I’ve been quoted over on Looking for Faith as defining sabbath as a day of unstructured recreation. Alas… this is the folly of blogs — to have what’s said taken out of context. That was, I guess, how yesterday’s sabbath turned out, for biking can be recreational, but I’d hate to go down as the guy who equated sabbath with recreation. It is not recreation, unstructured or otherwise. Sabbath is about renewal, reflection, and (taken from the Hebrew shābath), rest. Not mere recreation.
Unless!
If you take apart the word recreation and make of your sabbath a period of re-creation, (a postmodern might write that as re: creation), I guess that could work, for sabbath is time that is set apart to gather up one’s spiritual resources. Shelby Meyerhoff on Looking for Faith put the stress on my activity, not my intention. Perhaps I was unclear. What did a bike ride down the San Antonio River mean? It was a chance to reconnect with the natural word, to breathe in the warm humid air of the wooded bike path, to take a short pilgrimage down a symbolic and literal winding road. What did listening to a lecture on Gilgamesh mean? It was a reminder of the epic in which we are actors, how the motifs of our lives are interwoven with history and literature. What did the hamburger at the airport mean? It was a chance to reconnect with my love of flight and the community of pilots that gather in such places. I needed to rest my soul for a day and I chose to ride my bike as a vehicle for that process.
Rest? that? I was taught as a child that “God rests in action.” That is, you don’t have to go to a mountaintop and chant to find peace. The sabbath I needed this week was intentionally put together to reconnect me with nature, my love of literature, and a personal passion — all three of of which I have set aside since I arrived in San Antonio on the fourth of July. Intention, intention, intention: that is what separates any activity from mere movement to something that can deepen our experience of life.
I understand the critique of sabbath, but here is my critique of the critique: We are often advised to rest and/or reflect on our spiritual lives by taking a sabbath, but that advice can be empty without putting it back into practice. What might a sabbath look like? It’s great to say that sabbath time is “different than regular time,” but that isn’t helpful in teaching people how it’s done in the real world. I’m a practical person. My sabbath will be different than your sabbath; in fact, my next sabbath may be different than yesterday’s. I may sit all day by a river meditating. I may go to the local seminary library and bury myself in a theme — or to the museum to stare at ancient Indian sculpture. I may, who knows. A sabbath is best entered by looking at the state of one’s spirit, doing a quick triage, and determining what’s needed to get back into harmony with yourself, your one true life that the world wants so desperately to take away. Ooooo… I feel a sermon comin’ on!!!
So how will you spend your next sabbath?
Bret, This second post does clarify the meaning that sabbath has for you. I understand better now the intention that you bring to your sabbath.
I did not intend to trivialize your practice. I quoted your writing directly and linked to the full text so that readers could engage with your ideas in your own words. One of my goals with Looking for Faith is to highlight writing by other UU’s about spiritual beliefs and practices, which is why I mentioned your post.
Good luck with the sermon! It sounds like it will be very helpful to listeners who may want to create a sabbath practice of their own.
Not to be melodramatic or cyncial but, when ministry becomes intense, having one day to not “be the minister” to – nevermind meditation – go to the bank and sleep in a little bit, maybe read something that does not contain the words “Unitarian” or “Universalist” is precious. Stepping away from the sacred demands can be restorative. While it looks like LFF has qualified her critique, let me go on the record saying that anyone who stands in judgment of how a serious minister spends their day off…clearly has never been a minister
To be fair to LFF, she was trying to make an alternate but related point about sacred time — and I don’t think was intentionally judging my approach to sabbath. I just felt the need for clarification.
And you’re right Heather about ministerial demands being such that time “off” has to be time spent “not being the minister,” of which I am realizing more and more since this is the first church where I’m the sole and senior minister. I actually had a pretty easy first week hours-wise, and it was demanding (more emotionally than physically) in a joyful kind of exhaustion. As the church year ramps up sabbath will only become more important to keep, honor, and engage.
Love thy sabbath! Next week I will go to the gym with a colleague and the week after I will go to a storytellers group with another colleague. And neither of those colleagues include the one to whom I’m married. P and I often spend our sabbath taking a break from the intensity of ministry to enjoy movies such as “Hairspray” or “Finding Nemo”. We try to keep the ever-active sermon-searching mind quiet for a day.