Ash Wednesday – February 17

Reflection – Kate Heichler

God says we can do it all in six days. Could God be right?

Ash Wednesday is traditionally a day of penitence. This year, I invite us to consider one sin that is at the heart of many others: Being too busy for God.

How many times when you ask, “How are you?” do you hear this: “I’m okay, but I’m just so busy. I’m doing too much.” I say this a lot. God has an answer to that: STOP! This Lent, you are invited to take on an unusual spiritual practice: Keeping a Sabbath day each week. That’s right. Each week, one whole day.

Sabbath-keeping is both an invitation and a command – an invitation most of us refuse, a command most of us ignore. I came to realize that my refusal to accept God’s invitation of rest lays bare the root of sin in me:

Greed – trying to get more than I need, whether it’s money, stuff or accomplishments;

Pride – believing I can do it all.

Lack of trust – believing I have to do it all, that God will not take care of what is needed.

Control – believing I’m in charge of my time on this earth.

God says differently. God says are days are like grass – flourishing one day, gone the next. That our days are in his hand. This day reminds us that in the end we are dust, and to dust we shall return. Our days belong to God, and God has ideas about how we should order our time.

God says: “Your time is mine to give and mine to take away. And of every week I give you, I want you to rest one day out of seven. Why? Because it’s good for you. Because it allows us to refresh our connection. Because it’s a radical act of trust that I will provide for you.”

The Sabbath comes from the very beginning of creation, and it is both a command and a gift from a loving God who knows best how God’s creatures thrive. Sabbath keeping teaches our children about life in balance. Keeping one day set apart, holy, sanctifies the whole week.

We don’t thrive on 24/7 frantic busy-ness, and yet that is how most of us live. We work and hustle and bustle, and maybe crash in front of the television and numb ourselves at the end of the day, but we don’t take the time we want for rest, for recharging, for nurturing relationships, for attentiveness, for just being. Sabbath is about Being, not Doing, and this Lent, I invite you to try that on like a new suit.

Is this a crazy idea? Absolutely. But if we do this together, we have a shot at making a change. Sabbath keeping is a radical response to a world in which time seems to enslave us.

To keep Sabbath is to hand control of our time and our lives back to God, to be ordered

in a way that is good and life-giving for us. Can we risk this for six weeks?

Scripture for the Day:

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." - Matthew 11:28-30