I have just taken over management of my elderly grandfather's farm, and am now farming in loose collaboration with both him and my father. This is a fantastic development for myself personally, my family, and our extended family. It is exactly where God wants me to be at this stage of life.
However, it raises a thorny issue around sabbath-keeping. For many years we have kept a Saturday sabbath. This came about partly for practical reasons (Saturday simply worked better for us), and partly out of religious conviction (Saturday is simply the more accurate timing for Sabbath, there is no convincing scriptural support for the change to Sunday).
My father and grandfather on the other hand keep a Sunday sabbath - and for my grandfather in particular this is a matter of deep religious conviction. My entire life he has told me a story of one of my great-grandfathers, who would never work on Sunday. One year the weather was terrible at harvest time, then the weather came right for harvest on Sunday. He refused to head the crop because he would not work on Sunday. The next day rain set in and he lost the crop. But overall, that year was the most profitable he had ever had - God blessed every other venture on his farm that year. This story has inspired my grandfather all his life, and he has told it repeatedly all of my life.
It is not possible to take a 2 day weekend when farming. It's a struggle to even take one day off. So keeping both is not an option.
Working on Sunday on my grandfather's property, which he still lives on, would deeply offend him - it would not honour him.
Working on Saturday is against my own conviction.
So what do I do?
The answer is very simple, and is provided by patriarchy - and this is a test of whether I am truly serious about it. Patriarchy is not just about me being the head of my wife and children - it also extends upwards, to my grandfather's position as patriarch of our entire family. I cannot just preach patriarchy when it makes me the boss, and ignore it when it puts any obligations on me - that would be hypocritical.
So we are back to keeping a Sunday sabbath.
I must say this has been a very difficult issue for me, and for Sarah even more so. This is a conclusion that was not reached lightly. But the Church is a patriarchal hierarchy, and as such I need to voluntarily honour my elders just as I expect my wife and children to voluntarily honour me. One day I will operate independently again, or become the family patriarch, and I may order things differently then. But that is not the case today.
I share this not to debate the day of sabbath. I know people will be tempted to argue that, and I have no interest in having that debate. That, to me, is a side-issue, just one issue out of thousands that I could have used as an illustrative point, but which just happens to be the one of most relevance to me today.
My actual point is that patriarchy is not just about being the boss - it is also about being a servant. It is about humility, not self-promotion. Humbling yourself to take your place in a military-style hierarchy in which you are only a junior officer, not the king.
And if we can humble ourselves to honour our elders, we can demonstrate to our wives and children the humility that we expect from them towards us. Leading by example rather than by dictate.
(Putting my staff hat on - I'm serious that this thread is not to debate sabbath, we've had that sort of debate many times already, I'll just delete any comment debating sabbath because that is not the topic of this thread. This thread is about patriarchy, and how it is about so much more than just getting to be the boss of your wife).
However, it raises a thorny issue around sabbath-keeping. For many years we have kept a Saturday sabbath. This came about partly for practical reasons (Saturday simply worked better for us), and partly out of religious conviction (Saturday is simply the more accurate timing for Sabbath, there is no convincing scriptural support for the change to Sunday).
My father and grandfather on the other hand keep a Sunday sabbath - and for my grandfather in particular this is a matter of deep religious conviction. My entire life he has told me a story of one of my great-grandfathers, who would never work on Sunday. One year the weather was terrible at harvest time, then the weather came right for harvest on Sunday. He refused to head the crop because he would not work on Sunday. The next day rain set in and he lost the crop. But overall, that year was the most profitable he had ever had - God blessed every other venture on his farm that year. This story has inspired my grandfather all his life, and he has told it repeatedly all of my life.
It is not possible to take a 2 day weekend when farming. It's a struggle to even take one day off. So keeping both is not an option.
Working on Sunday on my grandfather's property, which he still lives on, would deeply offend him - it would not honour him.
Working on Saturday is against my own conviction.
So what do I do?
The answer is very simple, and is provided by patriarchy - and this is a test of whether I am truly serious about it. Patriarchy is not just about me being the head of my wife and children - it also extends upwards, to my grandfather's position as patriarch of our entire family. I cannot just preach patriarchy when it makes me the boss, and ignore it when it puts any obligations on me - that would be hypocritical.
So we are back to keeping a Sunday sabbath.
I must say this has been a very difficult issue for me, and for Sarah even more so. This is a conclusion that was not reached lightly. But the Church is a patriarchal hierarchy, and as such I need to voluntarily honour my elders just as I expect my wife and children to voluntarily honour me. One day I will operate independently again, or become the family patriarch, and I may order things differently then. But that is not the case today.
I share this not to debate the day of sabbath. I know people will be tempted to argue that, and I have no interest in having that debate. That, to me, is a side-issue, just one issue out of thousands that I could have used as an illustrative point, but which just happens to be the one of most relevance to me today.
My actual point is that patriarchy is not just about being the boss - it is also about being a servant. It is about humility, not self-promotion. Humbling yourself to take your place in a military-style hierarchy in which you are only a junior officer, not the king.
And if we can humble ourselves to honour our elders, we can demonstrate to our wives and children the humility that we expect from them towards us. Leading by example rather than by dictate.
(Putting my staff hat on - I'm serious that this thread is not to debate sabbath, we've had that sort of debate many times already, I'll just delete any comment debating sabbath because that is not the topic of this thread. This thread is about patriarchy, and how it is about so much more than just getting to be the boss of your wife).
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