Sabbath Sunday 1.31.21
Had we been meeting all together this Sunday, we’d have explored Luke 6:1-16, a story about Jesus upsetting religious fundamentalists by healing on the Sabbath. Jesus responds to their criticism with a question: “What kind of action suits the Sabbath best? Doing good or doing evil? Helping people or leaving them helpless?”
He was redirecting them from lives of rigid rule-keeping to lives grounded in Love. Sometimes Love leads us to act and other times it leads us to rest. Sometimes it leads us deeper into gathering in community and other times to withdraw into solitude. We have to pay attention or we just might miss the invitation.
Each 5th Sunday, The Well practices a Sunday Sabbath. It is a day for us to pause from the work and the rule of Sunday gatherings and to use that time to rest, reflect and/or to reconnect with ourselves, with creation, with God. It is a way for us to pay attention.
I doubt you need guidance on how to spend this Sabbath Sunday, but just in case, here are a few ideas:
This weekend, we are hosting our first quarterly neighborhood clean up. We’ll be separate, but together in spirit as we choose a time over the weekend to walk the streets of our neighborhoods & pick up trash. Let yourself reflect on these questions: What kind of trash do you see most often? What does it make you think about in terms of how it got there, and the lives of those who may have left it? Is there a role for us beyond picking up trash?
Meditate. Use all or part of the scripture for today (Luke 6:1-16), use the Insight Timer app for meditation or re-visit this Sabbath meditation.
Reconnect with someone in our community who’s been on your mind. Plan a socially distanced outdoor meet-up, phone call, or Zoom conversation.
Wander. Go for a walk. Enjoy the beauty of creation.
Consider your own relationship with sabbath rest as a spiritual practice. I love these words by Barbara Brown Taylor: “At least one day in every seven, pull off the road and park the car in the garage. Close the door to the toolshed and turn off the computer. Stay home, not because you are sick but because you are well. Talk someone you love into being well with you. Take a nap, a walk, and hour for lunch. Test the premise that you are worth more than you can produce – that even if you spent one whole day of being good for nothing you would still be precious in God’s sight.”
Read poetry, play, go bike riding. Wonder, wander, delight in something.
Whatever you do or don’t do, know that you are loved & that we look forward to being back together next Sunday.