Sabbath Yes
The Second Sunday after Pentecost
June 3, 2018
For the longest time I thought, that although I was Christian, that I was also partly Jewish. I thought that because I went to the Jewish Community Center Pre-School and we lived in a Jewish community on the East Side of Providence RI, right around the corner from the synagogue. My best friends had last names like Davis, Feldman, Shammas, and Foreman. When we shopped at our local Jewish deli, the people behind the counter serving up lox, and cream cheese, would tease my father, who was an Episcopal priest that his daughter, me, couldn’t be anything but Jewish. After all my first name means princess in Hebrew, and my last name, Robbins, was arguably an Anglicization of Rabinowitz.
Today, our lectionary lessons point to the importance of Sabbath – one of the important tenets that is enshrined in the Ten Commandments – and handed down to us Christians from our Jewish forebears. I preached about Sabbath a few months ago – highlighting the importance of rest for helping us reconnect with God and with one another – citing the example of William Wilberforce, the British Member of Parliament in the 19th c., who became aware of his call to be an abolitionist during a Sabbath stroll.
And today we revisit the Sabbath once again. As a clergy person I have always struggled with how that teaching applies when you “work” like many people do in this country on a Sunday. And besides those who have to work on Sundays, there are also young parents who are taking care of their children, taking children to sports, and birthday parties. And there are numerous people who work as hard at home on the weekend as they do during the week – taking care of spouses or parents or neighbors. The Sabbath may seem like a day that is designated for everything but rest.
So with this tension in mind, what can we do to reclaim the Sabbath? When Jesus talks about the Sabbath in our gospel lesson from Mark that we heard today, he says, and I am using a slightly different translation of the Bible – The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath (Mark 2:27). The whole point of the Sabbath is not to be punitive and to be boring; to the contrary, the purpose is to help us reconnect to the source of our being, to reconnect to the people who mean the most to us. The Sabbath is to reclaim life, the life in abundance that Jesus was said to have given us in his promise that we read in John 10:10. The Sabbath is to reclaim all those things that bring you joy, and energy and gratitude.
So how do we do that? I was asking a rabbi friend of mine what useful thing she can tell me about the Sabbath. And she said that one way of looking at Sabbath is to think of it as time you set aside for any spiritual practice – and a spiritual practice can be anything that one does with care and devotion. She said that she encouraged people who are trying to set aside Sabbath time to first of all take a piece of paper. And draw a line down the center of it and write yes on one side, and no on the other. On the no side, write down all those things that drain you, or squelch life. And then on the other side, write down things that bring you life – things that connect you to your family, your community and to God. That is what the Gospel lesson is about – it’s not about strictly obeying restrictive laws and practices on the Sabbath. It is about dedicating the Sabbath to life and the regenerating of life but replenishing all that feeds us in body, soul, spirit, and mind. This practice reminds me of our collect for today: Put away from us, we entreat you, all hurtful things, and give us those things which are profitable for us.
So let’s try that. On your service sheet there are two post-it notes. On the first answer the question “What brings you away from abundant life? What are hurtful things to minimize?” And on the second sheet answer “What gives you life? What is profitable to your soul?”[1]
And then my rabbi friend suggests to start off with Sabbath baby steps. For 20 minutes this weekend could you put your phone in another room? For 20 minutes do not answer email? For 20 minutes do not complain or try not to judge. For 20 minutes call someone you have been meaning to connect to for such a very long time. And if you can do that, add 10 or 20 more minutes next week. And see where it leads you.
At the beginning of this program year I decided that I was being a hypocrite when I was recommending the Sabbath. And so I decided, as far as I was able, I would keep some sort of Sabbath. And I started thinking about my childhood friends and my experience of Judaism, and it occurred to me that my Sabbath could be the Jewish Sabbath – sun down on Friday to sun down on Saturday (that is when there is not a confirmation, Applefest, diocesan conventions, etc.,). I would choose more things from the yes list, and fewer things from my no list.
So maybe this summer when I hope that you do get some sort of break, that you can take time for your Sabbath. Choose more things from your yes list, and fewer from your no list. And maybe also think, how can you bring the Sabbath to someone else who is in need of reconnecting to others and to God.
[1] For no we had:
food shopping (very popular ‘no’), negative thoughts, cleaning (also very popular ‘no’), laundry, complaining, detractors, negativity, sleeping in, paperwork, running errands, negative self-thoughts, paying bills, catching up on e-mail, house cleaning, work-work that can wait, fighting with family members, stress from work, fighting/arguing (a youth contribution), commuting, thinking about work, household chores, making big decisions, thinking about Monday, staying away from boring and whining people, cooking, gardening, and filing.
For yes we had:
reading, music, walking, biking, family dinners, “my wife, my wife, my wife”, physical rest, spending time outdoors, spending time with family, cook, rest, positive attitude, helping others when possible, pray, go to church family, sunset/sunrise, garden, birds, pets, quiet, slowing down, not work, praise God, be nice to people, quiet walks, sitting by the ocean, attending church, walks, healthy activities, Eucharist, rest, worship, golf, outdoor activity, walking cat in stroller, family games, movie night, walking in the woods with the god, creating meals, caring for yard and garden, getting together with friends and family, being in nature, helping someone, calling friends and family, friendship, exercise, meditation, quiet time, pure leisure and relaxation, people that make me laugh, sing, Sunday Times, calling my kids, and do not worry about tomorrow.
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