Keepin it Holy
Sabbath Keeping:
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. -Exodus 20:8
While having lunch with a fellow clergywoman the other day, we discussed what we were giving up for Lent. I told her that I was giving up going out to eat and that I should probably make it known that if someone wants to have lunch with me they only had a few more days to schedule. To which she replied, “Or you could schedule them for Sundays.”
I have always thought this was cheating. I mean if your are giving up something during the contemplative period of Fuzzing (Lent to those who prefer the term. I know a great friend who calls it Fuzz.), then you should do it for the whole time. I know that the 40 days of Lent don’t include Sundays but that’s just numbers. If you are going to give something up, you should give it up everyday!
Then she hit me with it.
“I think that as Christians we have an obligation to celebrate Sunday and not to deprive ourselves of the joy we can have on that day.”
She said it so sweetly and with such belief and passion that I thought – now here is someone who truly sets Sunday apart for the holy day it should be. She doesn’t look at it as work. It isn’t just a day to get ready for the week. It isn’t even a day to go to church. Its a day to experience something joyful!
How could I argue? I still think that you could make a point that experiencing the discipline for all the days of Lent could help you appreciate Easter that much more, but she persuaded me that if I did eat out on Sunday it wouldn’t be cheating.
I’m not sure where you stand on this issue but I hope that whatever way (or day for that matter) you celebrate a sabbath – you celebrate it with the pure joy that it is supposed to bring.
I’m writing this blog ahead of time so that it will come out on Sunday but so that I can spend the extra time celebrating with my family. Either way I know that God will bless the time.
Until Everyone Hears,
P.S. – If you want to discover more ways to make your time Holy, sign up for my newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/gTEwbD
I've 'given up' on Lent because people have completely lost sight of what Lent is all about. I hate the whole idea of 'what are you giving up for Lent' because it usually makes it about people doing things that are self-serving – as in "I'll give up chocolate since I really need to lose some weight". In what way does that make you a better Christian, or any closer to the sacrifice that Jesus made? And these people with all their loopholes…"I was sick", "I was travelling", "Sunday doesn't count"…sheesh, don't even get me started on that, you think Jesus got to call 'time out'??
It's getting so that Easter is just as bad as Christmas, where people have completely forgotten what it's all about…
Quite true. Most people think of it more like a New Year's resolution than anything holy or sacrificing.
I'm just glad that I Jesus gave the ultimate sacrifice so that I don't have to worry about the loopholes or timeouts.