conjectural navel gazing; jesus in lint form

sabbath 10: the one who dies with the most toys wins

"Anybody can observe the Sabbath, but making it holy surely takes the rest of the week."

-Alice Walker

Sunday evening at Reconciler, Larry preached a sermon about the Sabbath. It dovetails with this chapter of Muller's book really well. Larry spoke about how Sunday is called, at least in earlier traditions of the church, the eighth day. This is why Christianity celebrates the resurrection of the Lord (Mass, Sunday services) the day after the Sabbath. You would go to Mass before you went to work.

No, there arent eight days in the week. But it is symbolic. This is the end times. The fulness of the Resurrection is a present reality. This, as Muller suggests, is the end of all things. Right now is the eschaton.

Larry's elaboration on the Nehemiah passage, the year of jubilee, comes into play here as well. I am hoping that he'll post the sermon. Keeping the sabbath is an act of justice. Who knew? The Jubilee, the year of the Lord, is when debts are releived, slaves and prisoners are released. This is the eighth year (yes?) and the fiftieth year and not the seventh or the forty-ninth. Again, the idea is that God comes in the end of all things. And the end of all things, or, the year of the Lord, is now. And that means justice...justice for all.

Now, I have a confession to make here. I have already read Megan and Cristopher's blogs. So their responses are running through my mind as well. So, when Muller riffs on the sins of "progress" and Megan wants to call him on it, I understand where they are both coming from. You see, for some people, justice has not yet come. That eighth day is just some vague promise. So sitting around and "doing nothing" is inappropriate to say the least.

But if the Sabbath is the end time, is the proclamation of justice, then works of justice are part and parcel of a sabbath discipline.

That being said...I like where Cristopher takes it as well. Progress, if it is only "achievement" or "having more and more," is no longer life-giving. It consumes and causes debt and slavery and imprisons us all. It is the opposite of the Jubilee.

Alice Walker's quotation gives voice to just that for me. We can take a day off, but if the rest of the week does not echo the justice that the Sabbath brings, then the Sabbath will never be more than a day off. The Sabbath will only be a day when we go out and play with our toys. It will never be more than a time when we wait to start "achieving" again.

I am a great fan of penecillin (Not sure if I can spell it, but I am glad its around.), women's suffrage, and lots of other things that are signs of progress. Progress can be positive. But the bigger house, that extra car, the bigger this and the faster that are not necessarily progress. Thomas Merton said “What can we gain by sailing to the moon if we are not able to cross the abyss that separates us from ourselves? This is the most important of all voyages of discovery, and without it, all the rest are not only useless, but disastrous...” And that is what I think Muller is getting at.

But we cannot forget what Martin Luther King, Jr. said "It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can stop him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important." King is seeking progress as well...justice, the advent of the eschaton in this world.

Eh, I am rambling now. Go and read Megan and Cristopher's posts. They are cool.

Posted by tripp at January 22, 2007 06:59 PM