Let's catch up: It's Monday and I'm pooped. After the Swap Party on Saturday, and a particularly emotive morning at church on Sunday, I decided it would be an excellent idea to have my nieces over on Sunday afternoon for a "Crafternoon"* play date. I love them, but how do you mothers do it? We made 12-days-of-Christmas calendars, played in the park, climbed a Jacaranda tree... phew! I thought it would then be a winning notion to clean the entire house, top to bottom like Mary Poppins. As I was chucking out the dirty water, I looked up to the night sky and saw all the diamonds winking at me and did think, 'Hello, why are you doing silly house work when you could revel in a starry display like this?'. Anyway, feeling flatter than a Gallic rugby player today. Proves to me again why a Sabbath is so important. Need coffee.This week's agenda: Write thank-you cards; drop by Frock Paper Scissors headquarters to start sub-editing this year's magazine; complete administrative tasks from last two weeks' Too Hard Basket; form an opinion on the new-look News.com.au and its paywall; write some (hopefully not inane) things; catch up with other blogs; pick up husband from airport (wheeee!).
The Word for the Week: "What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?" (Mark 8:36)
Quote of the Week: "You have to keep getting up and keep getting up and when things come at you, you have to keep getting up and believing in the mate beside you and trusting him to do his job and making sure you do yours." - All Blacks captain Richie McCaw speaking after leading his team to a World Cup victory over France.
Dictionary.com Word of the Week: anomie \AN-uh-mee\, noun:
A sense of loneliness and anxiety; a state or condition characterized by a breakdown or absence of social norms and values, as in the case of uprooted people.
"To me, porn appears to be but one way people escape a gnawing sense of anomie – its power is seen in the ultimately corrosive creation of its own self-validating community."
Reading: 'Narcissism: Integrating Faith and Psychiatry' by Dr Allan Josephson @ Q Ideas
The Breakfast Club: This is one of those days when breakfast lingers on and on and on, past brunch time and into lunch with lots of carbohydrate and coffee. The ideal fare? Trotski & Ash's "sleepy-eyed" Bircher muesli.
*Terminology accredited to Liz Burke.
Girl With a Satchel
3 comments:
Hi Erica,
This is kind of a faith question. My dad attends a church where they believe that the Sabbath is on a Saturday. I also found out the Jewish faith also have it on Saturday. Why then are there so many churches that have Sabbath on a Sunday?
Hi Kylie,
I'm glad that you asked!
This can be a contentious issue, but really shouldn't be. While church members are generally required to respect whatever custom their church has set, it's my understanding that one day of the week should be set aside for the Lord, on which we turn our attention to him and relax into his presence, which is no easy task in this day and age, I know.
Jesus healed people on the Sabbath, much to the disgust of the Pharisees, to show us that God is not overly concerned with petty rules and traditions and outward (often fake) displays of righteousness: God is concerned with our hearts. And, for Jesus, the heart should be geared towards alleviating suffering and loving others.
That said, Jesus didn't come to do away with the Law of Moses, but to fulfill it. If God chose to create the world in six days, and rest on the seventh, then there's good reason to follow his lead. He created humanity and has our best interests at heart when it comes to how to live.
If observing a 'Sabbath' on a particular day for you, because you might do weekend work, for example, I'm sure God doesn't mind: but he does want you to put aside a special time for him, and a day to ensure you don't burn out, in which case you will be completely ineffective for him (been there, done that, no walk in the park).
I choose to observe the Sabbath most Saturdays, while I attend church on Sunday. On Saturdays, I don't touch my computer and have a "day off" but I generally do things I delight in – and therefore delight God – rather than sitting still in a chair, which includes listening to awesome music, lunch with family or friends, a visit to a book shop, cooking, playing with my dog and spending time outside in nature (playing in the daisies, so to speak), weather permitting... all with a joyful heart, because I'm alive and that's awesome. But if God shows me something to do for him, I go ahead and do it willingly (um, mostly!), such as hosting a charity Swap Party on my regular "day off".
How you choose to set apart time for God is between you and God, I think. Looking good in front of others by observing certain customs, if our heart's not really in it, just makes us feel fake.
This morning in my devotional, I read this by Sarah Young (edited):
"This electronic age keeps God's children 'wired' much of the time, too tense to find me in the midst of their moments. God built into your very being the need for rest. How twisted the world has become when people feel guilty about meeting this basic need! How much time and energy they waste by being always on the go, rather than taking time to seek my direction for their lives. God has called you to walk with him down paths of peace."
This is all very long-winded, but I hope it helps.
"He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked" (1 John 2:6)
Erica
Thanks for the answer! It was very informative and cleared a lot of things up for me!
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