1 Nephi 2:10)

 

"And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint."  (Luke 18:1)

 

"To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life."  (Romans 2:7)

 

"If thou wilt do good, yea, and hold out faithful to the end, thou shalt be saved in the kingdom of God, which is the greatest of all the gifts of God; for there is no gift greater than the gift of salvation."  (D&C 6:13)

 

"And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day; For verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors, and to pay thy devotions unto the Most High; Nevertheless thy vows shall be offered up in righteousness on all days and at all times; But remember that on this, the Lord’s day, thou shalt offer thine oblations and thy sacraments unto the Most High, confessing thy sins unto thy brethren, and before the Lord."  (D&C 59:9-12)

 

"And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."  (Mosiah 2:17)

 

"So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth."  (Revelation 3:16)

 

==The idea being advocated in the linked article above seems to counter these exhortations.  Somehow, I just don't think the Savior said "Men ought always to pray, and not to faint, except when they don't want to, in which case abandoning covenants and disregarding the commandments of God is just hunky dory!"  Or "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Unless, of course, doing so is bothersome.  Then feel free to ditch observance of the Sabbath, skip the Sacrament and the renewal of your covenants, abstain from receiving or providing Gospel instruction, stop serving in callings in the Church, stop attending the temple, etc.  Because let's remember, the Gospel is only worthwhile when its convenient!"

 

> I decided to take a leaf from the pages of the Bible (and from academia) and declare a sabbatical year.

> 3 Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof;

> 4 But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the Lord: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard. (Lev. 25:3-4)

 

==So here she uses the Scriptures to justify abstention from keeping covenants.  I think we've been cautioned about that sort of thing.

 

> So I told the Relief Society president that I wanted to be released for a year. I told a couple of ward members that I would be back the following September. (I did not have the guts to talk about it in advance with my bishop, which I regret.)

 

> And then I just stopped going to church.

 

==And now, many years later, she is bragging about it and encouraging others to do it.  Not cool.

 

> What struck me most about those first few months was how much more time I suddenly had. Church activity had become, for me, a quarter-time job: about four hours on Sundays and half a dozen scattered throughout the week when I was running errands, helping members, organizing or bringing meals, or planning lessons.

 

==Yes, it must've been nice to withdraw from the burdens of service in the Church.  Of course, doing so meant that other people in her ward likely had to take on the responsibilities she shrugged off for a year, and in doing so these others had to sacrifice even more of their family and person time to do so.

 

==What feckless advice this is.  Why stop with service in the Church?  There are all sorts of important responsibilities that, over time, can become taxing and difficult.  In the LDS paradigm, the most important responsibilities would be related to family.  Yet somehow I doubt we'll see Latter-day Saints encouraging others to take sabbaticals from, say, being a spouse or a parent or a breadwinner or a caregiver.  My sense is that, in the LDS paradigm, service in the Church is likewise fairly high up on the hierarchy of duties arising from sacred covenants.  

 

==There are all sorts of ways we can and should cope with "Weary in Well Doing" syndrome.  Utter abandonment of sacred duties and covenants is not one of them.

 

> I did little in my first few weeks of vacationland-nothingness. I would go to a Protestant church for an hour on Sundays with my husband and daughter, and then home for a relaxing (what a concept!) Sabbath day. I was in a women’s Bible study group on Tuesday nights. But other than those two things, I avoided organized religion entirely and instead just started to read and think harder about what I believed.

 

==I can and do respect the need for introspection.  But I reject the notion that such introspection requires abandonment and/or violation of sacred covenants.

 

> As the year went on I was conscious of it not just being a holiday, but a true sabbatical for intentional spiritual rest. So I read books on Sabbath (this one being the best), books on the Bible and the Book of Mormon, books on history. I tried different and fresh ways to pray, and began to feel more connected to God. I worked to be a better friend to the people around me, a value I’d too often neglected, ironically enough, when I was busy doing “the Lord’s work” at church.

 

> And at the end of the year, I went back to church a saner and more spiritually healthy person, ready to put my shoulder to the wheel.

 

==I don't get this.  Observance of the Sabbath Day is a clear commandment for the Saints.  I just find it hard to swallow that God would approve of His children taking a year-long sabbatical from obeying Him.

