Today is Good Friday, when the church marks the crucifixion of Jesus. Two days later we celebrate Easter1, Resurrection Sunday, when Jesus rose from the dead. Yet, scripture clearly states that Jesus would rise on the third day.
sabbath
Keeping the Sabbath, part 2
Last week I opened an entire case of worm cans. (If you missed it, you can read it here.) How Christians are to keep the Sabbath has been a point of contention since the church began. We’re not going to solve it here, yet it’s worth thinking about. God seems to think it’s pretty important!
Keeping the Sabbath, revisited
I’ve spent the last few weeks rereading the book of Isaiah. As so often happens when I read the Bible, certain passages jump off the page at me. I feel as if the Holy Spirit is underlining them, saying, “Pay attention! This is especially for you right now.” I typically underline the verses, then include them in my prayer time. God, what are you telling me here? (This is one reason I get a new Bible after reading it through a few times—I want to see the passages as fresh and new, and not get distracted by what God pointed out in previous times.)
Rest
I finally have a day off.
Believing that God wants us to take a day out every week as our “Sabbath,” I’ve set aside every Thursday as my day of rest and reflection. (Sunday might be traditional, but it doesn’t work for us, since we volunteer in our church’s café at 6 a.m., then attend Sunday school followed by the service, then take my dad out for lunch and shopping afterward. We get home mid- to late afternoon, exhausted.)
Taking Thursday off might be my intention, but it doesn’t always fit reality. For the last few weeks, I’ve spent the day packing for a camping trip, cleaning the house for guests, balancing our checkbook and paying bills… and I couldn’t do those things earlier because I was doing other important and urgent things. Life happens. But this week, I’m taking a day off to rest, relax, drink tea, read, pray, and contemplate the state of my world. It’s heaven.
Take a Break!
“I have to write a post for tomorrow morning. I’m on a schedule!”
It was getting close to bedtime, and I’d been staring at a blank document for the last thirty minutes. My mind was totally blank.
“God, I need your inspiration, and I need it now, please!”
No answer. No thoughts popping into my brain. Just exhaustion.
Instead, I kept mentally reviewing the list of tasks I had to accomplish the next day: Pay bills, balance accounts, clean the house for coming guests, defrost a freezer-burned hunk of mystery meat and turn it into that night’s dinner. Do a load of laundry. Feed and water the chickens, cat, gecko; water the drooping houseplants (I have an indoor jungle) and flower beds. Find some time to work out or go for a walk. Spend significant time with God. (Why did that always seem to be at the end of the list?)
Compost 