2004-05-16 Easter 6C - Come Sunday - Page 3 of 3
security so your children will be safe. But, above all, keep spending, keep the economy going. Be good
to yourself - you’re worth it.
Well, we are worth it, but God offers another way, a better way, a way that can heal our souls.
That is the gift of the Sabbath. And it is here that Jesus’ question to the man at the pool of Siloam is one
we might want to ask ourselves: “Do you want to be made well?”
And, if we do, if we want a way out of all of this - then what would it take to accept Jesus
command to “rise, take up our beds, and walk”? Other than letting go of our doubt that we don’t have
enough time for the keeping the Sabbath, what would it take to claim that gift?
Well, some of us might first have to let go of some old images and ideas about the Sabbath as a
time for a lot of negative rules and restrictions and blue laws, or (for Roman Catholics) a day of
obligation, or (for those of us from a strict Protestant background) a day with long hours of worship and
no play.
And then, having let go of some of the old images, we might also take up some older images
from scripture: creation, exodus, and resurrection.
Creation gives us the Sabbath pattern: six days of work, one day of rest, right from the very first
time there is a seventh day when God, after creating everything there is, sits back and rests and blesses
the day by appreciating how good it all is. If God can rest after all that creating, if God can just
appreciate this wonderful life - can’t I do the same?
Exodus because it is in the wilderness that God teaches Israel to share in the blessings of the day by
giving manna - just enough for that day, and only that day - anything extra that they try to save rots -
except on the 6th day when they are told to gather enough for the next day because it is the Sabbath.
and
and Resurrection because it is the day of our weekly celebration of Christ’s victory over the
powers of death and a celebration of the new creation, the eternal Sabbath which is “not yet” but
already here. (That’s why hymns like “Come Sunday” and “Shall We Gather at the River” are in the
“New Heaven and New Earth” section of The United Methodist Hymnal.
Please notice I never said would be easy. I think for many (including me) it would be more like
taking up your bed and walking after a lifetime of thinking you can’t do it. Reclaiming God’s gift of the
Sabbath will take some effort and sacrifice, especially in our pluralistic and secular society in which we
no longer have laws and customs to make it easier.
But we can begin to take some steps. We can recognize the patterns, we can nurture
dissatisfaction with the “way it is,” and we can do what we can to keep the Sabbath and to grow in the
longing for the promised time when all people will have work at a living wage and time for rest and
worship.
This week the Prayer for Illumination has a beautiful line that asks God to open our hearts and
minds to know the things that “pertain to life and holiness.” Today, and always, may God open our
hearts to this gift of the Sabbath. Sunday is ours; let’s keep it!
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