 

==How far does this rationale go?  If deliberate and calculated long-term disobedience to one of God's commands is healthy, as the author appears to claim, then what about long-term disobedience to other commandments?  Should the Saints take "sabbaticals" from the Word of Wisdom?  The Law of Tithing?  The Law of Chastity?  Would such sabbaticals be okay as long as we justify them by quoting scripture, as the author did? 

 

> Over the years a number of people have asked me why I took a sabbatical and whether I’d recommend it for others.

 

> The first part of that question is easier to answer than the second:

 

==No surprise there.  The second question is essentially "Would you recommend that other Latter-day Saints follow your example and disregard their covenants and obedience to God's commandments for a year of self-indulgent, do-what-ever-you-want livin'?"

 

> I did it because I felt utterly fatigued, because church had become such a draining obligation that I forgot why I had ever wanted to be Mormon in the first place.

 

> I took a sabbatical because I knew that if I didn’t, the alternative was probably to leave Mormonism for good.

 

==By this rationale a young father is free to go home one day and say "Sweetie, I've decided to quit my job and go on a year-long 'sabbatical' by touring through Europe and Africa.  I have to do this, you see.  I fee utterly fatigued because being a husband and father has become such a draining obligation that I have forgotten why I had ever wanted to be married in the first place.  So toodles!"  And if his wife protests, he can just say "Hush, now.  This sabbatical is a good thing.  I can even quote scripture to support it!  Plus, if I don't do this sabbatical, the alternative is probably to divorce you.  You wouldn't want that, wouldja?  I thought not!  See you in a twelvemonth!"

 

==Again, what an utterly feckless, self-indulgent thing the author is advocating here.

 

> While I was away I began, once again, to be able to focus on what was lovely and right about my religion – things that had become impossible to see when I was struggling to keep my head above water.

 

==I think there are many ways Latter-day Saints can reinvigorate their faith and testimony without abandoning sacred covenants.

 

> As for whether other people should consider a sabbatical, I would say that if doing so would not drive a wedge in the family, and if they approach it with up-front honesty about their plans, they might find it a restoring and live-giving spiritual practice.

 

==And there it is.  The author is openly encouraging other Latter-day Saints to abandon their covenants.

 

> Part of that rejuvenation is simple rest. In the Hebrew Bible, the idea of the sabbatical year was one of release, of allowing things to lie fallow and trusting that God would provide nourishment no matter what. In Mormonism, we don’t have a very good tradition of allowing much of anything to lie fallow (metaphorically speaking).

 

==I think this reflects a very shallow, first-world perception of the Restored Gospel.  I just can't get on board with the idea that spending 4-8 hours of time in a week for religious devotion is exhausting.  I also can't agree with justifying disobedience to God's commandments regarding Sabbath observance by saying things like "(we should be) trusting that God would provide nourishment no matter what."

 

> Our eternal progression is all onwards and upwards . . . until for some people it’s not, and their crisis is severe enough that they worry they have to leave the Church forever because of the despair they’re feeling right now.

 

==I don't think we help people who find themselves in such crises by encouraging them to disobey God's commandments regarding the Sabbath.

 

> A sabbatical is a middle ground, a chance for the exhausted or the doubting to step back and regain some much-needed perspective. It’s a leave-taking, yes, but it’s not necessarily forever. When I came back to church, I had a renewed love of my ward and a better understanding of the gospel. I was also ready to help others again. Soon enough, I was called as Gospel Doctrine teacher, and a couple of years later I was ready to go to the temple – a step I would not have been ready to take without my year-long respite.

 

==Again, I'm just not buying this.  I don't thing God wants us to deliberately disobey Him for long periods of time.  Ergo, I do not think Latter-day Saints should encourage other Latter-day Saints to disobey God for long periods of time.

 

> Would I do it again? Absolutely, if I ever need to.

 

==I hope and pray the Saints collectively never grow this feckless and indifferent to their covenants.

 

> But now that I’m in my mid-40s, I’m just more comfortable in my own skin than I used to be. I rarely experience that core despair I felt at 30 in the church, as a bone-weary alien in a community so filled with the happy and the unquestioning.

