Archives for 2007

We are finite beings – God destines us for eternity (infinity). It is fully in our nature to hunker down in our finitude. This is our natural inclination. It takes work (and practice) to open our selves to infinity – it runs counter to our finitude.

Abraham Joshua Heschal reminds us that Sabbath is like a window [through which] we perceive the presence of the eternity that is planted within us. Sabbath reconnects us with eternity which unblunts our awareness of infinity and God. Sabbath is when our lives intersect the Divine. We glimpse the eternity that we are predestined for.

Since we are finite this is an ongoing process and requires a continually coming -regular Sabbath practice – in order to maintain the depth and connection.

Some thoughts from C.S. Lewis in his The Screwtape Letters:

The humans live in time, but [God] destines them to eternity. He therefore, I believe, wants them to attend chiefly to two things, to eternity itself and to the point of time which they call the Present. For the Present is the point at which time touches eternity. Of the present moment, and of it only, humans have an experience analogous to the experience which [God] has of reality as a whole; in it alone freedom and actuality are offered them. He would therefore have them continually concerned either with eternity (which means being concerned with Him) or with the Present – either meditating on their eternal union with, or separation from, Himself, or else obeying the present voice of conscience, bearing the present cross, receiving the present grace, giving thanks for the present pleasure.

The man can neither make, nor retain, one moment of time; it all comes to him by pure gift; he might as well regard the sun and moon as his chattels.

We have trained them to think of the future as a promised land which favored heroes attain – not as something which everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.

But he would withdraw to deserted places and pray..  ~Luke 5:16

The Trappist monk and author Thomas Merton once wrote, “There is a pervasive form of contemporary violence and that is activism and overwork.” The vast majority of us are formed to rush incessantly, without pausing between one activity and the next. We seldom give ourselves time to reflect on the lives that we live. And we seldom allow ourselves to be still.

Going against this dominant pattern is not easy. And yet Jesus himself withdraws from the crowds and the press of needs. Luke tells us that Jesus would go off by himself and pray. He had a rhythm of work and rest, involvement and disengagement.

Jesus, raised as a Jew, would have lived each week in the expectation of Sabbath rest. He would have come to Friday night knowing that for 24 hours all work would be put aside. He would have been brought up welcoming the Sabbath as the sun set, and wishing ‘Shabbat shalom’ (Sabbath peace) to those gathered for Friday night observance.

If we are to practice resurrection, if we are to be an Easter people, it behooves us to remember that we are created for Sabbath. We are created for time without noise, without work, without incessant demand. We are created to embody humane rhythms of work and rest, activity and restoring sleep.

In those spaces of quiet and rest, the God who gifts us with an empty tomb will have a moment to get our attention, to replenish our weary bodies and souls, to quicken our imaginations, to tend our wounds. Then, and only then, will we be ready to be sent out, to do the work we have been given to do.

Gracious Christ, may I hear your invitation to withdraw, rest and pray. May I not fall into the habit of overwork. May I remember that in resting, I come to know your restoring grace. Amen.

Mary C. Earle, Posted on Explore Faith, Signposts 4/27/07