Sabbath Stories Continued

Thursday, October 19th, 2006

Debbie Headley:

I have really enjoyed hearing about our various thoughts re: the Sabbath so I
thought I would share a couple of my own.

I think of Sunday as a day of rest, renewal, and re-energizing for me as well as
a time set aside for worship. Most Sundays include my very important Sunday
afternoon nap. My kids learned at a very early age that you do NOT wake up mom
unless there is a lot of smoke or copious amounts of blood involved. Sunday
dinner is usually the same every week: ice cream and pop, followed by a few
games- my favorite is speed Scrabble!

My thoughts regarding worship have expanded over the last few years beyond
singing songs on Sunday at church. I find it very worshipful to work hard at
setting up meaningful activities for our corporate times of worship such as
putting together Christmas Shoe boxes filled with Christmas gifts for children
in 3rd world countries. (Yes, this is a thinly veiled announcement that we will
be doing this activity on Nov.12, but I really do find it to be full of meaning
and worship.) I also find a special type of worship in work that is in service
to others even if it is hauling bricks. (Not my own bricks- that is work!)

I’m looking forward to hearing from others,

Roy Gathercoal:

The Sabbath, huh? Is this the “Saturday Sabbath” or the “Sunday
Sabbath”? I still am puzzled about why the early church felt it
necessary to “sanctify” a particular day other than the
Sabbath–especially in that many of the early church, especially in
Jerusalem, still were active in their synagogues. I do know *when* it
was done, but continue to be perplexed as to *why*. Surely it couldn’t
be as simple as the Gentile Christians wanting to be sure they weren’t
mistaken for Jews?

This isn’t (entirely) a piece of idleness on my part. A large part of
the problem with being retired/disabled is that you never get a day off.
Like the farmers and ranchers, grad students and new parents, setting
apart a particular day to *not* do what you apparently *must* do is tough.

I also note with some sadness that, as in many parts of what we call
ordinary life, the brunt of the necessary work seems to fall upon the
backs of those lowest on the economic scale. Even among those employed
on the lower rungs of frequently have a “pecking order” in which the
more senior employees are less likely to “have to work” on Sunday. Seems
to be the case without regard to their religious affiliation. I’m sure
the same thing held in Jesus’ time. Cows then surely needed milking as
they do now! I don’t see any reference to these folks, unless it is the
point of Jesus’ retort to the Pharisees who complained that his
disciples were “working” by picking grain to eat as they walked
through/by the field. The field owners probably could honor the Sabbath
more faithfully if they knew that their servants were working hard at
home. . .

Kathleen has told me (I’m a native Oregonian and thus some of the East
coast practices are fascinating/amusing to me) that her grandfather
lived in Trenton and worked for the Jewish community on the Sabbath by
going from house to house and turning on the ovens. Apparently it wasn’t
work to cook as long as someone else tended the fire.

When I was growing up in our small logging/farming town the set of
practices that constituted “honoring the Sabbath” seemed a bit
arbitrary. I never was able to reconcile the notion that our
“professional Christians”–the pastors–by definition worked on the
Sabbath.

So what are we to make of things?

I’ve wrestled with this one since Jr. High. Starting out as a fine young
argumentative literalist, I was way too eager to point out the
inconsistencies that were/are all around me. (Strangely, I found there
was just too much work in noting others’ inconsistencies to get a moment
to even catch a glance in the mirror!) I will confess that on at least
one occasion I pulled out the “don’t you want me to obey God” argument
to try and weasel out of my chores one day of the week.” Thankfully God
has spared me the embarrassment of trying the “we need to honor the
Sabbath/Saturday because of the Old Testament and the Lord’s Day/Sunday
because of the New Testament.”

In grad school, as it appears was also the case with Kathleen although
we didn’t know one another at the time, I started to take seriously
keeping the Sabbath. For me that primarily meant a sorta kinda fast. I
would drink only broth and water or fruit juice on Sundays. I didn’t
really understand why this was so important to me at the time.

But I think I understand a bit better, now.

Several years ago I was delighted to hear an account about how an
understanding of displaced/refugee populations today just might help us
better understand the scriptures that arose out of the exiles of the
Israelites. Apparently it is so very important to many in these
populations living away from home to hang on tightly to some small bits
of culture and practice so that they can affirm one another’s commitment
to “living in a strange land” rather than assimilating. There at Purdue,
thousands of miles from home and without a “church home” it just might
have the thing that reminded myself that I was “a stranger in a strange
land.”

Perhaps, behind all of the little practices, as inconsistent and even
silly as they may be, we need to remind one another that we are still
“strangers living in a strange land.” Perhaps honoring the Sabbath is
important to our little community as well.

Roy

PS I remember with great fondness that for several years many of the
people in our small church (even people in the community referred to it
as “the white church” as opposed to “the brick church”) would go spend
Sunday afternoon/evening with another family. In retrospect, I believe
that practice was far more important to my own spiritual development
than was the “Sunday Singspiration” service it replaced. I still long
for that opportunity to know others in my family of God in their home
and in mine. It did a lot to help God get several important lessons
about the triviality of consistency pounded into my embarrassingly thick
head. . . and there were some great desserts!

 

 

 

Ten Commandment Series

One Response to “Sabbath Stories Continued”

  1. Scot Headley Says:
    October 20th, 2006 at 8:51 am

    Friends:
    to follow up on what Debbie has said, the real rule about not waking up Mom on Sunday in our house is, “for blood and smoke see Dad”. Mom can sleep through blood and smoke.
    Scot

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