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Hillside Street, Bennington, Vermont (802) 442-2559
"resolutely inclusive, spiritually alive, and empowered for ministry in the world." |
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“Practices of Faith–Sabbath-Keeping”--February 28, 2010 Luke 13:31-35
Posted: March 3rd, 2010 @ 11:44am
We are, by and large, a people who like to be busy and who define ourselves by what we do. This is a “busy” church–and I’m not just talking about all the various meetings and groups and classes that meet here in our building--- but the members of this faith community are, mostly, very busy people. Just try scheduling a meeting or a special event. On any given day or evening, folks are at work, attending a school board meeting, going to practice or a meet or game for some sport, doing volunteer work, or engaged in some hobby. On weekends we are visiting family or traveling to all sorts of interesting places or skiing or hiking or kayaking or running. And we like it that way.
Those of us who because of age or disability or downsizing are no longer working or running from one thing to another sometimes feel apologetic about that or regret that we are not “busy.” Our self-esteem may suffer; we dread the question, “And what do you do?” We may feel like “a waste of space,” as some people put it, or useless.
Of course, there is also the possibility that all our busyness is too much of a good thing. Juliet Schor’s 1991 book, The Overworked American was a surprise best-seller. And, then there’s this recession, where the overwork many experience is the overwork of looking for work. We work more hours than many people in the developed world. Many of us are exhausted. Too many of us are working multiple jobs and still not being able to pay basic bills, let alone afford all the things we think we should have or do. We multi-task, have calendars that look like those “Where’s Waldo?” pictures, can’t remember the last time we had something remotely close to an in-depth conversation with a loved one, drink caffeine or energy drinks to be able to keep up with all our obligations and down sleep aids to help us get to sleep at night. And when I say “we” or “us,” I am often speaking of those who aren’t here with us on Sunday mornings. My guess is that our demographic or age-group survey will show that folks in the beginning or prime of their working and child-rearing careers are not the majority of our congregation.
Talk about training or disciplines for the hard times, which is what we are doing during this season of Lent. What practices or disciplines might we try out during this season that might actually help us all year round, especially when, expected or not, the difficult times and seasons of our life arrive? Last week we talked about fasting, about being aware of how and what we eat says about us, and how we might learn lessons from emptiness and making space within.
Making space in time-- for not being busy, for getting in touch with our worth for who we are, not what we do, is what keeping Sabbath is about. The irony is, as Dorothy Bass puts it, “We need Sabbath, even though we doubt we have time for it.” (Dorothy Bass, Practicing Our Faith, p. 76)
In the gospel lesson for this Sunday, Jesus is warned by some Pharisees that Herod is after him. (Pharisees are not always the villains, you know, as they are sometimes pointed out to be.) My guess is this wasn’t really news for Jesus–he knew he was in danger from the political powers. In fact, he had no delusions about the world he lived in–full of violence, filled with powers of domination, filled with all sorts of distractions and seductions away from the true value and meaning of life–not so unlike our own times.
Jesus was not naive, but he was filled with compassion for all those who were caught up in the trappings of that system–“Jerusalem, Jerusalem,” he cried, “the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”
It is an image of maternal love and fierceness, exposing one’s breast and underbelly to provide shelter for the vulnerable chicks, even at the cost of the mother’s life. Jesus would soon stretch out his arms on the cross in the same way. Yet beneath those outstretched wings was a pocket of safety and rest amidst the turmoil and difficulties and violence. It wasn’t necessarily an escape, but it was a place of shelter, of being close to the source of life and others who shared that life. Not so different from the sabbath.
We are introduced to the sabbath in the 2nd chapter of the Bible, when we are told that God rested from all the divine work of creation on the seventh day. “And God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that God had done in creation.”
Then, of course, we read of keeping the sabbath holy in the 4th commandment of the 10 which Moses brings down from his mountaintop encounter with God. In the Exodus version, God says to honor the sabbath – you and all your children and servants and livestock – because God rested on the 7th. Keeping sabbath connects you with God, who made you in God’s own image. In the Deuteronomy version of the 10 commandments (did you know there were two different versions?), you are to do no work on the sabbath so that you will remember that you were once a slave in Egypt, and no one–not even slaves-- should have to work all the time. Keeping sabbath is a matter of justice.
Keeping sabbath or shabbat is at the core of what it means to be a Jew. It is said that if you want to know what being Jewish means, keep the sabbath. Indeed, the times I have been privileged to share a shabbat meal or celebration with Jewish friends have been powerful experiences of grace and joy. While there are varying degrees of strictness amongst the different branches of Judaism, just as there are in Christianity, this “work” that we are not to do on the sabbath is basically “whatever requires changing the natural, material world.” So, what is allowed is play, taking a walk, resting, conversation, reading, engaging in sexual relations with a life’s partner, whatever does not “change the natural, material world.”
