Nonetheless, sabbath beckons to me. The necessary tasks have their place and time (see Ecclesiastes 3) but sabbath does as well. The temptation to be a human doing rather than a human being hasn't waned. The foolishness of trying to substitute a "day off" for sabbath still pleads for my acquiescence. How about you?
It seems providential that a fellow pilgrim offered me a free copy of Wayne Muller's classic, Sabbath: Restoring The Sacred Rhythm Of Rest as we worshipped together only a few Sundays ago. I told her that I was, "on sabbatical". She seemed amused, and a tad bit pleased to bear and share her particular gift that morning.
Some days later as I began reading the book, a story of Muller's seemed to call for my attention.
My friends Zalman and Eve faithfully keep the Sabbath. While I was visiting them last spring they told me that in some families it is customary to make a Sabbath box to hold all the equipment you do not need on the Sabbath - pens, car keys, wallets, etc.. "On Friday," they explained, "someone stands at the door with the Shabbos box and as people enter the house for the evening meal, they put in anything they know should not be taken into sacred space. Then, stripped of all our tools and machines, we can only pray, God, there is nothing I can do about these concerns, so I know it is in your hands."
The fourth commandment (Exodus 20:8-11) begins with the word, "remember". At first hearing it is word which seems focused on what is behind us. But in truth, it is every bit as much a word which calls us to the present. "Remember" occurs over 230 times in the annals of the Old Testament. I'm pretty sure that it is more than a call to be nostalgic. Remember translates better as, "treasure". " (Treasure) the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy" whispers commandment #4. [Earnestly] remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy (withdrawn from common employment and dedicated to God) says The Amplified Version.
Isn't it odd how easily we can view commandment #4 as a, "nice-to-have", rather than a gift; as an obligation rather than an opportunity? But there it is anyway. Staring at us from the tablets of stone. What if we treasured the gift of sabbath in such a way that we refused to accept the bastardized substitutes that incessantly knock at our doors? What if we began to embrace sabbath as the gift it is intended to be for us? for God? What if we began to embrace sabbath in such a way that we discovered the gift of working out of our rest rather than merely resting from our work?
Then, I imagine, our neighbors, co-workers, classmates, family and friends would become curious about our lives in the ways that lead to questions of ultimate importance. Then, we would discover what it is to be the "light of the world". Then, we would discover the gift of being immersed in a healthy measure of God-dependence; no longer worshipping at the altar of independence or even worse, self-dependence.
Wendell Berry's poem speaks to me in new ways now in the after-glow of my sabbath month.
Whatever is foreseen in joy
Must be lived out from day to day.
Vision held open in the dark
By our ten thousand days of work.
Harvest will fill the barn; for that
The hand must ache, the face must sweat.
And yet no leaf or grain is filled
By work of ours; the field is tilled
And left to grace. That we may reap,
Great work is done while we're asleep.
When we work well, a Sabbath mood
Rests on our day, and finds it good.
Must be lived out from day to day.
Vision held open in the dark
By our ten thousand days of work.
Harvest will fill the barn; for that
The hand must ache, the face must sweat.
And yet no leaf or grain is filled
By work of ours; the field is tilled
And left to grace. That we may reap,
Great work is done while we're asleep.
When we work well, a Sabbath mood
Rests on our day, and finds it good.
from A Timbered Choir
Still...........in ONE Peace,
Jon(theMethodist)
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