Tag: summer

Summer Sabbath

I don’t know about you, but I am ready for summer.
Not for the heat and humidity which, unless I am in the pool, I can do without.
What I am ready for is that different pace from the rest of the year which summer affords.
A bit slower.
More relaxed.
Fewer meetings.
Time away from the usual routines.
Maybe even a few moments when I feel bored.
How about you?

As we turn towards summer and all it affords us, this is what I found myself thinking about. Starting with the Bible. From the book of Exodus.

Then God spoke all these words:
I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me. (Exodus 20:1-2)

Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work – you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it. (Exodus 20:8-11)

These verses, as you may know, come from the portion of the Torah which make up what we know as the 10 Commandments. The central portion of the law meant to govern the life of the Jewish people. While I could go in any one of several directions with these verses…

How I am pretty good with the rest of the 10 commandments – I haven’t killed anyone. I respect and love my parents. I only covet a little bit, but work at being truly grateful for all I do have. I am pretty lousy with this one. Remembering the sabbath.
Or, the differences in our communities and our families from when I was growing up and everything was closed on Sundays to now when we count on stores and services to be available 7 days a week; 365 days a year.
Or to the pressure put on our lives when we are expected or feel like we are expected to be available to others 24 hours a day; 7 days a week. Sometimes I am a bit envious of a friend who is Jewish and a member of a Conservative congregation who, literally, unplugs her internet from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday.

Remember the sabbath and keep it holy.

Maybe because at this time of year I feel more empty than full, I have been thinking about the idea of sabbath and what I need to do in order to replenish my energy and to renew my creativity and to be able to do more than just the next thing on the list.
Here’s my idea.
What about this as an exercise in faithfulness.
What if instead of thinking about the upcoming couple of months as summer;
Or, your upcoming time away as vacation;
What if you thought about it and approached it as sabbath.
As time you intentionally carve out from the busyness and business of life as it usually is.
To live differently.
To bring a different attitude and outlook to the moment you have.
To look at your life and the time of your life as gift.
And, then to see what happens.

Remember the sabbath and keep it holy.

Maybe because I use them on a fairly regular basis, I think words matter.
And, what and how we name things matters.
And, how we approach and talk about things makes a difference.
So, would it be different for us if we approached the next several weeks as sabbath time rather than summer time? If we celebrated our time away as enjoying sabbath time together rather than go on a vacation together. Would any of that change your attitude and outlook? I wonder.

And, there is a second piece to this.
It is not just about sabbath, is it?
It is about keeping the sabbath holy.
That does not mean down on your knees or spending the summer in church.
But, maybe it does mean this.
Maybe it means using these days to intentionally cultivate a deeper sense of gratitude. Maybe it means using this time to say thank you more times than you complain or shake your head or point your finger. Maybe it means going at a pace which enables you to pay enough attention that you notice those things…that something…which takes your breath away. Maybe there is something about having time and energy to help that is a part of holiness. Maybe it is slowing down enough that you notice the daily grace which brushes up against your life. Maybe.

Remember the sabbath and keep it holy.

The calendar says, “Almost…”
The weather says, “Already…”
Either way, our part of the world now turns towards summer.
Maybe you and I can turn summer towards a sabbath.

Almost Summer

I have probably preached this sermon before. But since most of what I write and preach, and most of the passages from the Bible I find myself thinking about as I move through each week are first and foremost my efforts to piece life and world and faith together, I figure, because I am thinking about this again, there must be something here that I still need to learn. So, if you have heard all this before your patience and forbearance, please.

So, from the Bible, here is ancient wisdom meant for today. Remember the Sabbath, and keep it holy.
Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work – you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and consecrated it. (Exodus 20: 8-11)

Before I get to what I have found myself thinking about this week in relation to this text, a bit about this passage that comes to us from the Hebrew Scripture.
The Sabbath…
A day of rest where no one, even lowest person on the social totem pole – slave or alien in your midst – was allowed to work was a revolutionary idea and a religious imperative at its best. You see, before this commandment became codified in the 10 Commandments and considered as sacred, those who were poor, which was most of the people, could be forced to work from sun up to sun down seven days a week. Quite literally be forced to work themselves to death.

And then came this:
Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but on the seventh day you shall not do any work.
The Child labor laws or 40 hour/week work laws of 3000 years ago.

