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1 Sabbath Blessings For Berkeley Chinese Community Church, UCC Berkeley, California October By Rev. Sharon MacArthur, Acting Pastor Genesis 2:1-3 1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. 2 And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation. Exodus 20: Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. 9 For six days you shall labour and do all your work. 10 But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it. Exodus 23: For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield; 11 but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, so that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the wild animals may eat. You shall do the same with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard. 12 For six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest, so that your ox and your donkey may have relief, and your home-born slave and the resident alien may be refreshed. 13 Be attentive to all that I have said to you. Do not invoke the names of other gods; do not let them be heard on your lips. ************************* 1 From almost the very beginning of the Word, in a story that we all know, we find God creating Sabbath right after God created everything else! For six days God worked and created. making night and day; Sky and sea; Plants and trees; the sun and the moon; For six days, God created, making fish to swim in the waters and birds to fly above. Making animals of all shapes and sizes; making us! 2 For six days, God worked and created! Page 1 of 7

2 But not on the seventh day. On the seventh day, God rested. On the seventh day-- God blessed what God had done throughout the week. God stopped and reflected and breathed, And blessed the seventh day, making it Sabbath. Remember? At the end of each of the 6 working days, God looked around and declared what He had created was GOOD! And on the seventh day says Genesis 2 - God had finished all the work of creation; and so, on that seventh day, God rested. God blessed the seventh day and called it sacred because on that day God rested from all the work of creation. Isn t it something? That way back then somehow folks knew that it was necessary to have time to pause from spending energy, to have some sacred time so that one can be balanced, can be energized, can be filled with Spirit for whatever God calls us to do and be. 3 I m reminded of this story shared by one of my colleagues about the experience of a group of people from a UCC congregation in the United States on a Mission Trip to South America. There was a doctor and a dentist and a several of their support staff who had gathered supplies to take to a remote village to use as they treated people during their visit. They had quite a large supply and intended to leave the remainder for use by the medical students who were involved in field education there. There was such a large supply that they hired some indigenous folks to carry the bulk of the load, and, to be their guides. They knew that this journey from the city to the village usually took three days so off they went. The first day went smoothly. In fact, the group covered more ground than they expected and were excited that they might be able to get to the village in two days. But on the morning of the second day, their guides were not in a hurry to get moving. When there was no sign of leaving by midmorning, the dentist asked: What s causing this delay in our travel? One guide answered, It is true that if we had left early this morning we would be at the village long before we had planned. However, it is only our bodies that have come this far. We must wait for our spirits to catch up! 4 Page 2 of 7

3 Hmmm words of wisdom! Invitation to Sabbath! The dentist and the doctor didn t think of that would we have thought of taking time to breathe? To allow our spirits to catch up with our bodies? How many of us would have thought this to be a luxury rather than a sacred thing to do? How many of us would have remembered in that moment that God asks us to allow our spirits to catch up with our bodies? It was part of God s commandments, right? By the time Moses has his encounter with God on Mount Sinai, and comes back to his people in their escape from Egypt, we get a clearer picture of what this Sabbath means Sabbath is for everyone! Did you catch all that in today s first Exodus passage? It echoed working for six days, but not the seventh. The seventh day is the Sabbath day that the Lord consecrated the commandment said you shall not do any work you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. That s pretty inclusive! I take that to mean Sabbath is not just for CEO s or the Wealthy, not reserved for retired folks or fast food workers, Sabbath is for everyone parents and students and welfare recipients.everyone. 5 And then later in Exodus Later in Exodus, in the midst of many, many DO and DON Ts, we hear that Sabbath doesn t just apply to days, but also to years. Listen: For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield, but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, so that the poor of your people may eat. And what they leave, the wild animals may eat. You shall do the same with your vineyard and your orchard. Isn t it something that in this rhythm of work and Sabbath is God s plan for justice? Did you catch that about sowing and harvesting for six years but letting the land rest and lie fallow so that the poor may eat and that the wild animals may eat? I have to admit I m not sure how this would work in this day and age; but it is worth imagining Sabbath extending into all areas of our lives like driving our cars 6 out of 7 days and letting our cars rest on the seventh day, or letting our stoves and ovens rest on the seventh day I could go for that eating out once a week?! This is Big! This idea of Sabbath of Rest especially back in the days of the Exodus when it was introduced to a people who had just left a life of slavery where their god was the Pharaoh, where there was no Sabbath 6 Page 3 of 7

