You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
It is God’s greatest invitation that is also one of the “Big Ten” commandments. It was inaugurated at the dawn of creation. It is essential to our maintaining our health, our sanity, our society, even our work animals. And most Jesus followers routinely ignore the invitation and flout the commandment. Why do we so resist the gift of Sabbath blessing?
Of the many ways that “My ways are not your ways, nor my thoughts your thoughts,” says the Lord, Sabbath is among the most counter-intuitive. The lure of the completed to-do list is powerful, though we know its tail keeps growing no matter how many tasks we tick off the top. The notion that if we just keep working we will get more done seems to make logical sense, despite the wisdom of mystics and neuro-scientists. We understand the need for rest, for sleep, for “down-time,” for fields to go fallow, but the drive to push forward often overrides that deeper knowledge.
And there can be fear in our resistance to taking a period of time with no work – fear of feelings that might come up if we’re not distracted with tasks and data; fear of feeling alone; fear of feeling unworthy because we’re not “producing,” have nothing to show for our day. I can feel that way even after a day of meetings and pastoral care, which are very much my “work” but don’t leave a visible product.
For a few seasons in my life, I have kept Sabbath – maintained a day each week with no productive work, nothing that would be on a to-do list. No email, no computer – unless I felt inspired to some creative writing. No housework unless I wanted to be creative in the kitchen or indulge my gift of hospitality by crafting a lovely meal to be shared with people I love. I even saw a pay-off – I was so much clearer, more energized, creative and ready to work the next day. My Sabbath, when I take one, is a Friday, my day off. I suppose I would do even better to take a sabbath Monday in addition to my day off, but that seems profligate.
And there lies probably the deepest issue: Perhaps we don’t feel we deserve a day of rest, because no one has told us, or we don’t really believe, that the God who made us; who wired us to need a day of rest; who loves us with an extravagant love that is so profligate, he allowed his own Son to live among us and die for us; that this God wants joy and love for us far beyond anything we might produce or achieve. God made us royalty, not beasts of burden (and never forget that beasts of burden also need at least a day off…). Why don’t we take God at his word, obey his commandment to rest, take his invitation to rest, and see what happens?
It is summertime. If ever we were to experiment with the holy practice of Sabbath-keeping, it would be in this season when some even get extra time off each week. Choose a day of the week when you do not have many obligations.
If you consider cooking drudgery, try to make some things ahead or eat out.
Sleep in, enjoy your morning routines without hurry.
Do whatever you feel like, but nothing that would be on your to-do list.
Nap if you feel like it, take a walk, do something artistic. Play.
Enjoy time with people you love, if you can.
Does that seem too great a challenge? Consider the domestic housecat. It neither toils nor spins (except when chasing its own tail…); it accomplishes nothing, builds nothing, produces nothing (beyond the occasional hairball). And yet no creature on earth is more beloved than most pet cats. Their owners lavish time and attention, food and toys upon them, delighting in their little rituals and antics. If this is how much we love something who “achieves” so little, imagine how much God wants to see us enjoying this life and world God has created for us. At least one day each week.
© Kate Heichler, 2024. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
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