Sabbath Keeping

O God, in the course of this busy life, give us times of refreshment and peace; and grant that we may use our leisure to rebuild our bodies and renew our minds, that our spirits may be opened to the goodness of your creation, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. (The Book of Common Prayer)

Why is it that, more and more, we find ourselves needing to take a break? It seems that everywhere we go, we're being encouraged to move at a faster pace. I take that back we're not being encouraged to move faster, we're being forced! Society, with its latest technological advances, cries for the world to move at a faster pace and to work harder. And if we don't keep up, the horns honk, the people yell, and even our computers make some loud sound to tell us we're not moving at the right pace.

In contrast to all this rushing around and the expectations of society, my spiritual self shouts, "Stop!" Just the other day I was talking with someone who said, "I can't wait for this merry-go-round to stop so that I can finally get off." She quickly followed that statement with, "but only to take a break."

What is it about people? Even when our inner self, our spiritual self says stop, we choose not to listen. We quickly turn off that internal voice as if it were like the alarm clock that routinely wakes us up everyday. Well, my friends, as I forward to some time away, I want to remind you to stop and to smell the roses. Just like the fast food slogan goes, "It's time to take a break today!" And if for no other reason than "because the Bible tells you so."

Right smack in the first book of the Bible, Genesis, chapter 1, God gives us the right to rest. As God created each day out of nothingness and chaos, God pronounced it good, and there was evening and morning, the next day. But on the seventh day God looked around and saw that INDEED all creation was GOOD, and so God rested on the seventh day and made that day HOLY!

In her book, "Sabbath Keeping," Donna Schaper reminds us "that this seventh day, this Sabbath originated as shabbat in Jewish thought. It was understood to be cosmic in its source; in creation God rested on the seventh day." Ms Schaper goes on to say that "for Jews, the emphasis of shabbat is on rest and playfulness." Arthur Waskow, a Jewish Theologian, calls shabbat "the time when you stop doing. You study Torah, you sing, you dance, you celebrate, and you reflect on what the previous six days have been."

I wonder if Sunday, our Christian shabbat, is our time "to stop doing?" As a teacher of Liturgics for most of my adult life I have been caught up in the definition of the word Liturgy. A simple translation of the word has been, "a public service." Another translation has been that Liturgy is "the work of the people." But according to Dr. Donald E. Saliers of Emory University, the word Liturgy comes from the Greek word leitougia, which translates as "our work and prayer with God and neighbor." Though Dr. Saliers insight into the translation of the word Liturgy has increased my sense of what worship should be all about, I still find myself wrestling with the idea that to go to Church on the Sabbath means that I have to do my part, which translates as I've got some work to do. What happened to resting on the seventh day?

I was so relieved and refreshed to read Mr. Waskow's point of view on the Sabbath. He says that the Shabbat is like taking the world "off the easel." "We have done this amazing painting of modernity and instead of taking it off the easel and looking at it, and learning from it, and then begin some new project, we are still putting on the brush stokes which, in fact, are making it uglier and uglier." (The Witness, January/February 1996, p. 23.)

If we could only realize that the work that Liturgy expects of us is actually being done throughout the week. When we enter the doors of our Cathedral on Sunday morning, it's time for us to place our week, (the joys and sorrows, the successes and failures), on the table of the Lord. It is then that we are free to enter into the sacred and stop doing!

Sabbath is the time for us to enter into the study of Holy Scripture, to join in the singing and the praying, and maybe even to dance. It is here that all that we are can be transformed, it is here where we celebrate a sacred meal, and it is here where the voice of God can speak to our heart.

God invites us all to keep Sabbath. The question is, are we willing to leave our week at the altar to be transformed?

Mid-Summer Cathedral BBQ 

On Sunday, July 26th following the 10:00am Liturgy we will gather on the Cathedral lawn for hotdogs, hamburgers and fellowship, all are welcome.