4 Theologian Walter Brueggerman in Sabbath as Resistance pointed out that, Pharaoh is a hard-nosed production manager for whom production schedules are inexhaustible. Pharaoh demands more production. The slaves are to produce more bricks that are to be used for the building of more storage units in which Pharaoh can store his endless supply of grain. In other words, there was no rest. There was no work stoppage, no freedom from work, no rest for the weary. The commandment to remember the Sabbath from this God YAHWEH must have been a shock to the former slaves a very welcome shock! They must have danced and celebrated this Sabbath-giving God Sabbath was for them resistance to the ways of the Pharaoh their god of Egypt. 7 Yet, over the years, the Israelites forgot that the practice of Sabbath freed them from the Pharaoh s brick quota and slavery. Instead of turning the Sabbath into a time of freedom and liberation; it was turned into a time of restriction. Human made laws were imposed on God s good gift. The Israelites were very specific about what was allowed and what was not allowed on the Sabbath. - For example, - 8 you could not travel more than 3000 feet from your home. The Jews, however, considered their home to be any place where a possession was - so the Jewish people would fill their pockets with items from their homes, walked 3000 feet and placed one of the items on the ground and declared that place to be home so they could walk another 3000 feet. 9 - Another example - Taking a bath on the Sabbath was forbidden, because water might splash on the floor, and you would be washing the floor. Page 4 of 7

5 10 - Women were not allowed to look in a mirror; they might pull out a gray hair And even today in Jerusalem, an Orthodox Jew will not push an elevator button on the Sabbath because that is considered work. The workaround? Every hotel has a Sabbath elevator that slowly goes from floor to floor and the door automatically opens on each floor. We learned that from our Holy Land Travelers! - And when Christians came to this country, we didn t do any better Sabbath laws were replaced by the Puritans blue laws here in the U.S. - Do you know about blue laws, right? Sunday laws? With blue laws, shopping malls and liquor stores were closed. - You could milk cows on Sunday, but not wash your car. - In Colonial New England, there were many Sunday laws forbidding any pleasure Have you heard this story about a Massachusetts sea captain who returned home from two years at sea? He returned home on Sunday and made the mistake of kissing his wife, which was against the law on Sundays The poor sea captain spent the next six days in the stockade for desecrating the Sabbath! Page 5 of 7

6 15 Sabbath is not A punishment; It is a Gift! I read somewhere Sabbath is not a punishment; It is a gift! Another Walter Brueggerman quote: Sabbath is not simply the pause that refreshes. It is the pause that transforms (Brueggemann, p. 45) Yes! It transforms our way of thinking about the world from scarcity to abundance, from fear to faith, from bondage to freedom, from restlessness to restfulness. 16 How do we pause to notice that we are in the presence of God? How do we honor God? 17 By paying attention to sunrises and sunsets? 18 By watching the clouds drift across the sky? 19 By marveling at the stars at night? 20 By feeling the warm sand between our toes walking along a beach? Page 6 of 7

7 21 By counting the colors on the wings of a butterfly? 22 By savoring the flavors in cioppino? By literally smelling the roses? Let s take a few moments close your eyes take a deep breath in and out.again in and out one more time in and out. And practice Sabbath let your mind s eye is greet the images of how and where you meet God, where you honor God.where you rest in God. Rose will you play I Lift My Eyes to the Quiet Hills as we get a taste of Sabbath <<Allow a couple of minutes for worshipers to let minds wander while Rose plays I Lift My Eyes to the Quiet Hills >> Welcome home, welcome God, Welcome Sabbath Blessings..Amen. Page 7 of 7