THE ORIGINAL CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
Eternity’s Day
Blessed Friends,
July 4th is upon us, and we are headed into deep summer. We have already experienced heat waves and for sure, I hope you have splashed in the waves of your favorite lake, shoreline, and pool. Remember when we were kids? Summer days just seemed like an eternity of fun.
Last month I wrote about creative ways to engage the Sabbath day. What we do on the Sabbath day, whether we seek to be in worship with the Lord, or to recreate in God’s creation, or to serve others to soothe souls and nurture new life are all important spiritual activities.
The Hebrew term “Shabbat” is so close to describing God that it is seen as a name for “The Holy One.” In English we translate “Sabbath” as “to cease, to end, to rest.” We rest from our labors, and we take rest in the presence of God. Sabbath asks us to take time to be holy.
The two candles that are lit on the Sabbath are called “Zakhor” or “Remember” and “Shamor” to “Observe.” When we rest from our usual toil and intentionally seek our relationship with God through the Spirit we are called to remember and to observe.
A Sabbath rest is to remember that God made the world. We have gotten very good at believing that if we are not busy working that somehow the world will cease to come into being. Genesis tells us that eternity itself created a Seventh Day. The Creator stops to observe all is “good.”
A prayer from the Sabbath service goes like this: “Beauty of grandeur, a crown of victory, a day of rest and holiness…a rest in love and generosity, a true and genuine rest, a rest that yields peace and serenity, tranquility and security, a perfect rest with which You, God, are pleased.”
On Sabbath days I remember my childhood church and the ways I was raised to experience God as very present in my daily life. By observing the weekly rituals of worship, prayer, fellowship, and eating together, community is created, and we feel a deep sense of belonging.
In a mystical sense, eternity is far beyond our comprehension of time and space. The Holy Scriptures tell us that eternity created a day just for itself. Wonder. Delight. Rest. Belonging. Peace. Restoration. Healing. Breathing. Eating. Sleeping.
Our Spirit Life challenge is this: we are so good at giving up the day to be busy doing what we are to be busy with. God invites us to enter a Sabbath rest. We can envision a new way of being. When we are so busy “Crazy-making” can be turned into “Peace-making.”
May God bless us to enter into days of Sabbath rest, remember, observe, a holy peace. Amen.