Monday, March 28, 2022
Rest as obedience pt 1
An excerpt from Leviticus 23:26-41 (NRSV)
It shall be to you a sabbath of complete rest, and you shall deny yourselves; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening you shall keep your sabbath.
Reflection from Rosalind Camardella,
St. Simon’s Episcopal Church:
SABBATH. A key word in today’ scripture reading. And although the reference in Leviticus can sound pretty prescriptive, even legalistic, I suspect it is anything but. Rather than read it as an uncompromising command, see it as invitational, the way God always relates with us. This “invitation” reflects Holy Wisdom, God’s understanding that we need time to step back from life’s obligations, whether work or distractions or obsessions, in order to step into...more accurately, to recall... that we never need to put ourselves in God’s presence, but simply remember that we are always there. To do this, we need to look at time through God’s eyes, to see time as Karios (God’s time) not Chronos (clock time.) We need to experience time not as linear, but as wholly encompassing, really as time out-of-time, the eternal NOW. Then we can enter into the sacred space called Sabbath; a space of rest, reflection and prayer; a space of play, connection and deep joy.
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel says: “Judaism is a religion of time aiming at the sanctification of time...[teaching us] to be attached to holiness in time.” But having enough time is the dilemma of our age, a dilemma that can lead to frustration. We long for a deeper, intimate connection with God, but struggle to find a way, especially when invited to devote an entire day from sunset to sunset! So, how to keep Sabbath? Perhaps by reimagining it in two ways. First, many of us try to regularly participate in liturgy. That is a Sabbath Sunday ritual of worship that grounds our life and whose grace sustains us throughout the week. As we leave church (or our Zoom boxes!) we can carry a line from the scripture or a word from the sermon that settles in our heart, sustains us and deepens our communion with Sacred Presence all week long.
Secondly, minister Donna Schaper encourages us to ponder the way life intersects with Sabbath: “Sabbath is a way of living, not a thing to have or a list to complete. By observing it we become people who both work and rest and who know why, when and how we do either. We also recognize the occasions in which we do both at the same time.” Ah! So...Sabbath can also be found on a Wednesday as we bathe our children or on a Friday walk in the autumn woods or by gathering friends around our family table,or pausing to ponder the words in a book we are holding. Perhaps keeping Sabbath requires us to cultivate an awareness of stepping onto Holy Ground often in unexpected ways and that recognition compels us to take off our “shoes.” If we pay attention, if we consciously open to the abiding presence of our God-with-us, we become aware (often in a radiant rush of recognition!) of the sacred ordinary of our daily lives and realize there are many ways to “keep” Sabbath, to touch the Holy Mystery we know as God. May our longing for God and our desire to truly keep Sabbath, be encouraged by Fr Kenneth Grabbner’s words: “What you see of God today depends on how careful you are when you look.”Sabbath blessings...and careful looking...to us all.
For further study and prayer, the readings assigned for today are:
Psalm 53; Leviticus 23:26-41; Revelation 19:1-8
MUSIC:
“O Rest in the Lord”
from Mendelssohn’s Elijah,
sung by boy soprano David Wigram
O rest in the Lord, wait patiently for him,
and he shall give thee thy heart’s desires.