Thoughts on Sabbath

A couple of weeks ago the discussion in our EfM class was "Sabbath Time," one of the Common Lessons for this year and one designed to call attention to the role of sabbath time in the life and ministry of the student.

Firstly, according to the BCP, all baptized persons are ministers, most called to some form of lay ministry but some called to the ordained ministry. Ministry consists of not just talking about God to other people but even doing one's ordinary work -- teaching, counseling, practicing medicine, helping people find what they need in stores, libraries, or anywhere else, helping people solve problems, even those as simple as starting or stopping a newspaper, and the like. Ministry is the process of helping and serving but if I stop at just considering what I do to and for others, I'm missing a bit of the boat. All have to minister also to themselves in order to be able to fully and adequately minister to others.

Which brings me to Sabbath time and what it means. Normally in church Sabbath refers to a day of rest although with 24/7 stores, kids' soccer games scheduled on Sunday, house- and yard work that always needs doing and the like, the normal Sunday becomes another day just like Saturday or even Tuesday.  Society seems to encourage us to keep busy, to keep doing stuff and to buy this or that to organize our time and maximize what we get done and more, not to mention buying this car or minivan with certain features that give us some comfort while keeping us on the move between home, work, church, soccer practice, gymnastics, the hardware store and the hundreds of other places we need to be. Tradition, however, says that Sabbath time should be for rest, not just for us but for the whole of our household.

Jesus withdrew periodically to "be" with God so that he had the strength and energy to "do" the many things people wanted and expected of him. He was following the commandment to "Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. It was a practice that not only included one day a week but also a sort of super-Sabbath every 50 years. Think of it, a day with no runnning around (except to synagogue or church), no sudden trips to the hardware store for a fitting or bracket or running to the grocery store for the forgotten ingredient necessary for preparation of some fantastic Sunday dinner -- provided the family has time for a Sunday dinner together.

I remember that as a child Sunday mornings were for church and Sunday afternoons were for visiting relatives. For me it was pretty boring, listening to adults sit around and talk about life, other relatives, plans and the latest news, and there usually weren't any other kids to play with. Still, I wandered around yards and fields, watching cows, horses, chickens and dogs, and occasionally got to read a catalog or magazine. Perhaps boring for a child but it took me away from the stuff that went on the rest of the week -- school, piano lessons, homework, etc. I got to look at nature instead of TV or homework. I wish now I had more of that kind of time in my present life. I think I'd appreciate it a lot more than I did then.

These days I find myself observing Sabbath time more often on Saturday than Sunday. At the end of a week I'm ready for playtime, for staying home in my pajamas all day if I want to, doing only what I feel like doing and not doing something I don't. Then, by Sunday, I'm ready to begin again.

Today being Thanksgiving Day is a day off from work so therefore candidate for some Sabbath time. I think about my work days, usually a constant string of things to be done from the time I arrive until I leave. Often I almost have to make an appointment to get time to go the rest room and don't stop for lunch either. I keep my iPod handy and my preferred music (a mixture of Renaissance and Baroque church music, staid old-fashioned hymns, Taizé chant --- and Tahitian drums) often serves to give me mini-sabbaths that may only last a moment or two but which are places to stop, catch a breath and relax for a moment. Many of the pieces are familiar, either from having sung them in various choirs or from frequent listening, so even as I am entering data, sending emails about received inserts or coloring maps for drivers I feel I have some connection going on with God. Maybe the saints of old wouldn't have approved of multitask work/worship but it's what I can do with what I have.  I think God would prefer that to being ignored. I know I need it; it keeps me sane and more relaxed than if I didn't have the music going and, like Buddhist prayer wheels, sending prayers upward even after those who pass by and cause them to turn have gone on to their own work.

I need the sabbath time, whenever and wherever I can get it, just to "be" rater than just "do". God knew that we needed breaks for rest and battery recharging so when Moses got the set of rules we call the 10 Commandments (maybe there were 15 but Moses dropped one? Or 613 but were too heavy for him to carry in one trip?) "remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy" was one of the top ones. It wasn't just about worshipping God, but about renewing ourselves and reconnecting with God who often gets left out of the day otherwise.

In order to do ministry to others I have to do ministry to myself. Keeping sabbath time in my daily life as well as my spiritual life is something I need to remember to do. I think the time to start is right now.