Tuesday in Holy Week, March 30

Scripture for the Day: Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.” – John 12:20-26

from Wendell Berry's A Timbered Choir, 1998

What hard travail God does in death!

He strives in sleep, in our despair,

And all flesh shudders underneath

The nightmare of His sepulcher.

The earth shakes, grinding its deep stone;

All night the cold wind heaves and pries;

Creation strains sinew and bone

Against the dark door where He lies.

The stem bend, pent in seed, grows straight

And stands. Pain breaks in song. Surprising

The merely dead, graves fill with light

Like opened eyes. He rests in rising.

Monday in Holy Week, March 29

Scripture for the Day: While Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head. But some were there who said to one another in anger, “Why was the ointment wasted in this way? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor.” And they scolded her. But Jesus said, “Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me. For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.” - Mark 14:3-9

Reflection – Kate Heichler

We have, for the past five weeks, been modeling something of this woman’s act of extravagant worship – we have been offering our time, the most precious commodity most of us possess.

Few things are more costly than giving a whole day to something or someone. In the spiritual practice of Sabbath-keeping, we offer God a whole day per week, empty, for God to fill.

The practical, earthbound voices in and around us might say, “Wouldn’t God rather we worked for those hours? Got something done? Made money so we could give more away? Produced something? Done volunteer work? Why was this time wasted in this way?”

But a voice in our spirit cries, ‘Yes! Break open the alabaster jar of precious minutes and hours and days and weeks and months and years… break it open and offer it all in worship to our Lord; pour it over his head and watch our precious time drip down his face.

For who gave us the time, but He, the Maker of all time, and the One in whom all time will end?

Palm Sunday – March 28 (The First Day… and the Eighth)

Song When I survey the wondrous Cross Isaac Watts/Folk Tune

When I survey the wondrous cross

On which the prince of glory died

My richest gain I count but loss

And pour contempt on all my pride

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast

Save in the death of Christ my God

All the vain things that charm me most

I sacrifice them to his blood

See from his head, his hands, his feet

Sorrow and love flow mingled down

Did ever such love and sorrow meet

Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine

That were a present far too small

Love so amazing, so divine

Demands my soul, my life, my all

Palm Sunday – March 28 (The First Day… and the Eighth)

Song: When I survey the wondrous Cross, Isaac Watts/Folk Tune

When I survey the wondrous cross

On which the Prince of glory died,

My richest gain I count but loss,

And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,

Save in the death of Christ my God!

All the vain things that charm me most,

I sacrifice them to His blood.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,

Sorrow and love flow mingled down!

Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,

Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine,

That were a present far too small;

Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Saturday, March 27

The meaning of the Sabbath is to celebrate time rather than space. Six days a week we live under the tyranny of things of space; on the Sabbath we try to become attuned to holiness in time. It is a day on which we are called upon to share in what is eternal in time, to turn from the results of creation to the mystery of creation, from the world of creation to the creation of the world.

– Abraham Joshua Heschel

Reflection – Ed Tucker

Early weekend mornings when I am in Stamford and not commuting to New York City, you will find me walking at the Cove. As day breaks I check on the tide, see if the sky in orange, observe what the geese, swans and other birds are doing and let my mind wander. This is when new ideas for my research program pop into my mind, when I get a more accurate and balanced understanding of what is important to me, my family and my friends, and when I plan for my biology lectures. Importantly, this is when epiphanies come to me. Everything becomes fine with me and the world. I then stretch, drive home and have breakfast while reading The Advocate. I highly recommend unstructured free time and invite you to join me any time of the year - 6:00 to 7:00 a.m at Cove Island Park.

Friday, March 26

Scripture for the Week:

‘Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.

- Philippians 4:4-8

Friday, March 26

Reflection –

In this scripture we are reminded to see the Lord at the “Helm of Life.”

Through the mystery of asking, seeking and praising, we are able to “Let God handle the matter at hand.”

In truth, our requests are already known by God, we are encouraged to speak up and feel comfortable, faithfully offering our concerns to the Lord with praise and thanksgiving. He is not surprised nor is any thing really kept from the Divine.

We are asked to offer, surrender our problem at hand, by asking for help and with praise! While we are waiting, we may not understand exactly what is happening, but in that moment of surrender and offering, the promise is written, “We are given the Peace of God that surpasses our mortal understanding.”

