United Church of Christ Daily Devotional 7th July 2025 Monday Message
Vacation is Coming
By Donna Schaper
Discussion Questions
- Read Colossians 3:12-17. Then read the devotional, “Vacation Is Coming.”
- How do you uphold “the cultural pattern to be perpetually exhausted” in your life—whether physically, spiritually, and/or emotionally? How do you forgive yourself for following those social norms?
- How does your faith community participate in the same pattern of perpetual exhaustion? What habits or rituals are practiced at your church to avoid the temptations of busyness and burn-out?
- What is “living well” for you? How can you make “living well” a habit, not just a long-term goal?
Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. – Colossians 3:13 (NIV)
Why go on vacation when you can be rested and relaxed regularly instead of episodically? Alternatively, why not just comply with the cultural pattern to be perpetually exhausted, vacate for two weeks, pay the credit card off by next year, and be the burned-out grump and ever-busy body the world expects?
OK, you have one strong third alternative. Forgive yourself for your compliance with the world’s orders, and forgive it, and then forgive yourself again and staycate perpetually. Rest regularly.
Arthur Frommer, the great travel writer and guru, so advises. He describes his better hire ever. “Beth Bryant called us many years ago said she wanted to write guidebooks. I said, write a good story about a restaurant near where you live in D.C. … She wrote this delightful comparison of the (then) Justice department cafeteria with the (then) Commerce department one, all of which are open to public visits. We … had a star on our hands.”
Hasn’t capitalism and its cronies disturbed your peace for long enough? Consider a quiet path of non-compliance. Don’t tell everyone you are too busy to walk with them somewhere. Vacay at home. If you must spend money, book a local hotel. Get the spa room. Swim in the pool. Go monthly.
Living well is the best revenge. (And consider how relieved your credit card will be.)
Living well starts with restoring the joy of our salvation by forgiving ourselves for compliance.
Prayer
Forgive us, O God, for obeying the wrong rules. Remind us of your wisdom, that we are here to praise you. Thanks for the bargain, hidden in plain site next door. Amen.
About the AuthorDonna Schaper is an interim Pastor at the United Church of Gainesville, Florida, and author, most recently of Remove the Pews—first from your theology, then from your building.