Keeping Sabbath

Sundays were a special day in my house when I was young; the day always included pie.  What kind of pie depended on who was coming: cherry if it was grandma and grandpa, apple if it was just the four of us.  There were seasonal variations{ rhubarb in the spring and squash or pumpkin in the fall.  Sunday was pie day. 

Oh, yes, we also went to church and Sunday school too.  But truthfully, it was the pie and the company that made the day special and different from the rest of the days in my eyes.  There were no restrictions on things we could or couldn’t do. For many, Sunday was a day of thou shalt not’s.  Or as Barbara Brown Taylor noted, “Remember the Sabbath to keep it boring.”

Sabbath keeping isn’t much practiced these days, even though it is something we desperately need. Reclaiming Sabbath time is a spiritual practice that invites us to set aside what defines our value in the world’s eyes and reclaim our value in God’s eyes.  We have much to learn from our Jewish siblings when it comes to Sabbath keeping.

Sabbath has its root in Genesis.  When God was all done cobbling creation together God rested.  Creation was called good.  The Sabbath was called holy.  Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote, “The first holy thing in all creation was not a place or a people, but a day.  The seventh day is a place in time into which human beings are invited every week of their lives.”  (The Sabbath) 

For many of us, however, Sunday is a time to catch up on all the stuff that didn’t get done during the week: the ever growing mountain of laundry, vacuuming the dust balls that have grown to the size of small animals, filling the empty fridge, catching up on e-mail, washing the car and mowing the grass. 

And yet, it is precisely because of the life we live on the other six days that we need the practice and the discipline of keeping Sabbath.

Sabbath is intended to be an entire day. For many of us that seems utterly impossible. Sabbath moments, on the other hand are possible. In a few minutes each day we remember that we are human beings and not a human doings. 

In the Hebrew Union Prayer Book is this prayer for Welcoming Sabbath:

(Gates of Prayer, page 245)

Our noisy day has now descended with the sun beyond our sight.

In the silence of our praying place we close the door upon the hectic fears and joys, the accomplishments and anguish of the week we have left behind.

What was but moments ago the substance of our life has become memory; what we did must now be woven into what we are.

On this day we shall not do, but be.

We are to walk the path of our humanity, no longer ride unseeing through a world we do not touch and only vaguely sense.

No longer can we tear the world apart to make our fire.

On this day, heat and warmth and light must come from deep within ourselves.

In Sabbath time we set aside all that defines our value eyes of the world. We stop trying to earn our salvation through what we accomplish. It is then we approach the threshold of true Sabbath.

Rest, do nothing, simply be. Try it for ten minutes.  At first that is about as long as most of us can tolerate. Turn off the television, shut down the computer and sit in silence looking out the window or walking outside.  Get up a half hour earlier and just sit with your morning coffee and see where the aroma takes you.

Resolve to allow time each day to stop.  Say no to one more thing.  Do not add anything to your calendar without taking something away.  It’s an interesting spiritual discipline that brings us face to face with what is important.  If I am going to add this, is it important enough to let go of something else?  And underneath that practice will be the lingering questions; do I really believe that I am worth more than what I produce?  If I don’t accomplish anything am I really any good? 

Bracket your Sabbath moments with intention. For the next ten minutes, half hour, whatever, allow yourself to sit, read, or look out the windows. Try just being. End the allotted time with a simple prayer.  Some days it might be a prayer of thanks, other days a prayer of frustration.  Sitting and doing nothing doesn’t come naturally to most of us.  I use a singing bowl to begin and end Sabbath time, or a candle or some ritual that sets the time apart from other time.

Barbara Brown Taylor wrote, “…your day begins when you let God hold you, since you have no idea how to hold yourself-when you let God raise you up, when you consent to let yourself rest to show you get the point, since that is the last thing you would do if you were running the show yourself.” (An Altar in the World)

When you live in God, your day begins when you lose yourself long enough to let God find you, and when God finds you, to lose yourself again in praise.

Welcome the gift of Sabbath. It makes all of life holy.