A Glorious Sabbath Rest Day

Ah, yesterday was lovely. A sabbath to the nth degree. It had felt like a month between Sabbaths, rather than just a week. End-of-term will do that to a person. Each moment felt like a treasure.

To start off with, the singing at church was wonderful. One of the Service Adventure volunteers at our church plays the cello, and that added a rich dimension to the singing. We also had a group from the congregation singing music from the Sacred Harp tradition - shape note singing. FUN!

We had a good conversation in Sunday School about financial stewardship and Christian living - generosity and miserliness, retirement savings, the Depression area generation, issues pertaining to wealth. I know, I know, it doesn't sound all that exciting perhaps. But there was such an open tone to the conversation, a willingness to be honest and raise real questions. People shared their own stories and their steps forward.

We don't talk often enough about money - not in the church, and not in the world at large. Not this way - not about when to save and when to give - and how to determine how much is 'enough'.

I am convinced that generosity is not spurred on by guilt and duty. That produces giving without joy. Generosity is a joy-filled act that spills out from a deep sense of trust that we have enough, and that we are cared for. Generosity is a joy-filled action that spills out from a rich connection between ourselves and others. Generosity cannot be forced.

When we got home from church, Kendall had an opportunity to play some ULTIMATE FRISBEE (the last game of 2006) for over an hour; and I spent that hour talking with my friend Sharon.

We went back to church in the afternoon for a choral concert of Bach, Vivaldi and Mozart by the Vesper Chorale... hearing various settings of the Magnificat. We went out for dinner (Italian - Papa Vino's - num!). We've been eating VERY simply at home lately, a lot of soup and bread. We're a bit tired of soup. This dinner was a feast for the senses.

Back at campus, it was 'Games Night' and a group of 8 people were gathered (including us) to play. We learned how to play an old game - new to us - called Acquire. Such a capitalist venture - buying and merging hotel chains, and acquiring stock. For those who love the feeling of power that comes with acquisition. Ah, a group of simplicity-loving Mennonites out to take over the corporate world. It was a very fun game.

All in all, a Sabbath non-pareil. (without parallel)

The counter-intuitive Nature of Rest

I'm musing a bit about 'rest' these days. Perhaps it's because I'm writing a final paper on the topic of Sabbath. The truth is, I'm writing about Sabbath because resting has been on my mind.

Here's an insight that I've been mulling over recently.

When I'm anxious about money, I have learned to seriously consider my own giving habits. In my experience, my points of highest anxiety around money are often connected to times when I have not 'kept up' with my intentions for giving and general generosity. So, my counter-intuitive response has become - I'm feeling anxious about money. It must be time to check the books and see how my giving's been lately. And sure enough, when I get 'on top of' my giving, so to speak, my anxiety tends to lessen. My money situation may not be different in actuality, but my perspective has been transformed. I shift from 'not enough' to 'more than enough'.

It's the same way with time. When I'm most anxious about time, I am learning to seriously consider my 'rest time'. How have I protected it? How have I maximized it? Perhaps I need to inject a bit more rest into my days. Perhaps I need to stretch it out, celebrate a bit more. And so even when - especially when - my 'to-do' list is incredibly long and heavy, I am learning to protect my rest time even more. Go to bed on time. Play a game. Get some perspective. Relax after 9 p.m. (my plan).

It's counter-intuitive. But it's transformative for me.

Playing hookey from homework

Yesterday night Kendall and I "played hookey" from homework. Yes, yes, we have tonnes of work to do. But Yesterday we had both handed in our major Exegesis papers and led the class through a discussion of our various passages. Then we had a long afternoon class and Hebrew class from 4:30 to 5:30. so we were understandably tired by the time evening came around.

My first inner sign that I might not get much work done came when Kendall said he was going to go grocery shopping and I realized I really wanted to go with him. I was delighted to get out of the house and grocery shopping was the most interesting thing in the world.... so we decided to make a date of the rest of the evening. We had brownies and icecream and fancy coffees at Applebee's.

At the end of the evening, I thought I lost my purse. Which wasn't fun. But it turns out that it was between the seat and the wall. But the hour before we found it was not exciting, to say the least.

Now it's time to crack the books and get going on the next big paper on the list.