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This week I had my annual realization that I still hold on to the dream that summer will be carefree and easy, with lots of creative projects and fun outings to explore new places. And then I looked ahead at the calendar and wondered where there will be time to schedule those projects and outings.
Summer officially starts in a few weeks, and we can feel it coming. We are already at 17 hours of daylight, from dawn to dusk, here in Seattle. Flowers and trees and bees and Folklife and PRIDE, and more rain. June is here!
In our church life, we’re heading into the Season after Pentecost. The color-coded church year divides roughly in half. One half is lots of shorter seasons in the colors of white, red, purple, and a little green. The other half of the year is green, all green. That long green is the season after Pentecost, which began last week and continues until the purple season of Advent starts the Sunday after Thanksgiving. If you like visuals, there is a poster in the Parish Hall that shows the colors and the seasons of the church year.
The half of the year that changes colors and seasons frequently - from Advent to Christmas to Epiphany, then Lent and Eastertide - that half follows Jesus’ life. The all-green-all-the-time half follows OUR life as we live into Jesus’ teachings, deepening our health and discipleship, loving one another as Jesus loved us, and expanding beloved community by sharing good news in our word and actions. Sometimes this season is called Ordinary Time.
Ordinary holds two meanings here: 1/the weeks are numbered or ordinal, and 2/this is the time of our ordinary lives. One week follows the next as we focus on putting one foot in front of the other, seeking God or the Holy as we live and listen and learn.
You may recall that back in November when we started Advent and the new church year, we spent some time reading from the Gospel of Mark. We return to Mark, with occasional help from John, for the remainder of the church year.
Mark wrote in the context of Roman occupation and political unrest. Not dissimilar from our world today, it seemed that malevolence, violence and oppression were pervasive. Mark’s main message to his readers is: repent, or turn away from that life, for the kingdom of God has come near. Jesus comes to bring a different paradigm for living and thriving in a just and mutual community. He shows us the kingdom of God in word and action, healing everyone he can in body, mind, and spirit. Mark’s good news ends with the empty tomb: Jesus is risen but nowhere to be seen. It is up to us to write the next chapter by living faithfully and sharing the good news of God’s saving love.
That sounds like more things to put on the to do list, when we are craving summer rest. What if living faithfully could be life-renewing and refreshing?
In today’s gospel reading, the Pharisees are critical because Jesus and his disciples violate the Jewish Sabbath rules against any kind of work (like picking grain to eat or healing people). Jesus counters that, “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath.”
Keeping the sabbath is one of the 10 Commandments. God commands sabbath as necessary to nurture beloved community by providing time and space to be in healthy and thriving relationships with self, community, neighbors, and God. Humankind is made for and needs sabbath to stay healthy.
Salvation, rooted in the word salvus, means health. Jesus' words and actions proclaimed salvation as health in body, mind, and spirit. Jesus fed thousands of people and healed physical ailments (physical health), cast out demons (psychological health), taught his disciples to pray (spiritual health), and strengthened communities by eating and talking with those who were traditionally cast out of polite society. Jesus showed us how to heal our lives and our communities by pausing, listening, watching, being with, our God, our selves, and our neighbors. Sabbath is time set aside for nurturing health.
For many of us, sabbath means slowing down, pausing the frantic mental pace of what needs to get done next and next and next. Our brains get weary when we use them ALL the time.
What if sabbath means intentionally moving from experiencing everything with our brains to experiencing life more with our bodies? We are made with bodies and senses to see, hear, smell, touch, and taste. What if sabbath means we notice the flowers on that tree we walk by all the time? Or wonder what spices our neighbor is using that makes that yummy smell waft through the window? Or to really listen to all the layers in a piece of music we enjoy? Play at a new tactile experience like throwing pottery or a frisbee, with grace to just try it and not be good at it. Eat without looking at a screen or a book, and notice the flavors in our mouths.
We can also use our senses to notice our community, our neighbors and neighborhood. In sabbath time, we can be generous and interested in the people living life near us. God speaks in quiet and curiosity, in noticing others and their needs. In noticing our selves, our sense of the holy, and the world around us, we may discover our own deep passions and gifts.
I wonder if, along the sabbath way, we find our gratitudes increasing? If we find ourselves less stressed as we move our bodies? If our relationships and communities grow and spread as we focus on people and nature that surround us? I wonder how our curiosity might be piqued as we notice more about our neighbors.
Sabbath reminds us that God calls us to health and wholeness, in body, mind, and spirit. Regular worship, sharing in community and deepening our discipleship, is part of sabbath time.
What one sabbath practice is God calling you to practice this summer?
As you notice new things, I invite you to share the things you observe with one another. When we share the things we notice, we share some of our selves and what we value - and in doing so, we create more connections and stronger community.
As Samuel said when God called to him, Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.
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