 

==And yet here she is, in her mid-40s, bragging about a year spent deliberately abandoning covenants and openly encouraging others to do the same.  At the end of her "sabbatical" she landed on her feet, and I'm glad of that.  But I think there would be many people who, having followed her advice and abandoned their covenants for an extended period of time, would not be so fortunate.

 

> But my comfort now comes in part from knowing that if I ever need it, the possibility of another sabbatical is out there, like food storage, patiently waiting to help me in my time of need.

 

==She takes comfort in the idea that she is free to once again abandon her covenants and thereafter publicly congratulate herself about it.  The mind reels.

 

==I reject the notion that God wants us to disobey Him when the going gets tough, or when we're just not in the mood to be obedient, or whatever.  IMO, the article above includes bad, bad counsel for the Saints.

 

Thanks,

 

-Smac

 

P.S. I was reluctant to post anything about this article, as doing so only gives further attention to the article.  However, I think there are times when a person has to stand up and counter unsound counsel.  I think and hope this is one of those times.

Reis is a more liberal NOM type of Mormon. I am not surprised this bugs you. It seems that for you anyone or anything that is not right down the rigid conservative Mormon view is to be despised, attacked and demeaned. And you are quite good at it. Perhaps it is your legal background.

[Teancum]

I'm quite willing to concede that matters of faith and religious observance are "between us and the Lord."  But when a person A) goes beyond himself/herself and the Lord and B) openly encourages other Latter-day Saints to take a course of action which is C) contrary to the counsel and commandments given in scripture and through modern prophets and apostles, particularly where D) the issue at hand is extremely important (like, say, Sabbath observance, activity in the Church, etc.), then all of that generates some real concern.

 

Thanks,

 

-Smac

Maybe you should leave it between her and her bishop.

[Teancum]

The OP has a point and is correct.

 

But, there are "sometimes" when taking a break can be the best thing to refresh, to heal, etc.

We thus would need to be very careful we are only doing it when absolutely necessary, and it's something between us and the Lord.

The OP, IMO, which often is wrong, demonstrates a dangerous element of over pious self righteous judgement. Of course that certainly fits in well with the majority culture of this board.

But what do I know, I am just a filthy apostate. I thing the idea of forever accepting a calling and other such things in the church creates a culture of indentured servitude as well as control that is excessive. But you all should ignore me as I am surely headed to Hell.

[strappinglad]

 . But you all should ignore me as I am surely headed to Hell.

I understand that there is a road there that needs repaving.

[bluebell]

I don't have a problem with the idea of a sabbatical. I think the Lord works with our weaknesses and that He would rather someone take a year off than leave altogether.

I think it's dangerous in someways though (inactivity can be addictive) and I don't think it's something anyone should encourage another to do.

[Stargazer]

I don't believe this person. I don't believe it really happened, and I don't believe (s)he actually did what (s)he represents as happening. They don't ring true to me, and there are several bells and flags. It is in the manner of the fad of "anonymous bishop/anonymous stake president" blog posts. 

 

I'm a bishop for a second time right now. I've been a counselor in two bishoprics and both a WML and an EQP twice. In my experience, people choose to go inactive all the time because they are tired of the burden of active membership. If they do, they never have the "self-discipline" to keep this inactivity contained to narrow, defined timeframes. It inevitably runs longer than they think it will if they tell themselves that it's "just for a little while" (or a full year).

 

Come on! "I attended a Protestant church for an hour on Sundays and a Bible study group on Tuesday evenings, but I felt so much more invigorated and refreshed than when I was an active Mormon." This tripe is just more NOM/Middle Way troll bait to try to nudge people into experimenting with inactivity.

 

I hear where you're coming from, but I don't think this is at all far-fetched.

 

I say this because I did something like it many years ago.  It had more to do with my being young and lazy, though.  I was baptized in 1966 when I was 15.  The next year my family (who were not baptized members) moved to Toronto, Canada, for my father's employment.  We were there for 2.5 years.  My father cared enough about my religious concerns (even though he was a devout agnostic) to locate the LDS ward we were living in, and took me to Church once.  He said that I'd have to find my own way there from then on.  I think we met with the Bishop, who suggested that the YM organization would help find me a way to church.  But it never happened, and except for two abortive attempts to pick me up for activities (I was there where I was supposed to meet them, but they didn't show up), I had no contact with the Church until 1969, when we moved to England.  I attended no other church, but I kept the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity, and even read scriptures occasionally.  In other words, I was on a Sabbatical for over two years. 

