The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry
My spiritual director laughed when I told him I’d preordered this book.
He knows me well. He would have understood my overload last Thursday and my overloaded schedule. It’s probably the greatest threat to my spiritual health and my effectiveness as a pastor. He wouldn’t have been surprised that a friend booked lunch with me recently to express concern about my busyness.
Eugene Peterson said a busy pastor is a lazy pastor. Yes, I know. But I’ve got to run. I’ve got an appointment coming up.
I’ve read so many books on margin, productivity, restoring balance, and more. I’ve taken courses. So when my spiritual director laughed, I laughed too. Another book? Really? Could there be a more ironic title, given the condition of my life?
The Book
The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry is written by John Mark Comer, pastor of Bridgetown Church in Portland. I appreciate that this book is written by someone in a place like Portland. If you can conquer hurry in a place like that, there’s hope for all of us.
Comer is someone I've grown to appreciate. I love his podcast with Mark Sayers. I suspect that we’re members of slightly different theological tribes, but I like him.
The book is broken into three sections.
First: the problem. I didn’t need this section to be very long. I can just look in the mirror. “All my worst moments as a father, a husband, and a pastor, even as a human being, are when I’m in a hurry,” he writes, “late for an appointment, behind on my unrealistic to-do list, trying to cram too much into my day. I ooze anger, tension, a critical nagging—the antitheses of love.”
Second: the solution, in which Comer argues we don’t just need more time. “The solution to an overbusy life is not more time. It’s to slow down and simplify our lives around what really matters.” Comer calls us to learn from Jesus and take on his easy yoke (Matthew 11:28-30).
Third: Comer offers us four practices for unhurrying our lives: silence and solitude, Sabbath, simplicity, and slowing. This is where the book becomes very practical, and it’s where I’ve struggled in the past. To "unhurry" involves making intentional choices that may seem unconventional. This includes minimizing digital distractions, spending time in silence and solitude, observing Sabbath practices, simplifying our possessions, and intentionally slowing down our pace of life.
Three Simple Goals
“I’ve reorganized my life around three very simple goals,” Comer writes:
- Slow down.
- Simplify my life around the practices of Jesus.
- Live from a center of abiding.
Comer pastors a large church and lives in a major city. He’s not immune to the pressures that shape our lives. He hasn’t conquered the problem. “Multiple times a day, I slip back into hurry. The gravitational pull is overwhelming at times.” But he keeps coming back to the same practices and goals.
If your spiritual director or friend laughs at you for reading this book, you likely need it just as much as I do. Taking this book to heart may be one of the most helpful things you do.
You can read an excerpt here.
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