As evening draws to a close in this autumnal time in this hemisphere, we reach a point in our year where the seasons change and the light becomes a bit more dim. We begin to count down of the dark months and we cling to the remaining season in all it’s beauty.
I’m reminded this evening about the liturgical year, so different from the calendar year, and how the seasons of the earth reflect seasons of our lives. There is a time to reap and sow, to harvest and to rest. Farmers often let a field rest for a year so that it might produce good crop the next year. And as we know this is sabbath.
I remember as a child that Sunday was a very special day. There was no shopping, no sewing or knitting, no laundry, no washing the car, and no playing cards. While this may seem old fashioned or even strict, I now long for those days when a sabbath day was carved out for worship, visiting and resting ( and at six o’clock on CBC, Disney). It truly was a day for rest and enjoyment. And I really feel we have lost the art of sabbath keeping.
But God gives us this time, permission, a gift, to do this. Yet, we often don’t it.
Is sabbath important? How can we keep sabbath?
And so we pray.
God, you are eternal yet we live in seasons. Some seasons are in one day, others a week, and others in years. Help us to work hard but rest well, to let the soil of our hearts rest to be plowed and tilled for new seeds of hope and love to be planted. Help us to embrace the sacred time of sabbath, so that we may be lilies of the field, neither toiling nor spinning, but magnificent images of beauty. Be with those who are forced into labour, who are exploited for their work, and those who work many jobs to make ends meet. May they be delivered from the toil of labour to work for enjoyment. Grant them rest this evening. In your name we pray.
It has been a lovely time worshipping with you in this way. Many blessings on your heads!
