Marva Dawn quoted The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschelin in her book Keeping the Sabbath Wholly: Ceasing, Resting, Embracing, Feasting
It is a very special concept for me, time as a sanctuary. It makes me rethink my whole concept on Sabbath. You can read the whole excerpt here. We often use our time to exchange for space or to increase our power in space, but for God, time is much more important than space.
Judaism is a religion of time aiming at the sanctification of time... Judaism teaches us to be attached to holiness in time, to be attached to sacred events, to learn how to consecrate sanctuaries that emerge from the magnificent stream of a year. The Sabbaths are our great cathedrals; and our Holy of Holies is a shrine that neither the Romans nor the Germans were able to burn; a shrine that even apostasy cannot easily obliterate: the Day of Atonement. According to the ancient rabbis, it is not the observance of the Day of Atonement, but the Day itself, the "essence of the Day," which, with man's repentance, atones for the sins of man...
One of the most distinguished words in the Bible is the word kadosh, holy; a word which more than any other is representative of the mystery and majesty of the divine. Now what was the first holy object in the history of the world? Was it a mountain? Was it an altar?
It is, indeed, a unique occasion at which the distinguished word kadosh is used for the first time: in the Book of Genesis at the end of the story of creation. How extremely significant is the fact that it is applied to time: "And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy." There is no reference in the record of creation to any object in space that would be endowed with the quality of holiness...
When history began, there was only one holiness in the world, holiness in time. When at Sinai the word of God was about to be voiced, a call for holiness in man was proclaimed: "Thou shalt be unto me a holy people." It was only after the people had succumbed to the temptation of worshipping a thing, a golden calf, that the erection of a Tabernacle, of holiness in space, was commanded. The sanctity of time came first, the sanctity of man came second, and the sanctity of space last. Time was hallowed by God; space, the Tabernacle, was consecrated by Moses...
The meaning of the Sabbath is to celebrate time rather than space. Six days a week we live under the tyranny of things of space; on the Sabbath we try to become attuned to holiness in time. It is a day on which we are called upon to share in what is eternal in time, to turn from the results of creation to the mystery of creation, from the world of creation to the creation of the world.
Read another excerpt here.
According to Stagirite, "we need relaxation, because we cannot work continuously. Relaxation, then, is not an end;" it is "for the sake of activity", for the sake of strength for new efforts. To the biblical mind, however, labour is the means towards an end, and the Sabbath as a day of rest, as a day of abstaining from toil, is not for the purpose of recovering one's lost strength and becoming fit for the forthcoming labour. The Sabbath is a day for the sake of life... "Last in creation, first in intention", the Sabbath is the end of creation of heaven and earth."
The Sabbath is not for the sake of weekdays; the weekdays are for the sake of the Sabbath. It is not the interlude but the climax of living.
Can we live for the Sabbath in our life? And redefine our purpose of life?
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Ceasing Productivity and Accomplishment
Just when I'm feeling guilty about my post-exam unproductive life, I read this from Marva Dawn's Keeping the Sabbath Wholly: Ceasing, Resting, Embracing, Feasting
Setting aside a Holy Sabbath means that we can cease our productivity and accomplishments for one day in every seven. The exciting thing about such a practice is that it changes our attitudes for the rest of the week. It frees us up to worry less about how much we produce on the other days. Furthermore, when we end that futile chasing after wind, we can truly rest and learn delight in new ways.
I desperately need to keep Sabbaths faithfully so that this attitude can increasingly pervade the rest of my days; I still get too easily frustrated if I think I have not accomplished enough in a day. During the times when I am not able to do very much, I forget that more important things are happening in me as God works to change my character and transform me into his likeness. If I am so worried about my productivity, I usually miss the lessons he is allowing me to experience so that I can be changed.
...
