Chapter 3 ~ Sabbath
Questions- What are some of the messages of scarcity that you receive on a daily basis?
- How does your family practice gratitude and generosity?
- How does your faith community embody the "liturgy of abundance"? Or if your church lives in a pattern of scarcity, what language or practices might begin to change that pattern?
- What is your favorite biblical story of abundance? What does it teach you about living generously?
The overview of More than Words is found here. The photo above shows the book and a toy elephant given to my mother many decades ago by one of her twelve grandchildren when they were young. Mom had lots of great-grandchildren by the time she died in 2004. (In other words, I've lost count.)
2 comments:
SABBATH: Reclaiming Time to Be, and Be Together --- ". . .we don't know how to be together with our people without plans --- and it takes a toll on the depth of our relationships." (p.41)
"Finding time to just be with our friends, family, and neighbors in unplanned and unhurried ways. To breathe. To enjoy the home as sacred space that is cultivated in love---whether that home is a one-bedroom apartment in the city or a house in a sprawling suburb, or something in between. That space--and the stuff in it--is a sanctuary." (p.43)
Wathen thinks of sabbath as "a certain pace, mental state, and a level of energy--one that can be obtained, if not for a whole week at a time, or even a whole day every week--for at least a part of every day" (p.44), "a restful being together--and getting to the table at the same time" (p. 44), "people. Getting out of the rut of our stuff and our work and even the weight of our past hurts and disappointments, and opening ourselves up to connection" (p.45), "the holy rhythms that fill and renew us for the work at hand. And in the meantime, that will keep our spirits growing in the way of the sacred" (p.45)
"sometimes, it is okay to just be God's people. Together in prayer without an agenda.Together in worship, without the press of a capital campaign, a big event, or an impending set of deadlines. If we set our intentions as community toward this kind of togetherness, and model it in the life of faith that we share, it will be far easier for our families to claim it in their own ways, in their own time and space" (p.47)
"When God rests on the seventh day,it is an expectation set for the rest of us. We can't be faithful caretakers of creation if we are always run ragged. Nothing is lost if we rest, and, in fact, the health of creation depends upon our resting" (p.47)
"Matt. 11:28-30 [from The Message] 'Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real test. Walk with me and work with me---watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly" (p.48) This seems to me to be the key to this chapter on Sabbath. It brings me to my favorite hymn, Come and Find the Quiet Center, by Shirley Erena Murray, 1989:
Come and find the quiet center in the crowded life we lead, find the room for hope
to enter, find the frame where we are freed: clear the chaos and the clutter,
clear our eyes, that we can see all the things that really matter, be at peace,
and simply be.
Silence is a friend who claims us, cools the heat and slows the pace, God it is who
speaks and names us, knows our being, touches base, making space within our
thinking, lifting shades to show the sun, raising courage when we're shrinking,
finding scope for faith begun.
In the Spirit let us travel, open to each other's pain, let our loves and fears
unravel, celebrate the space we gain: there's a place for deepest dreaming,
there's a time for heart to care, in the Spirit's lively scheming there is always
room to spare!
"The unforced rhythms of grace: It is not just a call into recovered life, but a call to lay down our own stuff--or our own expectations of stuff--and follow a Jesus way of life. One that is full without being busy" (p.48)
"There are two divergent world economies: one that reduces people to their earning and output potential, and one that takes in the whole person. But it seems those two economies hold a truth in common, after all: you get out what you invest. Nurture the earth, and it will produce fruit to feed us; treat people like people, and they will express that embodied humanity right back to us--in good and life-giving ways" (p.50)
"It is OK to rest. It is OK to be still, and to breathe. Savor the smallness of the good and basic life plan that is woven into all of creation, if we will stop and hear it once in a while" (p. 51)
COME AND FIND THE QUIET CENTER!
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