The Nuts and Bolts

Inevitably, I knew we would face the how-to's of Sabbath.  It is not enough to just wake up on Sundays with a mind to be different from the other 6 days.  We need a plan.  We need guiding principles.  Today, I'd like to reflect on those.

Guiding Principle #1.  The Sabbath cannot be a different me.

I've been finding that the Sabbath is the highlight of my week, and rightly so.  But it is also becoming the distinguishable highlight of my holiness.  Not rightly so.  Of course on Sabbath it is easy to be loving, to be at peace, to hold my tongue from the wrathful things it can say, to silence my mind from the mean-spirited perpetual criticalness.  But what is that?  It means nothing.  After all, it is easy to avoid fighting when not on the battlefield.  But how I live the other 6 days is more important than how I live on one day called Sabbath!  Thank God, I'm coming to this place where I see how there is a disconnect between who I am on Sunday, and who I am the other days.  I'm not ok with this.  I'm sure those around me and Him whom I serve is not either.

I confess that I am condemning, of myself and others.  I confess that frequently I do not use the power of language to build others up, but rather to tear down.  I confess that fear consumes my heart and anxiety my mind.  I confess the terrifying paradox of insecurity and arrogance.

The Sabbath must be a different day from the rest of the week.  But I shouldn't be.  Oh hypocrisy!

Guiding Principle #2. A Sabbath mantra by which to live.

Cease from what is necessary.  Embrace that which gives life.  (Buchanan, The Rest of God)

There are many things to do on a Sabbath.  And many things not to.  How does one choose between those options?

I'm finding it appealing to live by the aforementioned mantra.

Do I have to do it?
Then no, don't do it.

Do I want to do it?

Then, yes do it.  And love it and laugh it and live it and linger it.

I've heard many accounts of the stifled, legalistic households of Sabbath, where people couldn't even turn on a light or take a walk.  I do not want Dave and I to become that.  After all, Sabbath was made for us, not us for it.  Thus, we should grasp at whatever gives the thumping heartbeat of life, and toss aside whatever steals the thrill of living in a moment.

Guiding Principle #3:  Waste time playing.

"Play is subversive.  It hints at a world beyond us.  It carriers a rumor of eternity, news from a kingdom where Chronos [the enslavement of time] and utility are no more welcome than death and Hades and the ancient serpent.  When we play, we nudge the border of forever"(Buchanan, The Rest of God).
"Maybe all the other virtues of childhood--trust, humility, simplicity, innocence, wonder--are not separate from a life of playfulness, but the fruit of it:  that apart from cartwheels and kite flying, leapfrog and hide and seek, snakes-and-ladders and digging for buried treasure, all those other things wither"(Buchanan, The Rest of God).

Our house has been awfully quiet the last couple of Sabbaths.  We gathered around 500 puzzle pieces while listening to Classical music.  We spend time on our couch reading and meditating to the tune of our gentle wind chimes.  We lay down and cuddle and nap in the middle of the day without guilt.  It's been good.

But it's been unbalanced.  We need some adreneline on a Sabbath...the stuff that makes our heart thump and our soul smile.  Climb some 14ers.  Ski.  Take a road trip.  Hike for the best picture spots.  Eat ice cream next to a babbling brook.  Play Twister.  Challenge at tennis.  Swim and lounge in a hot tub.  Laugh til our belly hurts.  Scream while dropping stories on a roller coaster.  Swing at the park.  Play.  Like little kids.

There is something...
so...
so...Sabbath about that.