 

When we moved to England, my father again did the initial legwork of locating the nearest LDS congregation for me, but this time I jumped into activity with both feet.  And I've never gone on Sabbatical again.

 

So, I have reason to think that Sis. Riess's Sabbatical story being true is not unreasonable.

[Teancum]

Of course I agree with your first statement. But I thought there was some way to put other board participants on something called "ignore." But perhaps I misunderstood others when they spoke of putting someone they didn't want to deal with "on ignore." But if no such app exists, I will try very hard to not respond to posts from former believers and hope they will be kind enough to return me the favor.

I am sure you would like to ignore me though I actually do read and think about what you have to say. Whether it will ever pierce my hardened apostate heart I do not know.

But I peruse threads. Some posters I read some I do not. It is easy just to skip over someone.

[Teancum]

A "ploy"?  Do you seriously think John is engaging in such machinations in his head as to constitute actively plotting to lead people away from the Church?  If you so, you have some significant paranoia guiding your thinking.

I am sure he is. I must be as well. He and I are two peas in a pod. We have even met for lunch twice in the past five years to discuss our conspiracies.

[Teancum]

I'm guessing that was a reference to me.

Or me. But my guess is I am on Bobbieaware's ignore list now.

[Stargazer]

Maybe it's a caricature for some. And for me at least, it's not necessarily that I would say protestant meetings are inherently better than LDS meetings (I don't have the experience to know) but sometimes a fresh perspective on things can invigorate and energize the imagination. I don't know if going to a different service would help or not. What I do know is doing what I'm doing now isn't helping so why not try something different and then judge the fruits. Right now I don't even have the ability to compare the fruits of one denomination against another because I can only count on one hand the number of times I've been to another denomination. If I'm already feeling disconnected from God will it really hurt to try to invigorate that by taking a break and trying a new approach?

 

I have occasionally attended other church meetings, and I think that it is more the newness or the novelty that is invigorating than anything inherent.  I attended a RCC High Mass while I was on my mission in Germany (72-74), and it was beautiful and very enjoyable.  I could say that I was invigorated by it, to a certain extent.  But that was all. 

 

Sis. Riess made a point of getting back into prayer -- and I think that this is an important part of what she had to say.  I've prayed, and I've prayed.  But when I've gotten out of the usual rut, and learned to talk to Father, THAT was when I got the most value from prayer.  That is also when I got the most back from Him.  When you can finally develop your prayer life into a TWO way communication, then I believe you have hit the jackpot.

[Calm]

With the amount of story that is told I have some concerns. If she gave more details about what she did during that year, I might change my view but with the given, limited information....

Besides the potential issue with inactivity becoming a habit (and it appears she also cut off at least what I would view as some important relationships since she stated she wasn't going to explaining her choices to at least some people which in my opinion could be emotionally unhealthy for both herself and others and greatly impact relationships within the ward, perhaps even leading some people to wonder if they should trust her enough to open up and connect with them because what if it became hard again for her, perhaps she might choose to leave again), I think such approaches miss realizing a cruicial thing. It is easy enough to change one's habits when one changes one's environment, but when one enters the same environment again, the human tendency is to slip back into old habits. If she was suffering burnout, what she could control and change was her own behaviour. It may be harder to change when stuck in the middle of one's familiar territory, but that is also the best place to create long lasting changes.

She was one of the lucky ones in that it appears that burnout did not hit her again...I suspect most people would quickly be experiencing the same feelings over again in not that long of a time. Also I wonder how much more beneficial that year could have been if she had chosen to stay and then purposefully work on the aspects of her life that led to those feelings. What growth could have been achieved then?

