Surgical Sabbath: Concept, Formation, and Practice of the Sabbath for Surgeons
Clark Howell, MD, MSHS, Duke University, Durham, NC; Kevin Ig-Izevbekhai, MD, Duke University, Durham, NC; John Dortch, MD, Florida State University College of Medicine, Tallahassee, FL; Hima Bindu Thota, MD, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ; and Ryan Antiel, MD, MSME, Duke University, Durham, NC
Within the culture broadly, people love to stay busy and be efficient. This disordered love is so pervasive, Howard Friedman coined it “hurry sickness”: our incessant need to walk quickly, our frustration with delays, and our guilt when we are not productive. Because of the necessity to expediently address surgical emergencies, surgery is particularly vulnerable to this illness. The acuity of our work cultivates a vigilance towards hyper efficiency, we become intolerant to deviations in the normal process, and we experience “time hunger.”
The Sabbath offers an experiential critique to the malformation of the hearts of surgeons. Surgery teaches us to value time as a currency, something to be well-spent for utility, production, and activity. The Sabbath teaches us that time is something that is given to us, as a gift, which may be cherished through curiosity, celebration, and contemplation. The Sabbath has a way of healing our perception of time. It is a spiritual practice which pursues the great coherence as it re-binds our broken relationship with time as clinicians.
While particular components of the Sabbath are important, we must emphasize that what is transformative is not only practicing the preparation and traditions of the Sabbath, but also cultivating what Mark Buchanan calls the “Sabbath heart”. In a world of checklists, we can be tempted to make the Sabbath a task – particularly within the world of medicine. But instead, the Sabbath requires a heavenly imagination which converts ordinary practices within ordinary time into holy time. In doing so, the Sabbath transforms us beyond the day of ceasing. John Mark Comer describes the Sabbath as a way of being; a spirit of restfulness that comes from abiding in the Father’s presence. It changes how we live each day. Just as habituated actions shape our character, a rhythm of rest shapes our attention and our imagination.
Our panel will explore what it means to cultivate a sabbath heart as a surgeon from the perspectives of four surgeons and surgical trainees who follow the teachings of Jesus. We collectively will offer a critique of the current malformation of the hearts of surgeons within surgical training and the hope that the Sabbath offers uniquely to surgeons. We will present a four-part movement including: the concepts and motivations of the Sabbath for Christians, how the Sabbath heals the perception of time, how the Sabbath forms us, and how surgeons might be able to practice the Sabbath. We therefore hope to make what can often be conceptual practical and offer ways that clinicians can engage in practices of the Sabbath when the acuity and demands of work seem never ceasing.
The Sabbath offers an experiential critique to the malformation of the hearts of surgeons. Surgery teaches us to value time as a currency, something to be well-spent for utility, production, and activity. The Sabbath teaches us that time is something that is given to us, as a gift, which may be cherished through curiosity, celebration, and contemplation. The Sabbath has a way of healing our perception of time. It is a spiritual practice which pursues the great coherence as it re-binds our broken relationship with time as clinicians.
While particular components of the Sabbath are important, we must emphasize that what is transformative is not only practicing the preparation and traditions of the Sabbath, but also cultivating what Mark Buchanan calls the “Sabbath heart”. In a world of checklists, we can be tempted to make the Sabbath a task – particularly within the world of medicine. But instead, the Sabbath requires a heavenly imagination which converts ordinary practices within ordinary time into holy time. In doing so, the Sabbath transforms us beyond the day of ceasing. John Mark Comer describes the Sabbath as a way of being; a spirit of restfulness that comes from abiding in the Father’s presence. It changes how we live each day. Just as habituated actions shape our character, a rhythm of rest shapes our attention and our imagination.
Our panel will explore what it means to cultivate a sabbath heart as a surgeon from the perspectives of four surgeons and surgical trainees who follow the teachings of Jesus. We collectively will offer a critique of the current malformation of the hearts of surgeons within surgical training and the hope that the Sabbath offers uniquely to surgeons. We will present a four-part movement including: the concepts and motivations of the Sabbath for Christians, how the Sabbath heals the perception of time, how the Sabbath forms us, and how surgeons might be able to practice the Sabbath. We therefore hope to make what can often be conceptual practical and offer ways that clinicians can engage in practices of the Sabbath when the acuity and demands of work seem never ceasing.