But, the thing is, most of us don’t do well with commandments.
Particularly religious commandments which have, too often, been misused by religious elite.
You shall do this.
You shall not do that.
And in response we find ourselves saying, “Really. What right do you have to tell me what I can and cannot do?” And, at least with this commandment – Remember the Sabbath – we think it is easy to get away with not paying much attention to it because the only enforcer is that unseen, somewhat nebulas presence of God.
But, there is wisdom here for us.
Most of us, I think, need to rebuild some Sabbath time into our lives. And into the lives of our children. And into the schedule and rhythm of our families lives together. But that is a whole other conversation. Maybe for another day.

What I want to think with you about this morning is Sabbath and summer. First of all, I would remiss if I did not remind you that, despite trends and tradition to the contrary, a group of us do gather here each Sunday morning at 10:00 a.m. during the summer. And you are always welcome to join us. The services are usually a bit more informal and more relaxed. A bit less hectic and a little quieter. And, a bit warmer…so feel free to wear your summer clothes. Coats and ties are not required. Neither are fancy dresses. Come pretty much as you are and then stay for a moment afterwards for ice tea or lemonade.

But, with that said, I have been here long enough that I know what happens during the summer.
Vacations.
Weekend plans.
Time at the ocean.
Time by the pool.
Family gatherings.
A walk in the woods.
Sleeping in.
And, what I want to say to you is all of that is GOOD.
But, here is how I think you can make it better.
In those moments that you have this summer…
Pay attention to the change of pace these days afford.
Pay attention to the space created in your life by a vacation or the ocean or working in the garden.
Pay attention to what it does in you and to you.
Pay attention to the effect it has on your children and the dynamic it adds to your family.
Pay attention and allow that time to be Sabbath time.
Name that time as Sabbath time.
Moments and days intentionally and thoughtfully set aside.
Time purposefully carved out from the busyness and hecticness of life as it often is for us.
Make the time holy…because it is. Or, at least, it can be.

The intent of the original commandment may have been to protect the physical well-being of the people.
To mandate time when you could not work.
To mandate time to rest.
And, we all still need time like that.
But, the other reality is it is often in that restful time and space…
That time when the pace of life slows down and the normal busyness of life is set aside that space is created for God to come close or for us to come close to God and when that happens we see life a bit more clearly. Or, we discover direction or dreams that for too long have been overlooked or overshadowed or sometimes not even fully known. And, we hear something of that which we know and name as God speak in the deepest and most genuine parts of who we are. I am not always sure which way it goes…
God coming close to us or our coming close to God,
But I do know that it is in those Sabbath moments that it happens.

Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.
It is almost summer.
Allow the time you carve out to be Sabbath time.
Name the time that you carve out as Sabbath time.
And, then see what happens.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

How many of you remember your first writing assignment when you returned to school in the fall being What I Did On My Summer Vacation? Maybe it is one of those tricks my mind plays as I reconstruct memories of growing up, but in that narrative of my childhood that I sometimes try to piece together that essay seemed to be the required writing assignment each and every year. So, as I was on my summer vacation this year, both trying to step away from my day-in, day-out responsibilities here, but also doing some thinking and dreaming and planning and reading so I would be ready for my day-in, day-out responsibilities here, one sermon began to emerge that became linked to those real or imagined childhood essays.

So here it is my back to school sermon after my summer vacation.

Years ago, I got it in my head that one of the things I would like to do someday was to hike the Appalachian Trail from beginning to end. All 2,184 miles of it from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mt. Katahdin in Maine. Then, some years later I read Bill Bryson’s book A Walk in the Woods which recounted his adventures of hiking the Appalachian Trail and it only made me want to do it more. Well, some say wisdom comes with age.
I have certainly aged.
The wisdom part is up for debate.
But what I have realized is that I am probably not going to hike the Appalachian Trail from beginning to end. I am not sure I would make the 2000+ miles, and it would be even harder to tell you and to convince Shodie that I am going off for my own walk in the woods for the next six or seven months.

But, being just a bit stubborn, instead of giving up on my fantasy completely, I readjusted my goals.
I decided, if not the Appalachian Trail, I would try the Long Trail in Vermont.
It is only 270 miles long, going from Massachusetts to Canada.
And, only 30 days, or so, of hiking instead of seven months.
I can manage that, I thought.
Not all at once, but a section at time.
So, last year I started.
Two and half days and 26 miles with my youngest son which primed the pump for this year.
Five days of hiking. About 65 miles.

But, before I get to the rest of my story and too far astray…
I want to make sure I touch base with the Bible.
If you know Vermont you know it has a lot of mountains.
The Long Trail basically connects those mountains.
Not along some spectacular ridgeline connecting one summit to the next, but up a mountain and then down the other side only to have the trail go up again.
On any number of occasions, as I stood on the trail trying to catch my breath and push resolve into my legs, maybe it would have helped if I had remembered these words from the Bible.

