This past Sunday I preached about Sabbath, twice in the morning in Tampa and again Sunday evening in St. Pete. The theme of Sabbath seems to be a complex topic to talk about today. Slowing down and savoring life is a counter-cultural activity.
One listener in Tampa suggested that listeners need time to unpack the ideas in my sermon. He suggested that maybe a gathering or a blog post would give people time to respond to the thoughts about Sabbath in the sermon. In our fast-paced culture, I confess that I find it a constant struggle to keep Sabbath.
Recently I heard someone refer to Sabbath keeping as enjoying 52 snow days a year. Those of us who grew up in the north know that snow days are often fun. With snow days, most times, schools and businesses close and children get to stay home and play in the snow. It has been suggested that keeping Sabbath is like getting a snow day.
I find that people who listen to a sermon on Sabbath respond with a mixture of "that sounds great" and "I can't do that." I think my friend in Tampa is right. We need time to talk about Sabbath keeping. We need a lot more conversation. This isn't something we can do on your own, rather, Sabbath keeping is a community activity.
How do we enjoy Sabbath rest? There are many helpful voices and authors to engage in this conversation about Sabbath keeping. But, we can't just read books on our own and listen to an occasional sermon on Sabbath keeping. We need ongoing conversations and support. We live in a time and place that is not Sabbath-friendly. But we need Sabbath because we need God. Snow days were enjoyable because they were a community activity and so are days of Sabbath.