Too often we failed to appreciate others because they don't meet our expectations, because they are not as good as us at certain things, or because they don't measure up to the world's standard for usefulness. It seems to me that the Church could take the lead in suggesting other values by which to cherish individuals. Certainly the One who created and formed us made each of us a unique individual with special attributes. If we can give up our need to produce and to judge others similarly by their accomplishments, we can be freed to value those particular gifts that others bring into the world. Thus our Sabbath ceasing from productivity can bring great healing into our lives as well as into the lives of those around us.
Obviously, one of the Sabbath practices that supports this ceasing from productivity is the intentional choice to use time simply to be with people. The point is not necessarily to do anything-- perhaps to play, perhaps to share a needed time of gentle affection, but above all simply to be together. We can help each other learn not to find a person's value in his or her accomplishment. Accordingly, one of the greatest gifts of the Christian community can be this nurturing of a better sense of ourselves, a sense not tied in with our usefulness and success. I speak idealistically, of course. It grieves me that our Christian communities get tied into the world's value system and forget this constant message of the Scriptures: that we are worthy because we are loved by God. I hope that you who are reading this book can take your lead in your parishes to cease using productivity as the yardstick by which the value of others is measured.
Setting aside a Holy Sabbath means that we can cease our productivity and accomplishments for one day in every seven. The exciting thing about such a practice is that it changes our attitudes for the rest of the week. It frees us up to worry less about how much we produce on the other days. Furthermore, when we end that futile chasing after wind, we can truly rest and learn delight in new ways.
I desperately need to keep Sabbaths faithfully so that this attitude can increasingly pervade the rest of my days; I still get too easily frustrated if I think I have not accomplished enough in a day. During the times when I am not able to do very much, I forget that more important things are happening in me as God works to change my character and transform me into his likeness. If I am so worried about my productivity, I usually miss the lessons he is allowing me to experience so that I can be changed.
...
Too often we failed to appreciate others because they don't meet our expectations, because they are not as good as us at certain things, or because they don't measure up to the world's standard for usefulness. It seems to me that the Church could take the lead in suggesting other values by which to cherish individuals. Certainly the One who created and formed us made each of us a unique individual with special attributes. If we can give up our need to produce and to judge others similarly by their accomplishments, we can be freed to value those particular gifts that others bring into the world. Thus our Sabbath ceasing from productivity can bring great healing into our lives as well as into the lives of those around us.
Obviously, one of the Sabbath practices that supports this ceasing from productivity is the intentional choice to use time simply to be with people. The point is not necessarily to do anything-- perhaps to play, perhaps to share a needed time of gentle affection, but above all simply to be together. We can help each other learn not to find a person's value in his or her accomplishment. Accordingly, one of the greatest gifts of the Christian community can be this nurturing of a better sense of ourselves, a sense not tied in with our usefulness and success. I speak idealistically, of course. It grieves me that our Christian communities get tied into the world's value system and forget this constant message of the Scriptures: that we are worthy because we are loved by God. I hope that you who are reading this book can take your lead in your parishes to cease using productivity as the yardstick by which the value of others is measured.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Security, work, God
Matthew 6
[24] "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
[25] "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
[26] Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
[27] And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his span of life?
[28] And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin;
[29] yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
[30] But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O men of little faith?
[31] Therefore do not be anxious, saying, `What shall we eat?' or `What shall we drink?' or `What shall we wear?'
[32] For the Gentiles seek all these things; and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
[33] But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.
[34] "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day.
This is the Bible passage for the sermon today. Ever since, I have passed my exams, everyone's been asking me about my plans for the future. Plans to further my career.
With so many people asking, I can't help thinking about the plans, what I should/should not do...
Do not serve two masters. The reason we can't do it is the lack of security without money/career/whatever, we have to read the passage as a whole, when Jesus told us not to serve mammon, we should remember God will take care of us.
And we should be serving God only.
It's not some radical new message, but a timely reminder for me to remember again whom I should be serving.
From Marva Dawn's Keeping the Sabbath Wholly: Ceasing, Resting, Embracing, Feasting (I have just started reading it today)
The Sabbath is a day to abstain totally from whatever is our work at the time. Jacques Ellul declares that the emphasis on the Sabbath in the Old Testament "shows that work is not after all so excellent or desirable a thing as people often tell us". In our culture, which attaches such a grand importance to work and productivity, our weekly ceasing reminds us that the value of work lies not in itself nor in the worth it gives us, but in the worship of God that takes place in it. The Sabbath, then, is a sign of liberation, Ellul asserts. Jesus never calls anyone to work.
[24] "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
[25] "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
[26] Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
[27] And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his span of life?
[28] And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin;
[29] yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
[30] But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O men of little faith?
[31] Therefore do not be anxious, saying, `What shall we eat?' or `What shall we drink?' or `What shall we wear?'
[32] For the Gentiles seek all these things; and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
[33] But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.
[34] "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day.
This is the Bible passage for the sermon today. Ever since, I have passed my exams, everyone's been asking me about my plans for the future. Plans to further my career.
With so many people asking, I can't help thinking about the plans, what I should/should not do...
Do not serve two masters. The reason we can't do it is the lack of security without money/career/whatever, we have to read the passage as a whole, when Jesus told us not to serve mammon, we should remember God will take care of us.
And we should be serving God only.
It's not some radical new message, but a timely reminder for me to remember again whom I should be serving.
From Marva Dawn's Keeping the Sabbath Wholly: Ceasing, Resting, Embracing, Feasting (I have just started reading it today)
The Sabbath is a day to abstain totally from whatever is our work at the time. Jacques Ellul declares that the emphasis on the Sabbath in the Old Testament "shows that work is not after all so excellent or desirable a thing as people often tell us". In our culture, which attaches such a grand importance to work and productivity, our weekly ceasing reminds us that the value of work lies not in itself nor in the worth it gives us, but in the worship of God that takes place in it. The Sabbath, then, is a sign of liberation, Ellul asserts. Jesus never calls anyone to work.
The man beside the Bethesda pool
I went to the service at CrossCulture Church of Christ when I was in Melbourne a few weeks ago. On that day, the daughter of the minister was baptised, and she was baptised by another pastor who was a "very" pregnant lady... I don't think I'll ever see something like this in Hong Kong...
Anyway, back to the point, the Bible passage for the sermon that week is identical with the one I heard the next week after I came back to Hong Kong. I think it must a reminder from God...
John.5
[1] After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
[2] Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Hebrew called Beth-za'tha, which has five porticoes.
[3] In these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, paralyzed.
[5] One man was there, who had been ill for thirty-eight years.
[6] When Jesus saw him and knew that he had been lying there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be healed?"
[7] The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is troubled, and while I am going another steps down before me."
[8] Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your pallet, and walk."
[9] And at once the man was healed, and he took up his pallet and walked. Now that day was the sabbath.
[10] So the Jews said to the man who was cured, "It is the sabbath, it is not lawful for you to carry your pallet."
[11] But he answered them, "The man who healed me said to me, `Take up your pallet, and walk.'"
[12] They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, `Take up your pallet, and walk'?"
[13] Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place.
[14] Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, "See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse befall you."
[15] The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.
Here's the summary of the message from the church in Melbourne.
Most of the time we don't want to get well. The paralysed guy had been lying there for years, presumably got his money from begging/charity/family. No need to work, a bit inconvenienced. It may be difficult for us to imagine him not wanting to get well.
However, that's what we're doing (pr what I'm doing). I have to say most of the time I don't want to "get well". I just wanted to maintain the status quo.
"Yeah, my spiritual life is bad, but am I praying really hard/reading the Bible a lot to make it better? No!" "Yeah, it's bad to be addicted to TV, but do I wanna quit? Hmm..." "I know it's bad to just want to get more money. Hey, the stock market just dropped again!!! What??!!"
How can I make myself want to get healed??
Saturday, June 21, 2008
NT Wright on the Colbert Report
I can't imagine any religious leaders/scholars appearing in this kind of talk show... =P haha!!
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