Sabbath

Last week, I listened to a sermon by Ruth Haley Barton called "Longing for Rest." It has really given me a lot to think about this week. She talks about how God made us to need a Sabbath, but in today's world, we don't often slow down even for one evening, let alone a whole day. It runs seriously counter to our culture to take a day where I can say "I didn't do anything today," and not feel guilty about that.

She gave some guidelines for keeping the Sabbath. She said the day is for rest, worship, and delight. I found that interesting. She basically said that defining "work" is really up to each individual or family. The example she gave is yard work. Some people find that to be work and shouldn't do it on the Sabbath. Other people find that digging in the dirt and working with plants feeds their soul and so it is a form of rest and connecting with God's creation.

I have spent the week thinking about what that means for me. I'm still not sure. I think starting to keep the Sabbath will be a very hard thing to do. For me, I like to spend Saturday resting since I am so tired from teaching all week. However, I have found that when I have papers to grade over the weekend, it kind of feels like they are hanging over my head all weekend, and I really can't stop thinking about them. Perhaps a better plan would be to spend Friday night finishing up my work from the week, Saturday doing the "work" that is different from my weekday work, and then have Sunday to devote to rest, worship, and delight.