04.29.07
Sabbath Keeping 7
Jesus invites you to rest:
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Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Matt 11:28
How will you respond?
Archive for April, 2007
Sabbath Keeping 6
Jewish Sabbath Prayer:
Days pass. Years vanish. And we walk sightless among miracles.
Sabbath is a time of glorious reorientation! The Divine order and rhythm of our lives is reestablished. The scales on our eyes of faith fall off and our vision is restored. We are enabled to embrace infinity and all of the wonder and mystery it entails. The smallness of our world is replaced through our glimpsing of Infinity in all of its glory.
We no longer walk sightless among miracles!
Sabbath Keeping 5
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Abide in me as I abide in you (John 15:4a)
We are now getting to the crux of the situation. Sabbath is about learning to abide with God and the first part of the verse from John enjoins us to ‘abide in Christ’. But the good news for us is spelled out in the second part of the sentence – ‘as I abide in you.’ What a wonderful reminder for us. You see God is ever present abiding in us, even when we are unaware of it!
Marcus Borg expresses it this way: “God is in relationship with us: spirituality is about becoming aware of a relationship that already exists.”
And Carl Jung: “Bidden or not God is present.”
So if God is ever present, how do we often times end up feeling disconnected and far removed from the Divine presence? Read the rest of this entry »
Sabbath Keeping 4
We are finite beings – God destines us for eternity (infinity). It is fully in our nature to hunker down in our finitude. This is our natural inclination. It takes work (and practice) to open our selves to infinity – it runs counter to our finitude.
Abraham Joshua Heschal reminds us that Sabbath is like a window [through which] we perceive the presence of the eternity that is planted within us. Sabbath reconnects us with eternity which unblunts our awareness of infinity and God. Sabbath is when our lives intersect the Divine – we glimpse the eternity that we are predestined for.
Since we are finite this is an ongoing process and requires a continually coming -regular Sabbath practice – in order to maintain the depth and connection. Read the rest of this entry »
04.28.07
Sabbath Keeping 3, a Reflection by Mary C. Earle
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But he would withdraw to deserted places and pray.. —Luke 5:16
The Trappist monk and author Thomas Merton once wrote, “There is a pervasive form of contemporary violence…and that is activism and overwork.” The vast majority of us are formed to rush incessantly, without pausing between one activity and the next. We seldom give ourselves time to reflect on the lives that we live. And we seldom allow ourselves to be still.
Going against this dominant pattern is not easy. And yet Jesus himself withdraws from the crowds and the press of needs. Luke tells us that Jesus would go off by himself and pray. He had a rhythm of work and rest, involvement and disengagement.
Jesus, raised as a Jew, would have lived each week in the expectation of Sabbath rest. He would have come to Friday night knowing that for 24 hours all work would be put aside. He would have been brought up welcoming the Sabbath as the sun set, and wishing “Shabbat shalom” (“Sabbath peace”) to those gathered for Friday night observance. Read the rest of this entry »
04.03.07
Sabbath Keeping 2
We live in a time where we are pushed to move outside of our natural God given rhythms. If we look to the natural world there is a rhythm, pace at which things naturally occur. Daffodils and tulips are the early flowers of spring. They are blooming every year just as my grass is starting to awaken from its dormant winter state and produce the first green blades of the season. There is an order that permeates the natural world. Events occur in sync with the created rhythm of the world around them.
We humans have the ability to override our natural created rhythms – to our detriment! Our technology and our pride provide the tools and the motivation for this dissynchronization of our lives. Our technology enables us to believe that we can conquer time and subdue it to our will. Our pride leads us to accept and even take great pleasure in our efforts to conquer time. Read the rest of this entry »
04.02.07
Sabbath Keeping 1
God has provided us with the gift of a Sabbath to provide the refreshment and reorientation that we need to accomplish the work that we are called to be about. Sabbath is a day to rest as if all our work were done - this is very hard to do! It takes practice. The fruit of the practice of Sabbath Keeping is an opening of the eyes of faith increasing our awareness of God’s presence.
I invite you to carve out a time for a regular Sabbath rest in your week. It does not have to be on Sunday - it does not have to be a full day - just a regular time that you intentionally set aside to rest.
Remember:
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You are God’s Beloved.
Being God’s Beloved is not about
who you are nor about what you do
—or don’t do!
Being God’s Beloved is about who God is.
You are loved.
Bask in your Belovedness!
The Sabbath is time for you to be bathed in God’s love for you – open yourself to this marvelous truth.