You are thirty minutes late to the doctor's office because you were twenty minutes late getting out of the bank because you were ten minutes late dropping the kids off at school because the car ran out of gas two blocks from the gas station--and you forgot your wallet. That is a picture of marginless life by Richard Swenson in his book, Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives.
We are a culture overrun with commitments, options, plans, choices and genuine needs. Coupled with our struggle to maintain healthy boundaries, to be able to say a positive NO based on a primary YES, it takes great intention to receive and be at peace with God, our neighbor and ourselves. The wisdom to navigate and advance our efforts in daily life is seriously at risk and seemingly challenged at every turn. There are no uncontested commitments or choices we make in the course of our days.
"We must have room to breathe. We need freedom to think and permission to heal. Our relationships are being starved to death by velocity. No one has the time to listen, let alone love...Doesn't (God) lead people beside the still waters any more?" (Swenson, Margin, 27).
The gift of Sabbath grounds us in a healthy, helpful and faithful way and allows us to "push back" a culture and pace of life that deny rest and renewal. It is the fourth of the Ten Commandments. Two reasons are given for observing the Sabbath depending on which version of the Ten Commandments you read:
For in six days the LORD made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; then he rested on the seventh day. That is why the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy (Exodus 20:8-11).
Remember that you were once slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out with amazing power and mighty deeds. That is why the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day (Deuteronomy 5:12-15).
Sabbath is a reminder of God's acts of creation and liberation, and forms the basis for our rest and renewal. I hold two images for Sabbath, a warning track and a seam.
Yankee Stadium’s opening in 1923 introduced a new element into baseball: the warning track. Although designed as a quarter-mile track around the field, the barrier soon took on its more common usage and spread to parks around the league. A warning track's width varies from field to field. It is generally designed to give about three steps of warning to the highest level players using the field.
A warning track allows you to know where you are on the field. It is a source of orientation. If we only live at our outer limits, on the edge with no margin, we lose our sense of location. We cannot get a perspective on anything and become reactionary, not able to initiate any action on our own.
The second image of a seam comes from my mother-in-law who is a professional quilter, author and business owner. She says a 5/8" seam is standard in home sewing. A seam allows the garment to be adjusted for gains and losses in the one who wears it. It thus gives the garment flexibility. A seam allows for expected deterioration of the fabric. The garment will fray on the ends but they are folded under in the seam. If you really want a strong seam use a French seam where no edges are exposed. It is double stitched so that even the outer edge is folded under. A seam protects the garment in washing and makes it last longer.
If we are going to hold up under the pressure of our culture, we need Sabbath Seams in our individual and community lives. We can then more deeply appreciate the invitation of Jesus:
"Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke fits perfectly, and the burden I give you is light" (Matthew 11:28-30)
Walter Brueggemann, an insightful and formative theologian for me, writes "Jesus issues an invitation to an alternative existence, away from deeds of power, away from brick quotas, away from 'things too great,' away from control and domination and success. Away from the way the world wants us to be...into the life of well-being with Jesus who is one with the Father" (Brueggemann, Mandate to Difference, 42).
Garments have seams and God's people have Sabbaths, margins of rest and protection. Sabbath serves as a spiritual warning track that allows us to adjust the rate and direction of our movement for the sake of longer life and prevention of injury from crashing into boundaries.
We can only go so long without decent rest; no living creature just keeps working without interruption. In Sabbath we recover the healthy purpose and divine meaning of our life together with God and each other. In 2009 may we observe Sabbath in ways that honor God's design and freedom for us as we Grow, Love and Serve Together.
Peace, Pastor Jeff
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