As I write this I am preparing to take my annual leave. This year I will be going to Devon for some rest, retreat, relaxation and possibly even some sunshine – but that remains to be seen. I can hardly believe that it is almost a year since I returned from my sabbatical and it does rather seem to have been a busy year, having taken on pastoral care for a further church, but it has been a blessing to get to know new people, explore new ways of doing things and to work with new ecumenical colleges.
A time of rest is important for us all, whether it is in the form of a sabbatical, annual leave, a day off each week or even a few hours each day. Indeed such an imperative is written into the story of creation as God takes the 7th day as a day of rest and later deems this to be practice that all should follow. For the church, Sunday was deemed the day set aside for God, when worldly work should be kept to a minimum. And it’s not been so very long ago when this was part of the structure of society. Shops and other places of work didn’t open on Sunday’s. This was a special day of the week set aside for worship, for family/friends time, and for rest; in other words sacred time.
Today no such boundaries exist as working life goes on 24/7, yet the principle of the sabbath does not have to disappear as secular life takes over. Being intentional about carving out sacred time, perhaps for an hour a day, a day each week and a few weeks each year is vital for our spiritual well being, indeed God prescribes it!
So as the days and weeks and months continue to unfold, in this increasingly secular world, please remember the importance of sacred time and perhaps heed these words by Wendell Berry:
“Sabbath observance invites us to stop. It invites us to rest. It asks us to notice that while we rest, the world continues without our help.”
Blessings, Jayne
Lavish Wisdom 