ON KEEPING SABBATH TIME . . .

The Revd Deacon Polly M. Bowen

It’s September.  And with September comes a new flurry of activity.  Children return to school, and organizations that didn’t meet during the summer hold their first meeting of the “new year.”  In the church, new programs begin, the Church School opens with a bustle of excitement, potluck suppers are planned.  And for the Deacon, EFM begins.

EFM – Education for Ministry – a program designed to prepare laypersons to answer God’s call to ministry.  I have been mentoring EFM classes for nearly 20 years.  I have seen students come and go, seen graduates go on to excellent lay ministries (and a few ordained ministries), and the program never gets “old” for me. 

Each year I start a new first year class, and each year I revel in teaching the Biblical story of our beginnings.  I love to see the enthusiasm as my students delve into the two (yes, two) conflicting stories of Creation found in Genesis.  Some are drawn to the more primitive, anthropomorphic god of the Jahwist – the god who got down in the mud to do his creating, the god who breathed life into his creatures.  Others are more attracted to the grandeur of the Priestly writer’s account.  Like Hellenist scholars they like the idea of a god who speaks things into existence, and like Hebrew scholars, they like the progression of all creation to the climactic final recorded act of creation – Sabbath-time, or rest.

Sabbath-time is an important concept.  We tend to think of rest as a “refraining-from” activity – the summer lull in our usual frenzied busy-ness – not an activity in itself.  I don’t believe this is God’s intent.  Rest is a vital, necessary force in our lives, a re-creating of ourselves to be the dynamic God-images we are meant to be.  Creative Sabbath-time (not to be confused with innovative Sunday liturgies) is an indispensable part of our on-going work as co-creators in a world crying out for renewal. 

“Send forth your spirit and we shall be created, and you will renew the face of the earth,” said the psalmist.  “We are a pilgrim people, and our journey is not only toward God, but with God and in God,” said my theology professor.

There is a connectedness between God and humankind, between Creation and Renewal, between journey and rest.  Rest is not an afterthought.  It’s not something we do because we are finite and imperfect and our bodies tend to wear out.  Intentional, creative rest is a part of God’s plan from the beginning, and we need to enter into it joyfully and without guilt.

This is a short article this month because the Deacon decided to take a nap.  Shhhhhhhh.)