If I ruled the world I would resign immediately. It’s hard enough, individually and collectively, to rule ourselves, let alone others. But if offered an hour before I resigned I would enact one institution that has the power to transform the world. It’s called the Sabbath.
The idea of a weekly day of collective rest was unprecedented in the ancient world. Months and years are natural ways of structuring time, based respectively on the appearance of the moon and the sun. But the seven day week corresponds to nothing in nature; nor does a day of rest.
The Greeks and Romans could not understand the Sabbath at all. They wrote that the Jews kept it because they were lazy. The interesting fact is that within a relatively short space of time after making that judgement, Greece, and later Rome, declined and fell. Without institutionalized rest, civilizations, like individuals, eventually suffer from burnout.
I have preached to my people before about the Jewish idea of Sabbath. Yes, of course our Sabbath is linked to the resurrection and new life in Christ, but I also love the Jewish idea of the day of rest reflecting in a small way the peace and rest of heaven. Difficult though for a priest to keep Sunday as a day of rest – although I have little disciplines. I do not shop on a Sunday. I do not load or unload the washing machine. I try not to cook but to have a meal ready. Best of all, I try to visit friends later in the day when free. My Jewish friends tell me that their adult children still living at home make a point to stay in on Friday evenings for the family meal. No one answers the phone, or watches TV or clicks on to their email. They are there for each other. We could learn a lot from this.
Amen Terry Tee