So, we may not understand why or how this peace and protection takes place, but we don’t have to. We just have to trust and have faith and release our prayers to Father God completely.

We are also advised to shift our attention from negative worry, towards a more conscious awareness of all the blessings of beauty, natures simplicity, harmony with loved ones and goodness the God continuously supplies.

Become aware of what surrounds you with the utmost gratitude. We can take a few quiet moments and meditate or contemplate the many times God has been there for us and the many breakthroughs and miracles taken place..

Whatever is great about my life, I give thanks. Everything I have is because of Grace. Everything I don’t have is also because of Gods Grace. I may never know what I was protected from because of Grace , or when I have been spared undue pain. Give God the Glory and keep looking upward and within, stay focused on the pureness of life.

Thursday, March 25

Scripture for the Week:

After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay many invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, ‘Do you want to be made well?’ The sick man answered him, ‘Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Stand up, take your mat and walk.’ At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.

Now that day was a sabbath… Therefore the Jewish leaders started persecuting Jesus, because he was doing such things on the sabbath. But Jesus answered them, ‘My Father is still working, and I also am working.’ For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the sabbath, but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God

. – John 5:1-9, 16-18

Who makes a clearing makes a work of art,

The true world’s Sabbath trees in festival

Around it. And the stepping stream, a part

Of Sabbath also, flows past, by its fall

Made musical, making the hillslope by

Its fall, and still at rest in falling, song

Rising. The field is made by hand and eye,

By daily work, by hope outreaching wrong,

And yet the Sabbath, parted, still must stay

In the dark musings of the soil no hand

May light, the great Life, broken, make its way

Along the stemmy footholds of the ant.

Bewildered in our timely dwelling place,

Where we arrive by work, we stay by grace.

- Wendell Berry, Sabbaths

North Point Press, 1987

Wednesday, March 24

Scripture for the Week:

The LORD is my shepherd,

I shall not be in want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,

he leads me beside quiet waters,

He restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness

for his name's sake.

Even though I walk through the valley

of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me;

your rod and your staff, comfort me.

You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and love will follow me

all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

– Psalm 23

Reflection –

One of my favorites Psalms, often heard at eulogies, is mysteriously full with life-affirming words if we look more closely.

Just imagine, Gods’ Shepherd, leading and beckoning us to take repose in Spirit. Realizing that we are welcome to experience calm waters instead of restlessness. Allowing ourselves at any given moment to take rest in Him.

To me this means “fully” the promise of restoration and wholeness. Even if we experience a “dark night of the soul” we are promised regeneration and comfort.

Fear does not have to consume us. Fear has no place any longer, because we are told that He is our comforter, showing us the path ahead.

Further blessings abound as we are anointed with fresh oil and with divine guidance led to rightful decisions and insights. Isn’t it wonderful to know we can be led and shown the path ahead for the highest best and good for all concerned?

God also wants us to know that we are promised a place of sanctuary in the midst of foes and hardships, we have a special reservation, seated at the table of life.

“Our cup runneth over” is the outpouring of blessings upon us! A reminder when the Heart is filled with Spirit, the Cup of Life overflows. Aren’t we fortunate to have goodness, mercy and abundance, not just for today, but for all the days of our lives.?

Tuesday, March 23

Reflection – Ed Happ

Before the scream

She sees the tail

of the mouse

already gone.

If scurrying could be rewound,

would she hear the little feet of time

that taps in her ears,

see the blur of the white under-belly

sweeping along the polished oak floors

in her life?

Will she slow it down

before the scream

and give thanks?

Sharon Olds recently said “Poetry, as in therapy, is about backing up the mouse that just ran into the hole in the wall.” Stop! What just happened? Roll-back the tape and do an instant replay in your mind. Write down what you saw. This is often my thought process in writing a poem. The most important word in the sequence, however, is not “write” …it’s “stop!”

When we pause, focus, stop the chatter, we are open to listening, to asking “what just happened?” The writing is then recording, like relating a dream after you woke up. That’s a kind of paying attention in reverse to what has just become “past” and a new openness to what may be coming around the corner.

– from an Advent sermon November 30, 2008

WEEK 5 : Being Still: Cultivating Attentiveness -- Monday, March 22

Scripture for the Week:

That day when evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion.