Early on, Christians celebrated the sabbath not on the 7th day of the week, or Saturday, but rather on Sunday, the day of resurrection, or the 8th day of creation. The early Jewish Christians celebrated shabbat on Saturday and then gathered for worship and a meal on Sunday. The Emperor Constantine, back in the 4th c. after he converted to Christianity, declared Sunday a day of rest throughout the Roman Empire. And since then, Christians have observed the sabbath with greater and lesser degrees of strictness. The New England Puritans had all kinds of laws establishing behavior on Sundays, and from that heritage came “Blue Laws,” which many of you may remember. Other Christians were more suspicious of this strict “sabbatarianism,” as it’s called. The reformer Martin Luther, in fact, railed against any restriction of Christian freedom and said that if someone told you you couldn’t work on a given day, you should then work or ride or feast on it (Bass, op cit., p. 83). Let’s just say Luther had issues with authority! Other Christians, like Quakers, have always regarded all time as holy.
So, is it possible for us in this 21st century, pluralist American society to keep the sabbath? Is it worth keeping? And if so, what might that sabbath look like? It is unquestionably a discipline, requiring practice, flexibility, and support. Because we live in a religiously pluralistic society, there is no one day that can or should be legislated as sabbath, or even a day of rest. So it requires that we make choices, that our sabbath-keeping become an intentional decision on our part, not something that everyone else should be forced into keeping.
We also need to recognize the changing economic climate and forces at work. For more and more families, Sunday may be the only available day for shopping for essential items like food or clothing. Sometimes work that includes Sunday is the only work available to someone so that they can support their family. Just as the sabbath was meant to be a testimony against endless drudgery or work, even for slaves, so part of our Christian witness needs to be working for justice for workers, including liveable wages and humane working conditions. And we need to look at our lifestyle so that it does not require us or others to work endlessly to acquire our “wants,” instead of our true needs.
Just as I’ve discovered when I’ve shared shabbat with Jewish brothers and sisters, we need to get rid of the “killjoy” image of Sabbath. It is meant to be a day of joy, of renewal, of recreation, remembering who we are–not just drones or workers–and Whose we are. On the sabbath, we are reminded that we are immersed in the Love and Grace of God.
Given all this, our Sabbath may need to take new forms, ideally including worship with a community of companions on our faith journeys, on a regular day of the week, plus regular spiritual practices throughout the week. Honestly, if there isn’t some regularity about it, it is likely to go the way of all our best intentions and New Year’s resolutions–crowded out by the urgent, the immediate, the demanding. Eugene Peterson, whose translation of the Bible we frequently read, is a Presbyterian minister who keeps sabbath with his wife on Mondays, after their busiest day is over. They take a drive out into the country, read a psalm together, go on a silent hike for several hours, and then spend a quiet evening at home. (Bass, p. 85) Granted they no longer have young children at home, but there might be other special patterns of sabbath time that families could work out together.
Think of Sabbath less as “time off” and more as “time in”–into who you really are, into those with whom you share your live and love, into the One from whom your life flows and to whom you will return. Over 3000 years of Jewish practice and reflection have produced these 3 restrictions for sabbath– no work, no commerce, no worry. Try that for a day, or even part of a day. As with all these disciplines, do what you can, not what you can’t.
None of us can keep sabbath without the mutual support of a community. The forces in our society working against us are simply too great to withstand alone. We need to be careful here in the church, for example, not to load Sundays up with business. Although Sunday isn’t my sabbath, I really try to avoid meetings on that day, though, of course, sometimes they’re unavoidable. When they are, we should do all that we can to keep them in the spirit of sabbath, grounded in the grace and enjoyment of God, grounded in the inherent worth of each one present.
The planet would probably benefit from our taking off from plucking and bulldozing and spewing exhaust into the air for a day a week. Remember this day of rest is embedded in our story of creation. As I said before, justice demands that everyone has the right to rest, not to mention the consequences in health and safety that result from constant worry, exhaustion, and indignity.
“Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning the ones sent to you! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”
“Rest and worship,” concludes Dorothy Bass. One day a week–not much, in a sense, but a good beginning. One day to resist the tyranny of too much or too little work and to celebrate with God and others, remembering thereby who we really are and what is really important. One day that, week after week, anchors a way of life that makes a difference every day.” (Ibid., p. 89)
Give it a try. Carve some space for emptiness in your week, so God may build a nest there. So may we all be blessed. May it be so.
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