I lift up my eyes to the hills –
from where will my help come?
My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.
God will not let your foot be moved.
The God who keeps you will not slumber.
The One who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper;
The Lord is your shade at your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day, not the moon my night.
The Lord will keep you from all evil; the Lord will keep your life.
The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in;
from this time on and forevermore. – Psalm 121

What do you think? Would it have helped?
Anyway…
Here is some of what I learned from my walk in the woods this summer.

90% of the Long Trail is rocks and roots and so you hike looking down to make sure of your next step. The last thing you want to do is to be halfway up or down a mountain, 10 or 15 miles from the nearest road, and miss a step and twist your ankle or break your leg. So, you look down to see where you are going. After hiking for a couple of hours only looking down to see at what was two feet in front of my feet I realized, “Here I am. Beautiful day. Outside. Surrounded by forest. In the middle of the Green Mountains of Vermont. Doing what I have dreamed of doing. I should take a moment to look at what is around me.”
And, so I did.
I made it a point for the next four days to be sure I stopped on a regular basis to look up and to look around and to notice where I was.

How often, I wonder, do we live our life looking down.
(You really didn’t think this was ALL going to be about my hike, did you?)
Intent only on where we are going and what we need to do…
To get from here to there;
From this moment to the next;
From this place or stage of our lives to whatever and wherever we think comes next.
We are driven. We are competitive. We are intense.
We are focused on goals for ourselves and for our children.
And, the truth is, too often, we go through life looking down.
I think what we need to do is to stop sometimes and to look up and to look around and to see where we are and to notice for a moment how precious life is and how much we have and how much we have to be grateful for and to allow all that to seep into our heart, mind and soul.
Seep in deep enough that it makes a difference.

Here is another thing I learned…
I was hiking downhill after climbing to the 4000’ summit of Stratton Mountain.
As I was going down I passed a group of hikers who were on their way up.
In an effort to be friendly and encouraging as we passed on the trail, I said to them, “Doesn’t it sometimes feel like it’s all uphill.” To which one of the hikers, who must have been one of the hikers hiking the entire Appalachian Trail, replied, “I learned that in Georgia.”
It’s all uphill.
It isn’t really.
But, most of the trail is either uphill or down.
There were very few portions of my five day hike that were flat and wide and easy to walk.

I think sometimes we live with the misconception that the path of life is or should be wide and flat and easy when it is not.
And then, when it is not, we get upset or complain or call life unfair or rush to blame.
While life is wonderful and awe-inspiring and beautiful and I wouldn’t trade it for the world, I do think we have to work at it.
We have to work at sustaining the relationships which are important to us.
We have to work at raising a family.
We have to work at doing our jobs well.
We have to work at holding onto the values we want to have shape who we are and what we do.
That doesn’t mean that all that is not wonderful and rewarding, but it is not easy.
Those things that we say are most important in our life require attention and investment of time and energy and sometimes REALLY hard work…like making your way up a very long hill.

Finally, because time is running out and by now you are probably getting tired of my stories…
Just one more snippet from my summer adventure.
Shodie was not all that excited that I was planning on hiking for five days by myself. So, one of the “concessions” I made, to make my adventure sound better and for her to worry less, was to buy trekking poles.
“See,” I said, “they will help me on my hike.”
Little did I know.
Remember that 90% of the trail is rocks and roots…and it is all uphill.
Multiple times each day, my trekking poles kept me from falling or from sliding off a rock and twisting my ankle. They went from being something I bought to make Shodie less anxious to essential equipment for my walk in the woods.

Which makes me wonder…
If life…your life and my life…
Is something like my hike this summer, roots and rocks and all uphill…
What helps you to keep your balance?
What do you do that reminds you…
That turns you back towards what you believe to be REALLY important.
Do you take time each day to pray?
Not the pray on the fly type of prayer, but the stop long enough to take a deep breath and to pay attention type of prayer?
Do you say thank you each day? Do you say it 10 times each day?
To your partner or spouse?
To your co-workers or colleagues?
To your children?
To the check out person at the grocery store?
To God?
And, do you do something to deepen your faith and to pull it forward into the moment you have to live right now?
Do you read the Bible?
Read a book? Read a blog?
Read the newspaper with it in one hand and the Bible in the other?
Here is what I learned…
If there is nothing there to help you keep your balance, you will fall and it will hurt.

So, there you are…
My back to school sermon.
Some of what I did and what I learned on my summer vacation.

Tags

Several things I believe: