Keeping the Sabbath, again

Through that steady, unintended ministry children have of raising their parents, I’ve been drawn this past year toward a deeper appreciation of the Sabbath. I’ve been observing our son and his wife becoming more intentional about keeping the day, and I’ve been inspired by a book they gave me in thanks for some babysitting: Marva Dawn’s Keeping the Sabbath Wholly.

It’s not that I had neglected the Sunday traditions of church attendance, company for lunch, and just generally relaxing or enjoying recreation. When our children were younger, we also instituted some of the ideas in Making Sunday Special by Karen Burton Mains.

But, over time, Sabbath rest merged with the idea of “weekend” and lost its distinctiveness as well as its deeper spiritual potential in my life. Our culture is very much geared to a five-two day rhythm of work and leisure, not a six-one day rhythm of work and rest.

Exploring again what Sabbath means has brought good surprises. One is the way keeping the Sabbath focusses work. Asking “what has to be done today to enjoy Sabbath tomorrow?” immediately clarifies my Saturday priorities. In this way, the Sabbath functions as a regular mini-glimpse of eternity, the anticipation of which also serves to focus one’s life priorities.

Welcoming the Sabbath as God’s day in which to rest in every facet of my being has the effect, not of automatically ending my worries or striving, but of underlining, as these occur, that God is in charge. It has been refreshing to set even the “work” of prayer aside, in the sense of intercession as prevailing upon God, to look back gratefully at what God has already done.

I’m finding that many others are on the same journey. Could it be that God is calling the church, in the words of George Shillington in this issue, to “relocate and reconstitute” the Sabbath? In moving away from an earlier restrictive practice of Sunday, did we lose its blessings as well?

The re-discovery of Sabbath keeping confronts Christians in a time when North American culture provides no support to Sunday observance. Some Christians are urging a recovery of distinctiveness – in ceasing work and celebrating God – for Sunday. Others are urging a recovery of the Sabbath principle rather than a particular day, which allows more flexibility in contemporary application.

Arguments can be made for both approaches, but they have a common aim: to search for the treasure that is God’s heart – God’s intention – behind the command to keep the Sabbath holy. Such exploration, whatever its application, accepts Sabbath keeping as a discipline; it also receives its delights.

Come to work

The report in this issue on the recent Council of Boards meeting tells of recommendations the various Canadian conference boards will be bringing to the larger convention (now called Gathering) in July. There are many decisions that we entrust to boards to make on our behalf, but there are others that require much broader participation. These involve discussing and voting on structural changes, statements of theology and practice, and the way in which we, the Mennonite Brethren churches of Canada, will do mission both in our country and globally. All of the upcoming recommendations are important, but some are extremely important because they involve profound shifts in the way we have been doing things.

Listening in on the Council of Boards meetings, I was struck by repeated calls for MB constituency or “grassroots” involvement in the cross-Canada work that is our conference; calls that people “buy in.” Such involvement will be strengthened if boards and ministries actively communicate what they are thinking and doing, and if delegates come to Gathering 2004 willing to participate in the listening and discussion that good decision-making involves. We need to keep remembering that each MB member is vital to our mission as a larger body.

Ministry reports and the specific recommendations of boards will be published in a special convention Herald in spring. The next step will be the work delegates do at Gathering 2004, to approve or disapprove, and to elect board members for the next year. Let’s plan to be there, from as many churches across the nation as possible, to do this work.