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?

Tuesday, March 9

I heard the voice of Jesus say, “Come unto me and rest; Lay down, O weary one, and lay your head upon my breast.” I came to Jesus as I was, so weary, worn and sad; I found in him a resting place, and he has made me glad. - Hymn 692, v. 1 Words: Horatio Bonar, 1846

Reflection:

Kimberly Miller,

Observing the Sabbath

I can’t remember the last time I was totally conscious of the Sabbath as it is spoken in Deuteronomy 5:12-15, reminding us that we should keep the Sabbath Holy. I am mostly just

Semi-conscious. We have our six days to work and be productive but the seventh should be a day of worship, rest and contemplation. As God freed the slaves from Egypt with open arms he expects that we will honor him by keeping the Sabbath. I do remember as a kid that there were Blue laws and stores and businesses were closed on Sunday in my town. That was a long time ago and in many states those laws have been repealed and claimed unconstitutional. But I understand, we are a country based on freedom. We have been given free will (by God) so it is our choice alone, not imposed by any law. Is he (God) testing us?

My mother loved God. She sent us to Sunday school as kids because she wanted us to learn about the love of God and his son Jesus. Early on we went to church as a family and observed the Sabbath as I remember. Living in a resort town for most of my life the weekends were when most businesses made there money and I mostly always worked on Sundays until just a few years ago when I moved to Stamford. However; as I grow as an imperfect Christian I can see the need (for myself) to try to keep the words of the faith alive in our culture. It seems that in the race to (I’m not really sure where) be the richest, most powerful, smartest country in the world we have lost sight of some of the basic Christian principles that our great country was built on. That said, this Lent along with my fellows, I will venture to honor my commitment to being more faithful in pursuit of a stronger relationship with God and my fellows by keeping the Sabbath.

So to answer the question what happens when everything stops? I think more. I listen more. I laugh more. I talk more. I rest more. I pray more. I eat more. I spend more time with my family. Just maybe something in my spirit will connect to the rope that God has left dangling gently near me to lift me from the quicksand I never seem to see and always fall into. When I choose to really grab it and hang on for dear life, my hope is that I will experience a freedom that I only dreamed of, exists.

Monday, March 8

What Happens When Everything Stops ? Sabbath, Justice and Peace…

Scripture for the Week:

“Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maid-servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor the alien within your gates, so that your manservant and maidservant may rest, as you do. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.

- Deuteronomy 5:12-15

“When we keep a Sabbath holy, we are practicing, for a day, the freedom that God intends for all people. We are practicing life outside the frantic pace set by financial markets and round-the-clock shopping and entertainment venues. We are practicing independence from the forces of injustice. We are trying on a new way of life as we begin to allow our weeks to be changed in response to God’s promises. We are practicing – pun intended. Like a novice learning to play a musical instrument, we may be off-key at times. It may be years before we are in harmony, and we will never get it perfect. But that need not stop us. Besides, stopping is less a problem than getting started.”

- Dorothy C. Bass

Receiving the Day, p. 63