Stopping for a time to catch one's breath while running may feel good, but it is generally better to keep moving, just at a slower pace. I think how the body works is also how the mind in spirit works. Of course one needs to figure out how to pace oneself to be able to keep going, but one will get a lot farther and enjoy the journey more if one figures this out earlier rather than putting it off for the future, thinking it will be easier then. It so rarely gets easier overall, that is just not a wise choice.

It worked for her and that is great, but I think she isn't giving enough details of how she made it successful for herself as well as cautions for things to avoid to help others successfully adapt her ideas.

Edited August 20, 2015 by calmoriah

[Stargazer]

Jesus went in the wilderness to fast and pray for 40 days. During this time he was not attending synagogue, teaching the people, or healing the sick. She didn't stop praying. She didn't cut God out of her life. She didn't ditch Sabbath day observance. As for the Sacrament, you realize that during Joseph's life weekly taking of the sacrament was not a thing right?  

 

 

 

I see. So you using 16 scriptures to pass harsh judgement on a Sister, a fellow saint is A-okay. You put yourself in God's shoes and judge her to be a covenant breaker. But her likening the scriptures to her own situation, following the spirit as it spoke to her is wresting the scriptures for her own destruction. Got it.

 

 

So I take it you have never asked someone to sub for you in a class? You've never gone on vacation? My wife's uncle was a bishop in a poor ward when he found a better job. After prayerful consideration he took the better job and moved to a more affluent area that had less need of him. Other people in the old ward had to sacrifice more because he left. Do you condemn him too? When you moved into your current location did you make sure to find the smallest ward that had the most need and then move there? 

 

 

 

Attending and serving in the church are not in any way comparable to the legal and moral obligation we have to our children. That being said, parents of children with severe disabilities, especially foster parents of such children often take use of respite care. I would never judge such parents as unfaithful in their duties.

 

 

 

Which covenant exactly did she break exactly in your informed opining?

 

Who says she didn't observe the Sabbath? Is it really your call to make? Who said she wasn't obeying God? There are all types of circumstances where people cannot attend sacrament meeting or fulfill church callings. Are you saying in all cases these people are not observing the Sabbath? That they are disobeying God? Really? If someone were to ask to be released from a calling to care for a sick loved one, would you condemn them? What if someone can't attend due to illness? Do you condemn them? Or is it just not obeying God when someone doesn't go to church or fulfill their calling for a reason that you don't approve of?

 

It must be great to be in a position where you have no beams left in your own eye to see clearly enough to remove the mote in the eye of your fellow latter-day saints.

 

Wow, way to pummel him.  I, too, thought he was being waaaay to harsh and judgmental.

 

But on the other hand, we make covenants in the Temple endowment that seem to suggest (to me, at least) that taking a Sabbatical from Church might be in violation of certain of those covenants.  Might. 

 

As to a bishop moving to a new area where he is not needed as much as in his old, giving up his bishopric, this should not be seen as offloading a burden onto others in the old ward.  If there is only one man in a ward who can be an effective bishop, then that, in and of itself, is a negative.  I wouldn't be surprised if the Lord didn't have a hand in the matter, making it necessary for someone else to be called and grow into leadership.  It is, after all, the responsibility of leaders to train others for leadership.  Especially in a lay church.

[Stargazer]

Prominent?  Never heard of her.

 

She wants to take a break? Okay, that's her choice.

 

The ranting judgmental criticisms lobbed against her on this board?  Absurd.

 

I've heard her name before.  That's all.  I didn't find her idea entirely without some merit.

[Stargazer]

I never felt like it was a chore or a burden. It wasn't until after I left that I realized how unhappy I'd been and how tired I was. Of course, a lot of that was a result of chronic depression, and I was able to acknowledge the depression and deal with it after I left the church. I should say I haven't left the church, as I'm still on the records and officially a high priest.

 

Oh, good.  I was pretty sure you were at least still on the books!

 

And now, what a wonderful idea for that little title we all get to edit any way we like.  Instead of Board Addict, you can be Official High Priest. 

 

John, I feel I must make a public declaration here that your book, Heaven Up Here, is well worth reading.  I haven't yet read it for the second time, but that will come soon.  I often think of some of the experiences you had on your mission, and wonder why my mission was somewhat boring in comparison.  Germany was more civilized, I suppose.