The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don't you care if we drown?”

He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

- Mark 4:35-40

Reflection –

After a full day of Jesus teaching parables to the multitudes, it was time to rest. Evening was approaching and he decided to be alone with his disciples instructing them to cross over to the other shore. The disciples surrounded him in the boat and there they sailed.

Undoubtedly, Jesus was silent and eventually went to sleep. Perhaps his lesson being taught that night was not a parable but a lesson of commanding words in total faith.

After the violent churning of waves and turbulent winds began, the disciples panicked, forgetting the lessons of the parables learned that day. They awoke Jesus stricken with terror and claimed, “He didn’t care about them!” After all, how could he be asleep when so many of their lives were in peril?

Now, I suspect Jesus knew what he was teaching them that night, perhaps in a different way than parables. Jesus woke from his slumber and stood up commanding nature with full power of the spoken word, “Be Still.” Then the winds ceased, the waters calmed and truly the disciples were amazed. That day they saw Faith and Power work in unison. The result of faith and the spoken word transformed nature, ;Gods powerful alchemy was at work. That day, the lesson might have been that or simply, “Only he who obeys, can command.”

Sunday, March 21 – Lent V (The First Day… and the Eighth)

To be in Your presence

To be in Your presence
To sit at Your feet,
Where Your love surrounds me,
And makes me complete.

This is my desire, O Lord,
This is my desire.
This is my desire, O Lord,
This is my desire.

To rest in Your presence,
Not rushing away;
To cherish each moment,
Here I would stay.

Noel Richards © 1991 Thankyou Music

Sabbath Poem VII (1982)

The clearing rests in song and shade.

It is a creature made

By old light held in soil and leaf,

By human joy and grief,

By human work,

Fidelity of sight and stroke,

By rain, by water on

The parent stone.

We join our work to Heaven's gift,

Our hope to what is left,

That field and woods at last agree

In an economy

Of widest worth.

High Heaven's Kingdom come on earth.

Imagine Paradise.

O Dust, arise!

- Wendell Berry (born 1934)

Saturday, March 20

The Lord is My Pace-Setter

The Lord is my pace setter … I shall not rush

He makes me stop for quiet intervals

He provides me with images of stillness which restore my serenity

He leads me in the way of efficiency through calmness of mind

and his guidance is peace

Even though I have a great many things to accomplish each day,

I will not fret, for his presence is here

His timelessness, his all-importance will keep me in balance

He prepares refreshment and renewal in the midst of my activity

by anointing my mind with his oils of tranquility

My cup of joyous energy overflows

Truly harmony and effectiveness shall be the fruits of my hours

For I shall walk in the Pace of my Lord

and dwell in his house for ever.

- Japanese version of Psalm 23

Friday, March 19

Reflection

I struggle with being still. I always have. Because it has been such a burden in my life I have had to perfect some ‘exercises’ that I do on a regular basis. It is due to these ‘exercises’ that I am able to attain some degree of stillness, peace and order in my life. Were it not for them my life, emotions and lack of balance would sometimes be unbearable. I know this is true because whenever I waver, whenever I forget and whenever I succumb to feeling self-sufficient, life in all its manifestations are quick to remind me. At those times I may feel like a hamster running on its exercise wheel, becoming exhausted and having nothing to show for my effort. I may see no way around a situation. I may become obsessed with all I have to do when measured against the energy and time with which to do it. Of course, demons work very well at night and that is often when I need to put into practice the affirmations of faith that I have committed to memory.

I would like to share some of them with you.

Here is a copy of ‘The Lord Is My Pace Setter’, a Japanese version of the 23^rd Psalm.

(See Saturday, March 20)

As a little girl my mother taught me a prayer that has been a mainstay in my life. It is:

The infinite love of God ever enfolds me bringing harmony, order and peace into my mind, body and affairs.

I have found that it covers everything I have ever worried about. Whether it is health, work, relationships, financial concerns or feelings of inferiority this prayer seems to hit the nail on the head for me. There have been many times that I substitute me/my and put in the name of a daughter, a friend, a relative, my husband, a grandchild, my job, my husband’s business or a world concern. It works with every apprehension I have ever encountered and it makes bearable the pain I experience when dealing with things I feel powerless to improve.

