Daily Devotion September 3, 2014 John 9:16 “Some of the Pharisees said, ‘This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.’” Jesus was forever getting into trouble over the observance of stuff, the observance of the Sabbath being one of them. It seems that Jesus was bound and determined to take care of folk even if it fell on the sabbath. You remember the creation story, the first one? The one where everything was put together in six days, then on the seventh God “rested” as if God needed to rest. But that’s what the book says happened and that day was to be a day of rest for humans as well, we are usually in need of rest. At the time of Jesus, sabbath was a day of the week. When we consider the idea of sabbath it tends to be a day for us as well, most would say Sunday but it is not that for everybody. I have just begun to read a magazine article about sabbath and sabbath keeping. The magazine is from the Presbyterian Seminary in Austin. The writer is a professor there and it is about inviting students into the practice of spiritual disciplines. I haven’t read the entire article but I do have a thought or two about sabbath keeping, or the lack thereof. I think that we need to stop thinking of sabbath as a “day” and begin to see it as a mindset. Sabbath is supposed to be about rest and refreshment and time alone with God. But if you look around and pay attention one “day” looks pretty much like any other day. If we look closely at the stories of Jesus we find that he would on occasion go “into a deserted place” as it says in Luke 4:42. I believe that Jesus was seeking some “sabbath time” when he would go, or attempt to go, off by himself to pray. We need to remember that the idea of sabbath was not meant to be a controlling idea but one of liberation and rest. In Mark 2:27 Jesus says that the sabbath was made for man and not the other way around. If someone needed to be made whole, they needed to be made whole regardless of the day of the week. The same can be said for the promised rest of the sabbath. Finding sabbath time is a spiritual disciple that takes some work and planning. In the planning for sabbath we have to remember that holy interruptions will most likely take place. Remember the “deserted place” from Luke? That passage also tells us that there was a crowd of folk out looking for Jesus and they found him. It has been my experience that holy interruptions are part and parcel of keeping sabbath, it doesn’t seem to matter how far away you try and go. Seek out your time of sabbath. Be in touch and communion with God. Experience the freeing nature of that spiritual discipline. But never shut out the presence of the Holy Spirit, who comes to us through the experience holy interruptions. Peace, Fr. Reid
Posted on: Wed, 03 Sep 2014 14:53:38 +0000