  Spiritual
This week: The Importance of Sabbath Time Edited by: Sophy  
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Hi, I'm Sophy ~ your editor for this edition of the Spiritual Newsletter. In this issue we'll talk about the important spiritual practice of Sabbath taking.
The Rev. Scotty McLennan, author of the book Finding Your Religion, compares humanity's innate need for spiritual searching to climbing a mountain. In his view, we are all endeavoring to climb the same figurative mountain in our search for the divine, we just may take different ways to get there. In other words, there is one "God," but many paths. I honor whatever path or paths you have chosen to climb that mountain in your quest for the Sacred.  |
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SABBATH
Genesis 2:1-2
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. And on the seventh day God finished the work, and rested on the seventh day from all the work. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work done in creation.
Exodus 20:8-11
Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy. For six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work-you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and consecrated it.
Maya Angelou: Every person needs to take time away. Each of us needs to withdraw from the cares which will not withdraw from us. We need hours of aimless wandering for spates of time sitting on park benches observing the mysterious world of ants and a canopy of treetops. If we step away for a time, we are not, as many may think and some will accuse, being irresponsible, but rather we are preparing ourselves to more ably perform our duties and discharge our obligations.
Thomas Moore: For the soul, it is important to be taken out of the rush of practical life for the contemplation of timeless and eternal realities.
Though the foundation of Sabbath is rooted in the Hebrew word sabbat and the biblical traditions surrounding it, taking sabbath time away for rest, relaxation, and re-creation are important aspects of any healthy spiritual journey.
Sabbath is a central spiritual concept which essentially means "stop." According to the Hebrew creation story, as God rested from the work of creation, God also commands that creation itself stop working and rest as part of the regular routine of life. To that end, the emphasis of Sabbath is on playfulness and rest as part of the rhythm-keeping of life intended to refresh and renew all of creation, because to achieve peak performance in work and even in life itself, we all need a good rhythm of work, rest and play. The biblical gift of Sabbath, though rarely claimed or realized, especially in our busy lives, is a time of re-creation, of creating anew, a break from the routine so that we can rest, grow, and heal.
Whether it's one day a week, a few hours each day, or even just a few minutes, being able to step away and take a break is not only good for our spiritual nourishment, but also for our physical well being. In fact, as Wayne Mueller writes in his book, Sabbath, "If we do not allow for a rhythm of rest in our overly busy lives, illness becomes our Sabbath - our pneumonia, our cancer, our heart attack, our accidents create Sabbath for us. In my relationships with people suffering with cancer, AIDS, and other life-threatening illness, I am always struck by the mixture of sadness and relief they experience when illness interrupts their overly busy lives."
The tradition of Sabbatical leave for clergy is clearly based on the concept of Sabbath, and many churches provide for a time of renewal, rest, and re-creation for a few months every five to seven years for their pastors. But of course clergy are not the only ones who benefit from saying "stop" and taking time off. We all benefit from it, whether it's for 20 minutes during the day, a whole week, or being blessed with a couple of months away from the routines of life - saying "stop!" and taking time away to breathe and recreate ought to be part of everyone's spiritual practice.
I just returned from a week of Sabbath time myself - what others might call vacation. Mr. Sophy, Daisy our Labrador, and I returned to a cabin on a great lake we visited for the first time last year, which is about 8 hours from our home. I call it Sabbath time because we didn't plan to do much of anything while there, other than catch up on some much needed sleep and maybe some reading. Vacations are often over-planned and exhausting - we were determined this one wouldn't be. We would wake when we felt like it (or when Daisy needed to go out), eat when we were hungry, take a drive if/when we felt like seeing the fall leaves, and otherwise have an agenda-less week. And it worked - thanks mostly to the cool weather, rain and wind that kept us inside much of the time whether we wanted to be or not.
But the weather turned out to be a blessing, and helped us better keep to our "do nothing" plans. We sat by a mostly continuous wood fire in a stone fireplace, ate delicious Honey Crisp apples the size of softballs, listened to music, read books, napped, and otherwise didn't do much of anything except when Daisy needed our attention or some play time of her own (she didn't care as much for the reading and music, though she did enjoy chewing on firewood). Arriving home we feel refreshed and renewed, our time of re-creation and recreation. But now that we are home, the attention to Sabbath time will not end. We've been home 24 hours, and already once today I took a 10 minute break from my day to read a magazine and not attend to work or life, which, while not as refreshing as a whole week away, was certainly a great battery charger for me on a busy day of re-entry.
What about the rest of you? Do you take time for rest, relaxation, play, and re-creation? If so how? Please share your comments or writings with me to feature next month.
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Below you'll find some spiritual offerings from other WDC members. Please let the folks know if you read their piece by leaving a thoughtful comment or review.
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Here are some responses to my last newsletter "Spiritual Newsletter (September 19, 2012)" about listening:
From oill:
It is a good theory for us to change our mind. Actually, I was used to believing talking was more important than listening in the past because people did not understand you if we did not express ourselves.However, I have other thoughts after reading the passage. Thank you for your sharing.
Thank you for your sharing as well.
    
From Miss Neri  :
Beautifully wonderful!!
From Steve adding writing to ntbk. :
I hear you Sophy. Very fine newsletter once again. I love to listen when I'm in a crowd. Some think I'm being shy, what I am doing is listening for what I can pray for, or seeking a way to help others.
A passion of mine is the Sanctity of Human Life and the submitted item is in fact the very first item I published to this site. It is a double acrostic and addresses two very important topics. "Worthy IsThe Lamb Worthy AreThe Children"
Reviewed and let them know where I found them. Your choices are always loaded with good quality writing.
God bless you and keep you until next we meet in the halls of the WdC.
Copenator out!
Thanks so much for your kind words, and for sharing your poem.
From Quick-Quill  :
All through the Old Testament god instructed Israel to OH HEAR ... He carried that theme to the New Testament. In the following Newsletter Ghandi says something similar. We need to listen to what people say. Just this morning I was reading 9/18 Our daily Bread and the first paragraph had my pen in hand! I wrote a "sermon" on just that short piece about phones. I have a Pastor friend that works with me and I shared it. It wasn't long but it just flowed from that small example of a phone in a dark auditorium full of people. If we listen to our hearts, we could be a conduit to encourage and instruct others.
Powerful, thank you for sharing.
Thanks for all your comments - keep them coming! Until next time, Sophy
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Spiritual: October 17, 2012 Issue [#5311]
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