I also like words of wisdom, such as:

¨ Carefully choose what you nurse and rehearse.

¨ Magnify the problem—or magnify God. You can’t do both.

¨ The tiniest of coins, when held close to the eyes, can blot out the sun.

¨ Gratitude can change my attitude.

¨ Count your blessings—name them one by one.

¨ Sometimes we need to be in God’s PROTECTIVE CUSTODY.

¨ Use beads on a bracelet or necklace for counting blessings or for turning over worries—one by one.

¨ If Satan controls my thought life—he controls me.

¨ God can not mend a broken heart unless you give Him all the pieces.

To ponder and pray:

¨ When are you still?

¨ Name a time when you experienced the holy, the sacred, when you felt near to God.

¨ What are the enemies of stillness in your life?

Thursday, March 18

Scripture for the Week: As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” - Luke 10:38-42

Reflection – Peter Romersa

In this parable Martha was becoming frustrated by her sister, Mary, as Mary was sitting at Jesus' feet listening to him rather than taking part in the laborious dinner preparations that were being planned for the evening.

Surely we have felt during certain moments of busyness and haste while working with family members, or coworkers that maybe one person was doing more work than other people may have been doing. Maybe you've been frustrated that other people surely were not “pulling their own weight.” Or maybe you have been on the receiving end of such criticism.

Jesus’ lesson is clear. We need to take time out, not just for ourselves, but also to spend time with Jesus himself. Jesus recognizes the power of Sabbath. When you spend time with yourself, deep in prayer, mediation, and renewal, you also spend time with Jesus, the source of continuous peace, renewal, and rejuvenation for ever and ever.

To ponder and pray:

¨ How did you feel about that word “Stop?”

¨ What happens for you when you do slow down, or when you’re forced to stop?

¨ How do you define “rest?” What is restful for you?

¨ What most disturbs your rest?

Wednesday, March 17

Scripture for the Week:

For a thousand years in your sight

are like a day that has just gone by,

or like a watch in the night.

You sweep us away in the sleep of death;

they are like the new grass of the morning –

though in the morning it springs up new,

by evening it is dry and withered.

Teach us to number our days aright,

that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

- Psalm 90:4-6, 12

Reflection –

Isaiah 26:3 inspiration:

I lay all my cares upon You.

I lay all of my burdens down at your feet.

And any time that I don’t know what to do

I will cast all my cares upon You.

When the door between a dark room and a brightly lit room is opened darkness does not flood the lit room.

In my daily journal I often record the prayer that God will take over my thoughts, actions and priorities. I pray that God will sit in my driver’s seat and maneuver the vehicle I call my life. I pray that He will be the brakes, the accelerator and my GPS. I pray for the humility to allow Him to control me, my journey, my day and my schedule. I pray that He will allow me only to see straight ahead, like a horse with blinders on, so that I will not become distracted or discouraged.

I am always amazed at the change in my outlook and the how the road in front of me seems to smooth out when I allow Him to be in charge. At the end of many days I am truly astounded at how He has enabled me. At those times I wonder what gets into me at other times when I think I can go it alone, know better than He and want or need to be in control.

I also keep another journal in which I jot down 3-5 things I feel grateful for at the moment. It may be as simple as NOT having any pain, having the energy to put one foot in front of the other or having the ability to bathe myself. When I review it I give praise and thanks to the One who provides. This has proven to be beneficial before going to bed at night.

These are just a few ideas and affirmations that may help others to be still and cultivate attentiveness.

Tuesday, March 16

Sabbath Reflection

This is the Sabbath to-day. This is the day set apart by a benignant Creator for rest – for repose from the wearying toils of the week, and for calm and serious (Brown's dog has commenced to howl again – I wonder why Brown persists in keeping that dog chained up?) meditation upon those tremendous subjects pertaining to our future existence. How thankful we ought to be (There goes that rooster, now.) for this sweet respite; how fervently we ought to lift up our voice and (Confound that old hen – lays an egg every forty minutes, and then cackles until she lays the next one.) testify our gratitude. How sadly, how soothingly the music of that deep toned bell floats up from the distant church! How gratefully we murmur (Scat ! – that old gray tom-cat is always bully-ragging that other one –
got him down now, and digging the hair out of him by the handful.) thanksgiving for these Sabbath blessings. How lovely the day is! ("Buy a broom! buy a broom! ") How wild and beautiful the ("Golden Era 'n' Sund' Mercry, two for a bit apiece!") sun smites upon the tranquil ("Alta, Mon' Call, an' Merican Flag!") city! ("Po-ta-to-o-o-es, ten pounds for two bits – po-ta-to o-o-es, ten pounds for quart-va dollar!" )

