Beyond Sundays - Part 2: Caught in the Current

The Crisis of Hurry Sickness and our Overcrowded Lives

What if the real issue with church attendance isn’t attendance at all, but our increasing inability to be fully present anywhere?

In Part 1, we saw the very real struggle of church participation and how we need to stop shaming those who are absent and learn to see and value connection beyond the pews.

Read Part 1 here

This week, I want to dig a bit deeper.

The problem isn’t just about missing Sundays. It’s about a culture that keeps us running so fast, we lose the capacity to slow down and be truly present. It's just tough to make space for God, for others, and even for ourselves.

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The Early Church and the Gift of Time

In the beginning of Acts, we read that the early believers met together every day, both in the temple and around the table in their homes (Acts 2:42, 46). They weren’t just attending weekly worship services. They were in relationship. They were building community.

But relationships take time and time often feels more scarce than even money.

“If only I had more hours in the day,” we say,
as if time alone could solve the pressure we carry.

If we had more time, we’d quickly fill it by doing more, and we would end up more exhausted.

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The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry

In preparation to teach a retreat session on the spiritual practice of simplicity, a friend suggested I read The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer. The book builds on Dallas Willard’s advice:

“You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.”

Comer writes, “Busyness cuts off our connection to God, to other people, and even to our own soul.”

I always have way too many books in progress, but I wanted to read this one before the upcoming retreat. I started around 8:30 p.m. on a Friday, reading until well after 1:00 am, and finished early Saturday morning before getting out of bed. I literally hurried through a book about eliminating hurry. The irony is not lost on me.

Still, it’s an excellent resource for cultivating a simpler life and embracing the “unforced rhythms of grace” that Jesus promises.

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Do You Have Hurry Sickness?

Comer introduces a real condition called hurry sickness, a chronic sense of urgency and compulsion to rush through life.¹ Symptoms include:

• Irritability (especially over little things)

• Hypersensitivity

• Restlessness (inability to relax)

• Workaholism / constant activity

• Emotional numbness

• Disordered priorities

• Neglect of physical health

• Escapist behaviors (overeating, social media, binging TV)

• Spiritual slippage

• Isolation

If that list hits close to home, you’re not alone. Sadly, this is the norm for many of us.—We’re just too busy to notice.

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The Whirlpool of Cultural Pressure

Theologian Tripp Fuller describes our economic and cultural systems like an above-ground pool. If you’ve ever run laps around the edge to make a whirlpool, you’ll know what he means.

But what happens if you want to slow down or stop?

You will get trampled and swept under the current.

If a small child tries to jump in, they will get pulled under.

As long as the cultural current is moving, our only options seem to be:

• Keep running

• Get swept away

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What does this have to do with Sunday mornings?

Whether we worship at 11 a.m. on a Sunday or at another time entirely, many people simply can’t or won’t slow down long enough to attend simply because they’re burned out from trying to keep up with life.

This points to a deeper need:

The church must become a place of true rest, not another demand on already overcrowded calendars.

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A Personal Story: Church as Escape vs. Engagement

As a teenager in a 3,000-member Baptist church, being a “good Christian” meant being at church every Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. And that was just the minimum. I rarely missed, and if I’m honest, I even enjoyed it most of the time.

But I didn’t realize how much that cut me off from the real world.

Instead of being in the world but not of it, we were taught to be of the world but not in it.

We filled our lives with all the same activities everybody else had, from concerts to movie nights to social events.

All labeled “Christian.”
All held at church.
All keeping us busy.

And being busy at church kept us disconnected from everybody else.

I was trained in “evangelism,” but most of my relationships were inside the church. I had few meaningful connections with people who weren’t already part of the congregation.

I see this today with so many church people, clergy and laity alike.

We’re so busy doing church that we don’t have time to be the church.

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A Different Vision for Community

What if instead of keeping people isolated inside the building, we equipped them to build authentic, transformative relationships in their everyday lives?

What if we saw presence as a spiritual practice?

I keep coming back to Jesus’ invitation in Matthew 11:28 - the one I reflected on in an earlier post about learning to hear God in a new way (read here):

Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens,
and I will give you rest... For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Matthew 11:28–30 (NRSV)

A yoke isn’t what we associate with rest. But, Frederick Dale Bruner puts it this way:

A yoke is a work instrument. When Jesus offers a yoke, he offers what we might think tired workers need least. They need a mattress or a vacation, not a yoke ... But Jesus realizes that the most restful gift he can give the tired is a new way to carry life, a fresh way to bear responsibilities ... instead of offering escape, Jesus offers equipment. [His yoke] will develop in us a balance and a "way" of carrying life that will give more rest than the way we have been living.

Eugene Peterson’s Message paraphrase reads:

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me... Learn the unforced rhythms of grace... Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

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The Church as a Place of Rest

Sunday morning shouldn’t feel like another burden.

If Jesus came to teach us how to live freely and lightly, why does serving in the church so often feel heavy and filled with guilt and shame when we can’t meet certain expectations or demands?

Church shouldn’t be the thing we don’t have time for. It should be the thing we don’t have time to miss.

The early church didn’t meet daily to entertain themselves or to make sure the offering plate got passed so they could pay their bills. They met to resist the dominating currents of their culture, systems built on power and greed. They needed one another to survive, to remember who they were in Christ, and to live differently.

One person can’t stop the whirlpool alone, but together, we can slow down and re-direct the flow toward life and flourishing.

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Practice This Week: 10 Minutes of Presence

Take just 10 minutes this week to sit in stillness.
No phone. No noise. Just you, your breath, and the presence of God.

Ask yourself:

• What is stealing my presence?

• Where is God inviting me to slow down?

Write down what comes.

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Reflection Questions

• Where have I noticed “hurry sickness” showing up in my life?

• What are the signs I’m operating out of exhaustion instead of grace?

• How might I begin to resist the cultural current of constant productivity?

• What would it look like to experience community that helps me breathe more freely?

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Coming Up: Slowing Down to Live Deeply

In Part 3, we’ll explore the personal practices that help us resist the culture of hurry and reclaim a life rooted in presence. Simplicity, solitude, and Sabbath aren’t just ancient disciplines. They are countercultural acts of spiritual resistance.

We’ll also look at what it means to take personal responsibility for nurturing a deeper faith, not only for ourselves but for the community we’re called to help build.

(READ PART 3 HERE)

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1. The term “hurry sickness” was coined by Dr. Meyer Friedman, a cardiologist, in the 1970’s.