Our creation myth tells us that God make the land and the sea, the night and the day, the stars and the planets, the plants and the animals, and then humans. Whew! It’s no wonder God needed a day of rest after all of that! Our story tells us that for one whole day, after everything was made, God rested. God did no work. God let creation carry on for one day.
The command is then given to humans to have one day of rest per week. One day out of seven humans are to do no work. We are to let the world carry on without our work for one day.
When is the last time you observed a Sabbath day? I know that for me, it has been a very long stretch. One day. With no work. No phone. No TV. No shopping in store or on line. No email. No Facebook. No errands. No cleaning. No paying bills. No mowing. No sweeping. One whole day.
In today’s world we see many the problems with this model. The world is different now. It is not practical. Patients in hospitals still need to be tended. Kids have activities. Elders need to be cared for. Our property and possessions need to be maintained. Our jobs take so much of our time we need to take care of other things when we are not at work.
Sabbath? A day of rest? One whole day a week? No, it’s not impossible. And, no, it’s not punishment. It is care. It is re-creation. We are called to be co-creators with God building the realm of justice and peace for all. It’s a taxing job. If God needs rest, then so do we. Lest we think we’re greater than God.
Our foundation myth tells us that the world could manage for one day without God; without the Creator, without the one keeping the planets in their courses. One day in seven. May Sabbath time be part of our Lenten discipline so that we can be faithful to our partnership with God.
Lectionary readings for today:
Psalm 51:1-12
Isaiah 30:15-18
Hebrews 4:1-13
Prayer: May we have the humility to rest. Amen.
(Ecclesiastes 3:1, 5)
Giver of the blessings of light
and the grace of darkness,
who dusts Tokyo and Washington
in cherry blossoms,
but sings autumn wind to Argentina,
Australia, South Africa,
make such an equinox,
that I cherish in equal measure
the day and the night,
growing things and those
that wither away,
the New Zealand prophecy of chill
and Canadian sun
that stirs the waking bees,
the white fur of shoeshoe hares
and the morning song
of returning birds.
Help me most
with balance of the heart —
work and play,
rest and rising and rest again,
family and friends
and needs of God’s children far away,
the walls in our world desperately
wanting my fingers
to cast away the stones,
and new foundations
that call to me to a slow patient
gathering together,
the bending-tending of my body,
fertilization of my mind,
and the spirit’s time
for every purpose under heaven.
amen. -Maren Tirabassi, on Ecclesiastes
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