- reprinted Mark Twain's San Francisco, edited by Bernard Taper
(McGraw Hill, 1963), pp. 199-200
Reflection –
Peter Romersa

“Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.” In this commandment, God prescribes people work for six days out of the week, but on the seventh day God proscribes any work to be performed by anyone. This is a special day out of the week that is reserved for quiet time, and no work should be done at all. God, as the final authority, even gives the prohibition of work to slaves and animals that work on the farm.
This advice just as timely today as it was back when in ancient times, when the world was beginning to form. Today we live in a twenty-four hour news cycle virtual reality world.
We are constantly being bombarded with the latest scandals from Hollywood celebrities to
high-profile superstar athletes. We need one day to take a break from Twitter, Facebook, a
nd Gmail: the scandals can live to wait another day. We need to take a break from all this information, so we can recharge our spiritual batteries and we can start the world anew the next day and be ready for any challenge that faces us during the week ahead.

Monday, March 15

Scripture for the Week: Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. – Genesis 2:1-3
Reflection – Paula Hanson

When Kate first mentioned the idea of Sabbath keeping, I pretty much tuned out – it seemed to be one of those ideas that could work for others but not for me. Yes, I know there are people who keep the Sabbath, but “Sabbath keeping in Fairfield County” seems like an oxymoron. Take a day to rest every week? You’re kidding, right?

As I started to look at Sabbath keeping, though, I was impressed with the long tradition of people who have kept it. For the spiritual descendants of Abraham – Jews, Christians, Muslims – time flows in seven-day cycles, and there is always a day to rest and reflect and worship. The lives of these peoples have not been simple or easy, and yet many of them have kept the Sabbath. Sometimes they had to really fight for it, for example, when anti-Christian leaders tried to weaken religious traditions by abolishing the seven-day week during the French Revolution. But the people valued the Sabbath idea enough to resist that change.

Why did our ancestors think that Sabbath keeping was so wonderful? For them, the Sabbath was not meant to be a day of relaxing, really, but rather a day to spend time thinking, meditating, praying, and worshipping. So it was intended to be productive time that produced “results” – guidance, security, peace, hope and other gifts from God. And I think that God offers us these gifts, and this experience, even today. As with many elements of the Christian life, we just have to choose to say “yes” to it – to stop doing and start being – and then see where it can take us.

Sunday – March 14 – Lent IV (The First Day… and the Eighth)

Holy as a Day is Spent

holy is the dish and drain

the soap and sink, and the cup and plate

and the warm wool socks, and the cold white tile

showerheads and good dry towels

and frying eggs sound like psalms

with bits of salt measured in my palm

it’s all a part of a sacrament

as holy as a day is spent

holy is the busy street

and cars that boom with passion’s beat

and the check out girl, counting change

and the hands that shook my hands today

and hymns of geese fly overhead

and spread their wings like their parents did

blessed be the dog, that runs in her sleep

to chase some wild and elusive thing

holy is the familiar room

and quiet moments in the afternoon

and folding sheets like folding hands

to pray as only laundry can

i’m letting go of all my fear

like autumn leaves made of earth and air

for the summer came and the summer went

as holy as a day is spent

holy is the place i stand

to give whatever small good i can

and the empty page, and the open book

redemption everywhere i look

unknowingly we slow our pace

in the shade of unexpected grace

and with grateful smiles and sad lament

as holy as a day is spent

and morning light sings “providence”

