In college, I had a roommate who worked very hard in a difficult major. She was always studying. I was always watching TV. This is probably why I made bad grades and she got a good job. (Sidenote: I've very recently realized that some of my casual words and jokes hurt her more than I thought they did. It's a lesson that people actually do care what I say about them, and that I should strive to be kinder. I feel really crummy about this.) Anyway, despite all the work she always had to do, even if there was an exam on Monday, this girl would take Sunday off. I didn't think this was legalistic; I admired it. The Sabbath is kind of a forgotten concept now that it's not a law. I had never met anyone who took the Sabbath so seriously.
Until I hung out with this other guy. He told me that he stopped going to his church because the congregation was more serious about football on Sundays than on taking the Sabbath seriously. I said, "But it's fun! It's resting!" And he was all, "NO. That's not what the Sabbath is for." We argued for a while after that because I always argue with him. Most of the time, he's right. He's around 80 years old, so he's got the wisdom of age. But I didn't leave the argument agreeing with him this time. Is it not about relaxation and fun? Do you have to spend that day studying the Bible or praying? Or is socializing with others fine? Do you think it matters which day you pick? I don't.
I think when you rest, you do what you want to do, not what you have to do or should do. I think you should do what restores you and gives you energy, rather than what drains you. It's a refilling time. For some people, that's painting or going for walks, even though for others that would absolutely be work. The most important thing to remember with the Sabbath concept is that the natural order of things is work, then rest. It's best not to ignore any of them. In a perfect world, I would take Sunday or Saturday off to just rest. But I'm in law school and I don't manage my study time as well as my friend did. I'm trying, but sometimes I just have to do work on a Sunday. Do you treat one day a week differently from the other days, for Sabbath purposes?
Media: I would like to add the Mumford and Sons album to my list of good spiritual songs. Except for the song with the F-word of course. That song is really good though. The lyrics are just not representative of what's on the rest of the album. (It seems that all my bridges have been burnt/But you say that's exactly how this grace thing works/It's not the long walk home that will change his heart/But the welcome I receive with the restart", "In these bodies we will live/In these bodies we will die/Where you invest your love/You invest your life/ … Awake my soul/For you were made to meet your maker" "Can you lie next to her/And give her your heart/Your heart, as well as your body/ … Your love, as well as your folly?" "But there will come a time you'll see no more tears/And love will not break your heart/But dismiss your fears") Holy moly, it's good. I also read "Not a Fan" by Kyle Idleman. It said some good, important stuff, but I think Francis Chan said it all better in "Crazy Love." Also, the reading level could accommodate your average 11-year-old, which is great for a lot of people but led to me not being as engaged as I might have been as a teen. Maybe I wasn't the book's audience. Still, for content, recommended.
Media: I would like to add the Mumford and Sons album to my list of good spiritual songs. Except for the song with the F-word of course. That song is really good though. The lyrics are just not representative of what's on the rest of the album. (It seems that all my bridges have been burnt/But you say that's exactly how this grace thing works/It's not the long walk home that will change his heart/But the welcome I receive with the restart", "In these bodies we will live/In these bodies we will die/Where you invest your love/You invest your life/ … Awake my soul/For you were made to meet your maker" "Can you lie next to her/And give her your heart/Your heart, as well as your body/ … Your love, as well as your folly?" "But there will come a time you'll see no more tears/And love will not break your heart/But dismiss your fears") Holy moly, it's good. I also read "Not a Fan" by Kyle Idleman. It said some good, important stuff, but I think Francis Chan said it all better in "Crazy Love." Also, the reading level could accommodate your average 11-year-old, which is great for a lot of people but led to me not being as engaged as I might have been as a teen. Maybe I wasn't the book's audience. Still, for content, recommended.
Ashes to ashes and dust to dust. So begins Lent. While Catholics are required by the Holy See not to eat meat on Friday I think that's getting off the hook way to easy, and instead I am giving up junk food. All real Catholics are masochists at heart :).
ReplyDeleteThe Sabbath (or, Shabbat in the original Hebrew) is an interesting concept, and requires a brief history lesson. Originally, the Sabbath began on Friday night and continued through Saturday evening. When Christianity started to make inroads into pagan lands (Rome, Greece, Egypt, etc) early Christian leaders saw the value of allowing pagans to continue to worship on Sunday even after they became Christian. So, today most believers attend church on Sunday.
My opinion: It really doesn't matter to me what day you call your Sabbath. I know some Catholics that attend Mass several times a week, but do I think that makes them more devout than me? In a word, no.
Today, the Gospel was, in part, Matthew 6:6: "But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.".
It might seem strange that a Catholic, who respects tradition and ritual, would come away with this belief, but I think we pay far too much attention to arbitrary signs of faith.
Jesus had it right. Come to Him not out of obligation, but out of love for our Lord and Savior. I think that if we do that every day we are truly honoring the real meaning of the Sabbath.
I like the way you brought more of the "Jesus thought" into this convo. He saw the Sabbath as created for the people, not people for the Sabbath, and thought that arbitrary "look at me" signs of faith were lame too (as shown by the Matthew verse you posted). I still think it's important to rest, but you're right about where the priorities would be.
DeleteAnd I always love the history lessons, haha