Comments for Julia

Sunday, May 16, 1999

Rev. Julia Jarvis

"Keeping the Sabbath Wholly"

Geneses 2:3Psalm 23Matthew 11:28-30

20 years ago I worked in the emergency room of a Seventh Day Adventist hospital. I quickly got to know several Seventh Day Adventists and became quite intrigued with the concept of the Sabbath which is central to the theology of Adventists. I loved their sense of rest and appreciation of nature. I soon joined up! My most favorite Sabbath memory was driving to the beach before sunrise, hiding behind the sand dunes, waiting and watching for the huge sea turtles to come up out of the ocean up towards the dunes where they dug holes and laid their eggs. Later we had breakfast on the beach as we watched the sun come up. It was a truly wonderful memory. Though I struggled with some of the Adventists theology, their way of honoring the Sabbath has always impressed me.

Last year I became the spiritual director for the Interfaith Families Project of the DC area. Once again a new interpretation of the Sabbath entered my life. One of our Jewish teachers observes the Sabbath and I have felt somewhat envious of his willingness and ability to participate in the Sabbath on a weekly basis.

What is it about the Sabbath that attracts me? Several things. For the past years I have been thinking about and reading up on simplicity. Several years ago both my husband and myself were working full time, plus we had small kids and a house to manage. I found myself going to the doctor due to stress-related illnesses and overall exhaustion. We were not alone. Studies show that stress is a rapid growing concern in the western world. Over 2/3's of office visits to physicians in the U.S. are for stress related illnesses. It is a major contributing factor, either directly or indirectly to coronary artery disease, cancer, respiratory disorders, accidental injuries, cirrhosis of the liver and suicide.

Personally I wanted to slow down, be healthier, consume less and play more with my family not only to be less stressed but in order to live more mindfully. So I quit my full-time job and, took on a part-time job so I could stay home more. These were big steps for me and the family. It meant we weren't as secure financially but we could still meet our basic financial needs. Now that I have gotten a taste of a more simple and less stressed lifestyle I find myself wanting an even deeper experience of rest and simplicity.

These learning’s have, in a way, led me to today’s sermon subject. However, when I began preparing for this sermon, I initially wanted to focus on resting versus stressing. I hadn't even thought of the Sabbath (which comes from the word shabbat meaning to cease or desist.) I learned one can’t get too far in the scriptures without bumping into the Sabbath while researching the word "rest".

So this morning I would like to share with you some of my thoughts about Sabbath. I want to first look at what the Sabbath is and its' historical importance, then, why has the Sabbath disappeared from most Protestant lifestyles, and finally how can we integrate the fourth commandment, honoring the Sabbath, back into our lives.

Tilden Edwards, from the Shalom Institute, in his book "Sabbath Time" talks about what Sabbath meant in the Hebrew scriptures. Sabbath was seen as a day of rest modeled first by God in the creation story when God blessed the seventh day and stopped working. Sabbath was also the day when Israel celebrated its freedom from their liberation of the Egyptian slavery. Deuteronomy 5:15 says...You shall remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your god brought you out with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath."

The Sabbath was also a sign of hope. Sabbath offered the Israelites a foretaste of heaven when they would lie back in God's arms and behold the glory of creation for all eternity. In this month's Christian Century, Episcopal priest Barbara Brown Taylor wrote an article on remembering the Sabbath. She tells a story about attending a funeral at an African American Baptist church. In the eulogy the preacher tried to comfort the congregation by telling them that the person they loved had gone on to that place where every day is Sunday. The central message is that the Sabbath is a time when we completely trust God to take care of us. We no longer depend on our own abilities. We rest in God's abilities.

Rabbi Abraham Heschel in his book, The Sabbath, talks about the Hebrew word menuha which means much more than rest. "Menuha means more than withdrawal from labor and exertion, more than freedom from toil, strain or activity of any kind...to the biblical mind menuha is the same as happiness and stillness...it is the state in which there is no strife and no fighting, no fear and no distrust. The essence of good life is menuha. The writer of Psalm 23 is talking about menuha. In the ancient world, kings were known as shepherds of their people who took care of their basic needs. The psalmist states that God is his shepherd--God takes care of his needs. And because God does this--we as God's sheep can lie down in green pastures because we are fed. We can be led beside the waters because our thirst has been quenched. Finally we can be safely led down the right paths away from danger because God protects us. The Sabbath is a time when we can go to God to be restored and renewed.

Sounds pretty great. But we no longer seem to live in a culture where the Sabbath is honored. Like many of you, I grew up with Sunday blue laws. Hardly anything was open on Sundays except for hospitals and churches. One knew you had to get all your food/gas and necessities on Saturday to prepare for rest on Sunday. As a child I never really appreciated these laws. They were sometimes an impediment--especially when I wanted to go buy some candy or when we needed some milk. But what I did notice about it was how quiet

everything seemed on Sunday. People poured into parks with their families after church and around sunset everything seemed to stop.

Now one can't really tell the difference between Sunday and Monday. Most everything is open and everyone continues in their buying busyness mode. I am not advocating for Sunday blue laws again. Jesus said the Sabbath is made for us and not the other way around. Martin Luther said, "No day in itself is better than the other. Worship, Luther felt, should be daily, though one day set aside for community worship is important."

It is very difficult for us to fully implement a one-day Sabbath given the fast demanding pace of our lives. First of all we don't really have a community which supports Sabbath practice like the Adventists and Jewish communities. Secondly our lifestyles are often too complex to have a whole day set aside for Sabbath. I can't imagine a single parent of several children or a spouse taking care of her ailing loved one full-time, being able to really implement a whole day of Sabbath.

What I am proposing is we try to take "Sabbath moments". Moments to let go instead of taking on; to be instead of do; to be a Mary instead of a Martha; to have an open vision instead of a concentrated vision; to appreciate instead of manage; to float instead of swim; and to enjoy God instead of working with God. I know when I am able to just sit in front of a lit candle, breathe, be and listen for several minutes, it can change my whole day. I feel calmer and more connected to my center.

But maybe some of us can take a whole day to lie in God's arms. Barbara Brown Taylor talks of her own experience of observing the Sabbath. Here is her experience: "When I left parish ministry, Sundays were free and clear. There was no reason in the world why I could not observe Sabbath--except for that compulsion of mine to produce, perform and accomplish. Finally I decided to obey the fourth commandment. One day a week I would lie back in God's arms. I would live as if I were free. One day a week, all "shoulds", "oughts" and "musts" had no power over me. I did not worship the clock, the dollar or my superego. I worshiped God instead whom I trusted to run the world for one day without my help. Its effect was immediate. Relationships became more spacious. Prayer became more spacious. Time itself became more spacious. There was never enough time to get everything done. Observing the Sabbath help me to understand there never would be. There would only be enough time to live with as much gratitude as I could muster."

I titled my sermon "Keeping the Sabbath Wholly," because if we are to be whole people we need to take this menuha, this deep rest in God. We can weave in Sabbath moments by stopping and taking the time to be in God's presence. God is always there for us to find. My daughter Lauren loves to sing a line from a song--"stop, look and listen because you don't know what you're missing." Seems like as a church community we are missing a great gift if we don’t encourage and assist each other in implementing Sabbath moments and Sabbath days. The more we find rest in God the more we can share that rest with our children, our community and the world. And our world desperately needs God’s rest.

God’s invitation to us is clear spoken through the words of Jesus:

"Come unto me all you who are weary and I will give yourest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble of heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy. My burden is light." Amen.

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