as holy as a day is spent

—Carrie Newcomer

Saturday, March 13

Suggestions for a Great Sabbath

• A great cup of coffee, with hot milk, in a great big mug, to savor it.
• ¨Breakfast with your favorite breakfast foods – make it, and then eat it in bed!
• ¨A hot bath, with fragrant bath oil and a candle or two –
• ¨And your cup of morning coffee/afternoon tea/evening wine?
• A facial massage – using fragrant oils or lotion; use your fingertips and start with your forehead and move out to the temples, repeat; down to the nose and out to the cheeks, repeat; around your mouth and chin and jaws, out to your ears and hairline – wherever t’s working! Finish by tapping your face lightly all over with your finger tips.
• Read in bed, as long as you want to.
• Write a real letter to a real friend on real stationery or a beautiful card.
• Or write a letter to yourself, or write in your journal.
• ¨Treat yourself to a great book, or a movie, in the house or out.
• ¨Take a long, slow walk, and take the time to notice the trees and flowers, to hear the birds chattering to each other, to see what wonders God has made. Take the time to notice what’s going on in your own heart, too.
• Prepare a wonderful meal for family or friends – if you like to cook;
• ¨If not, plan a wonderful meal out with family or friends!

(some suggestions taken from A Perfect Day, Ryland, Peters and Small)

What would you add to this list?

Friday, March 12

Reflection – Kate Heichler

Life Unplugged - What Happens When We Stop?

Friday is my Sabbath – when, that is, I manage to honor the day that has been given to me.

It is a challenge to take a day of non-productivity in our society – so many things conspire to trip you up. The mad dash to get things done by the night before that can be exhausting.

And then there’s the question of what to do, and what not to do.

I find that loneliness can be a big obstacle to Sabbath-keeping. It is generally a good idea not to turn on a computer or check email on the Sabbath – it too quickly leads us into our work/ productivity mode. But for many of us computers are also how we keep in touch with our social networks, through email, Facebook, checking links, reading news online. As a person who is single, I feel quite attached to the connectivity I experience through my computer.

And yet, the laptop is also where I work. And I seem unable to read and respond to some emails, and not to others. So there are a few things I’m trying–

1. to set up some social activity for the day set aside as my Sabbath, so I know there will be some human connection, and not just feline. Then maybe I can forego checking email for a day.

2. to use the discomfort of feeling “disconnected “to allow some feelings to float up that my incessant connectedness can distract me from.

3. and then to let that discomfort lead me into prayer, to open myself to the one essential connection in my life that is eternal, and could be most life-giving.

That is part of the wisdom of Sabbath – like fields that lie fallow, like trees that take on nutrients for new growth during their season of wintry bareness, we need to disconnect a little and live with more space and time than we’re used to, in order to be receptive to the nutrients God has for us.

Once, during a prayer time, I sensed Jesus saying, “Come, every day. Let me water your roots every day.” That’s what can happen in the unpluggedness of Sabbath – we can allow our spirits to be replenished by the Living Water; our thirsty souls revived.

Thursday, March 11

Scripture for the Week:

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:

to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of

the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?

Is it not to share your food with the hungry

and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—

when you see the naked, to clothe him,

and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

Then your light will break forth like the dawn,

and your healing will quickly appear;

then your righteousness will go before you,

and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;

you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

"If you do away with the yoke of oppression,

with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry

and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,

and your night will become like the noonday.

The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs

in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame.

“You will be like a well-watered garden,

like a spring whose waters never fail.

Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins

and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,

Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath

and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD's holy day

honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own

way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,

then you will find your joy in the LORD,

and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob."

The mouth of the LORD has spoken. - Isaiah 58:6-14

Reflection – Carol Rice

Sabbath time can be any time we intentionally embrace quietness and solitude.

We breathe.

We notice.

We savor.

We reflect.

We ponder.

We rest.

If we cultivate Sabbath time, we will be like a

"well watered garden." (Isaiah 58)

We will bloom.

Wednesday, March 10

Scripture for the Week:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

As God's fellow workers we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain. For God says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.”

I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation. - II Corinthians 5:17 – 6:2

Reflection – Sara Tierno

We often think of the Sabbath as a remedy for the constant pressure we feel in our modern society to be always at work, always doing something to better ourselves. It should be clear, though, that this need to “do,” to work on seemingly more important things, is as old as man itself. A very different group of people from us received the Sabbath Commandment thousands of years ago, in the middle of an inhospitable desert. There is no commandment to work; we push ourselves that way of our own free will. There is a commandment to rest, and it seems to me that it is as relevant today as it ever was. Setting some time aside for reflexion allows us to better steer the ship of our lives.

To ponder and pray:

• What things in our own life are threatened and/or set free by the discipline of Sabbath?

• How might we become agents of freedom for others through this discipline?