I'm not at all good with technology, so when it came time to buy a new range, I chose what I hoped would be the most basic model on the market, with fewer things that could break.  Sadly, from my perspective, even the most basic appliances are essentially computers, with a control panel as complicated as that of a small plane.  The other night, while trying to clean up a spill, I somehow managed to push just the right combination of buttons on the control panel to put the oven into forced hibernation.

The control panel on the oven flashed a cryptic signal: "5Ab"--and instantly, the oven was rendered inoperable; nothing, not even the light, would work.  After a frustrating search of online manuals and mechanical help lines on the internet, I discovered that the signal I was reading on the panel was not "5Ab," but rather was meant to be read as "Sab," short for "sabbath."  I had, I learned, thrown the oven into "Sabbath Mode."  You see, for very observant Jews, lighting a fire on the sabbath is considered work and is thus forbidden.  Some rabbis have interpreted that edict to mean that turning on a gas oven is not allowed on the sabbath.  Hence "Sabbath Mode" on some ovens.  Some ovens allow a more technologically savvy cook than I to set the oven to turn itself off automatically on the sabbath so that no one will be tempted to use it.  It could, say, be set to bake a sabbath meal and then turn itself off for the rest of the sabbath.

Eventually, after a call to the Kenmore Help Line, it was just a matter of knowing which two buttons to hold down simultaneously for three to five seconds.  Just like that, my oven's sabbath was over and it was ready to work again. 

My experience with the oven got me thinking.  The concept of sabbath time is quite ancient.  Our scriptures tell us that even God rested after creating the world, and that God took time to reflect on creation.  God thus ordained that human beings set aside a day of rest and reflection.  That time of sabbath was meant to extend to everyone and everything.  Servants were included, as were the farm animals.  The land itself was given a sabbath; every seven years, fields were to lie fallow.

Most of us aren't tied to the rhythm of the days and seasons in the way our ancestors were.  For most of us, our work isn't tied to a season of hard work followed by rest; when it gets dark, we simply turn on the lights and carry on.  In some ways, that's a great thing.  But I think the loss of the concept of work and then rest, of a time set apart for reflection and leisure, is a loss.  The idea of a sabbath is truly a foreign one for most of us.  Our culture is one of constant activity.  Even time off is seldom true sabbath; many of us expect to spend even leisure time being "productive." 

I rather wish sometimes that I had a "Sabbath Mode" as my oven does, an internal control switch that would force me to be still, turn off all the devices and distractions, and just be.  Real sabbath is not just a day off spent running errands or cleaning or shopping or doing.  It's an intentional time of rest and reflection. 

Once again we had a great time at our Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper.  Our two chefs, Spencer Dalby and Joe Field flipped the pancakes while Marty Wishart and the rest of the crew set up the serving tables.  Norma said the blessing prior to the meal.  The Strack family oversaw the burning of the palms.  Jessie began with a prayer, and Nathan and Jim tended the fire pit making the ashes for Ash Wednesday service.  Nobody left hungry. 

Our adult Christian formation during Lent will be a book discussion group on the book The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto" by Tavis Smiley and Cornel West.  The book focuses on poverty in the United States and proposes concrete ways to address it.  It also challenges the ways we think about poverty in our country.  We will be using a study guide prepared by a team of priests from our diocese, including Thomas Brown, the rector at Epiphany Winchester, a parish in our deanery.  The class will begin on Monday, February 25, and will continue for four consecutive Monday evenings.  We will meet from 7-8 p.m.  (Please note the beginning date is 2/25, NOT 2/18).  To sign up for the class, call the parish office, see Rev. Scottie, or sign up on the sheet outside the sanctuary.

This book was suggested by Bishop Thomas Shaw for congregations around the diocese to read together during Lent.  In part, the idea of diocesan-wide discussions on poverty--and on poverty as a kind of violence--came from the murder of Jorge Fuentes, a young man from St. Stephen's Parish in the South End, who was shot to death as he walked the family dog.  Bishop Shaw, who knew Jorge from the time he was a young boy, has commissioned a task force to identify concrete ways of addressing poverty and violence; the book group was suggested for congregations to do together as the task force forms action plans.

Copies of the book are available for purchase in the office, for ten dollars.  Several parishioners have reported that the book can be checked out in the library as well.  We hope you can join us.

Chuck and Ginny Barthel, Dorothy Brown, Christine Camper, George Chace, Betty Fraser, Bernice Herrick, Allan Johnson, Deborah Katt-Lloyd, Lisa Kimball, Robert Knoettner, Mary Anna Krause, Tony Lopes, Carole Lutton, Maureen Manzelli, Jim McCallum,  Lynn McDonald, Rheta C. McKinley, Mike Morgan, Sara O'Brien, Rhonda O'Keefe, Carolyn Poor, Eleanor Schott, Kevin Smith, Ron Smith, Anita Webb and Ashley Westerman.

Earlier this week Bill Webb called to say that Florence Tolland, whose 108th birthday we noted in church last August, died on Ash Wednesday.  Bill said in addition to being a faithful member of the Good Shepherd community, Florence was instrumental in the founding of what is now the Bargain Box, serving as treasurer for many years.