I'm doing a Tech Sabbath for Lent & You Should Too!

In case I haven't made it very clear, I work as the youth pastor for a United Methodist Church.

I was raised Baptist, but found the Methodists shortly after graduating from my Southern Baptist college. The UMC welcomed me with open arms, and I fell in love with the beauty of the liturgy in particular. I loved the idea of routines and traditions, the linking of believers between generations, the knowing that there would be other believers after us, practicing these same traditions. It's a beautiful circle that connects and unites.

Something I wish we also practiced, though, is Shabbat. Our Jewish brothers and sisters have been practicing Shabbat since before Jesus was born; it is a required day of rest and renewal. From sundown on Friday, to sundown on Saturday, you're not supposed to do any kind of work -- not even cooking! Everything has to be prepared/readied Friday before sundown. Rest is required to properly honor the day -- but it isn't a sloth-like rest (unless you want it to be!) There are plenty of "approved" activities you're invited to engage in during your Shabbat:

• Reading and studying books or the Torah (or Bible for non-Jews)

• Synagogue (or church) attendance for prayers.

• Spending time with other others and socializing with family, friends, and guests at Shabbat meals (hachnasat orchim, "hospitality")

• Sex between husband and wife

• Sleeping (see? I lied about the not-a-sloth thing! Hooray!)

Shabbat is supposed to give us time to recharge and reorient our hearts and minds to what really matters to us, what we truly value. It's a time to reconnect with our passions, our people, ourselves.

I may not be Jewish, but this year for Lent, I am planning my own Shabbat of sorts.

For the 40 days of Lent, I'll be practicing a Technology Shabbat. From sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday, I will be abstaining from ALL screens.

Why? Well, for a few reasons.

For starters, I'm addicted to my phone. Every Sunday, my phone gives me an update on how many hours per day I spent on my phone. I am ashamed to admit this, but on average, I tend to spend about 9 hours a day on my phone. NINE. HOURS. Holy moly, friends, what things could I accomplish if I wasn't scrolling mindlessly through Instagram, Facebook, or my emails?!

It's humbling to confess this, but I'm forced to remember that I'm not the only one. Our smart-phones and apps are supposed to hook us and not let us go. Our screens are addiction-causing machines. This is a fact, not an opinion. In an article from NPR published in 2018, we're told that there are brain-imaging studies that prove technology and screen time cause addiction and change our neural pathways. Dr. Nicholas Kardaras is the author of the 2016 book Glow Kids: How Screen Addiction Is Hijacking Our Kids.

He says, "We have, as a society, gone all-in on tech, so we don't want some buzzkilling truth-sayers telling us that the emperor has no clothes and that the devices that we've all so fallen in love with can be a problem— especially for kids and their developing brains."

Technology influences, impacts, and changes us. It's not necessarily all for the worse, but it does affect us in such a way that we can become addicted to our screens. If I'm not on my phone, I'm on my computer, or I'm watching TV. I fidget and get uncomfortable if I can't easily reach for a device. I know the world lives at my fingertips via the Internet, and I feel the need to be connected at all times.

But I want to reclaim myself and my time, and being constantly plugged in keeps me from being able to do that. (Plus, there have been ample studies which indicate that exposure to blue light in a higher quantities or for longer periods of time can result in plaque buildup of our brains, similar to that of people with dementia or Alzheimer's. So it isn't just that tech is addicting -- it can also be detrimental to our health!)

I just need a break. I need a break from constantly being engaged with someone or something. I want the Lord to create in me a clean heart, and that's going to require some deep intention this Lent. I need to give up some things, and take on some others, in order to properly regain control of my time. Because wow I need time to myself, time connecting with my husband, my family, my friends. I need more time and more clarity about how I'm spending my time. I need to be transformed by the Word, not conformed by the World.

Thankfully, it was author Tiffany Schlain and her book 24/6 that inspired me to try my own Tech Shabbat. Tiffany, a Jewish screenwriter/director, has been living 24/6 -- or practicing her own Tech Shabbat -- for over ten years, and the results have drastically improved her quality of life. She's raised her kids this way, too, and they report feeling more rested, alert, clearheaded, and energetic after each Shabbat away from their screens.

I know it's almost become cliché in Christian culture, but when I think of rest, I just have to think about Jesus's words in Matthew 11 28:30: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Jesus is reminding us of a crucial truth: true rest, restoration, and life comes not from being engaged, getting a bunch of Likes or Followers or Retweets, or from being informed; rest comes when we come to Him. Jesus is reminding us that we are to come to Him, so we can learn how to live like Him: in gentleness and humility.

A lesser-known passage comes from Hebrews 4:9-11: "There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience." If God rested, it's ok to allow ourselves to unplug and rest too! If God got a break, what makes you think that you don't need one, either?! It's time for us to disengage so we can truly re-engage.

Here's what I'm hoping to accomplish during the next 40 days, and during my weekly Tech Shabbats:

• A morning routine which includes a daily yoga practice

• Learn how to cross-stitch or quilt

• Read more

• Send snail-mail to loved ones

• Bake

• Organize and clean

• Write more poetry/sermons/short stories, etc.

When we give up something in order to make space for Jesus to refuel us, what could happen??