Accountability is what I need to maintain my Sabbath Keeping ritual. I have been neglecting my commitment to the team and to myself over the last month. It is so easy to slip away from what our hearts truly desire, a place where space and time are not in jeopardy of being abused in order that they fit into the profit and productivity of our days.
I have been reading the book, The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel, and have been moved by the practice of the six days prior to the Sabbath day being a pilgrimage towards our Sabbath practice on the Seventh day. So often we try to cram into our week one hour at church, making it fit our sense of time and space. In this cramming, we abuse ourselves and the purpose of the Sabbath is lost - how are we able to see the holy in ourselves, if we cannot see the holy in the time and space that surrounds our everyday life.
And so, I call to the youth and young adults of my congregation to hold me accountable for my own Sabbath time, I have invited them into my practice, thus pressuring myself to partake in this experience fully. They have been invited to read the blog posts through personal letters and an invitation in the church newsletter.
Last night, I went to a speaker series on the future of Mississauga, a city next to Toronto. My true reason for attending the evening was that Justin Trudeau was the keynote speaker. Ben, one of my youth, and I sat listening to the wise words of this young Canadian, and it was not long before his environmental focus shifted towards the idea of a mishapped view of time and space. It felt as if he too had read my Sabbath book and I agained realized how desperate the world is, its people, its waterways, its forest and animals, the air, the birds - all of creation is longing for a Sabbath time.
This is hard work, but when is important work easy? I again look forward to Friday as my Sabbath day!
Peace
Michael
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2 comments:
michael, i thought that was so well put...all of what you wrote. Put a lot of stuff in perspective for me, especially the space and time stuff. Made sense within my struggle with Sabbath. thanks for your insights.
Hey Michael,
Thank you so much for putting this out there. I know that with all of the busy-ness of moving and getting set up in my new job, that I have definitely struggled with making time for sabbath-keeping. I'm still working on how to make the time, but like you, I'm definitely looking forward to my next time of sabbath.
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