Okay, here's something that I've been wrestling with and as it's come up recently in a debate elsewhere, maybe it's time I attempted to put my confused thoughts together. Be warned though - I have many more questions than answers! In fact, I'd love to hear any thoughts or insights that you have on this issue.
I'm leaving aside for the moment the question of which day of the week it should be - I know some people will want to stone me for saying this, but I really don't think it's that crucial, I think there's a principle in the Bible of having a day of rest, of not rushing around like headless chickens all the time but trusting God that he will provide all we need even if we dare to stop for a day. I think God gave us this gift out of his love and care for us, knowing the human tendency to work too hard and to keep pushing ourselves until we get a heart attack.
So far, so good. We have a principle of stopping work for a day, and resting. Sounds good. But what does that actually mean in practical terms? What does work mean? And what does rest mean? My questions come from realising that these terms can mean very different things to different people, or even to the same person at different stages of their lives.
When I was doing an ordinary 9-5 office job, it was very clear to me what work was. Work was what I did in the office, obviously... Some of you may have already noticed what's missing here - what about stuff like housework, I hear you saying. But then in those days I didn't do much of that (not that I do now, come to think of it) so this wasn't an issue for me. Having said that, I do remember visiting a Christian friend who was also working 9-5 but had a young daughter to look after and very different standards to me as far as housework was concerned, and I was surprised to see her doing the ironing on Sunday afternoon after church. My understanding of the Sabbath principle is that you would somehow squeeze the ironing etc into the rest of the week, say in the evening after work, so that you could have a day that is completely restful. But I didn't ask my friend why she did it, and it just may be that she is one of those people who find ironing relaxing - who knows?
It could be very easy in a way to go with the list the rabbis put together of what you shouldn't do on the Sabbath - it would mean not having to think about it. But it would enslave me under a set of rules that I don't believe God intended. You see, he made me and he knows what I'm like, and he doesn't expect me to be like everybody else. He's made each of us different! And he knows that what is work for me is restful for you, and vice versa.
I remember when living with my friends up in Wales - I helped them run a retreat house and we had a "community day off" on Thursdays (Sunday was not an option for them as a day off as they were both church ministers). I was stunned to see one of them doing some gardening on a Thursday afternoon, but then discovered that for her, pottering in the garden was relaxing, it was a way to unwind and rest.
The rabbis would frown on gardening on the Sabbath. But then I expect they would also frown on, say, embroidery or knitting, which for me are fantastic ways into stillness. Or what about drawing or painting? At least they do allow going for a walk, but they tell you how far it's ok to walk - again laying down the same standard for all of us, no matter how fit we are! And they won't let you go for a nice drive, take the family somewhere nice for a stroll in the countryside, have a nice picnic, enjoy the beauty of creation.
I have seen how silly it can get, following the rabbis' rules and regulations. For instance, my mum keeps the rule about not writing on the Sabbath. So one Saturday afternoon - this was a few years ago when I was living with her - I was having a rest and she was going out for a walk with a friend. She needed to leave me a message, but couldn't write me a note. So what did she do? (My mum has always been very imaginative!) She got her Scrabble set out, chose the right letters from the bag and left me a message on the dining table made out of Scrabble letters, saying: Gone for a walk with Erika. Now, I take my hat off to my mum for the ingenuity, but I have to ask: which would have been the greater effort? To make this message out of Scrabble letters, or to write a quick note?
But having said that, if I try to define work in terms of effort, I run into problems too, because there are some things that we do for fun and relaxation that involve effort, like playing sports for instance. (You'll notice I said "we do" not "I do"...)
You see why I said I had many questions and not so many answers?
The question of "what is work" has been a big question for me in recent years as I am not in a job and when people ask me "do you work?" or "what do you do?" I don't have a straightforward answer. No, I don't go out to work, I try to explain, and all sorts of well-intentioned people say, ah, so you're a housewife (or homemaker). Well, no, I'm not really. I'm at home and I do the household shopping and I cook a meal for us every night, I do some washing up once a day and once in a while I throw some clothes into the washing machine, but that's as far as my housekeeping goes. My husband does a fair bit - he's actually much more fussy than I am about cleanliness, so if he waited for me to notice it needed doing he'd wait a long time...
So, what is work for me right now? Well, cooking and washing up and supermarket shopping - definitely. Which is why I make a point of doing the shopping before the weekend so that I can have time off from that; and I've negotiated with my husband a couple of nights off from cooking over the weekend - either he cooks or we get a takeaway. Then there's coursework - it's quite obvious to me that that is work. And the course involves residential weekends, so obviously when I have one of those, I have to take a day off in the week instead.
Oops, I said "obviously" but that's just obvious to me, not to everyone. Many people on the course work full time and so they come on Friday straight from work and on Monday they're back at work. I don't know how they do it! And here's a question: is it right?
But another non-obvious bit about this is that for some people on the course, those weekends feel like a break, like being away on holiday. I've spoken to some women on the course who so enjoy being cooked for and not having to do the washing up! For me these weekends are something to be endured and survived - as a night owl having to be up before 7am, and as an introvert having to be with people all day, I get through these weekends with the help of coffee and chocolate and then I come home and crash. But for extroverts, who thrive on being in company, I can see that it could be positive and recharging.
This issue comes up for me again and again when I go away on Messianic conferences. I love these get-togethers and wouldn't miss them for (pretty much) anything, but... I struggle with the Sabbath issue. We do the candles and wine on Friday evening, welcoming Shabbat. We do the Havdalah on Saturday evening, saying goodbye to Shabbat. But for me as an introvert and a night owl, this is not a Sabbath, it's a day in which I'm pushing myself to be up early, having to interact with people over breakfast, and there's no way I can see this as keeping the Sabbath. I come home from such a conference and have a day off on the Monday to rest and recharge.
And here's another question: surely there are some things that are work for you but you still simply have to do them on the Sabbath? If you're a farmer, no doubt you still have to feed the animals and milk the cows. And if you're the mother of a young baby, you won't leave the baby in dirty nappies for a day, will you? I suppose some things can be resolved by getting someone else to do them, but a breastfeeding mum wouldn't really be able to delegate... So how does she go about having a Sabbath rest? or doesn't she?
Just a few questions... Would love to hear what you think. Do you have a regular day of rest? What does rest mean for you? How do you interpret the Sabbath principle in your own life?
I'm leaving aside for the moment the question of which day of the week it should be - I know some people will want to stone me for saying this, but I really don't think it's that crucial, I think there's a principle in the Bible of having a day of rest, of not rushing around like headless chickens all the time but trusting God that he will provide all we need even if we dare to stop for a day. I think God gave us this gift out of his love and care for us, knowing the human tendency to work too hard and to keep pushing ourselves until we get a heart attack.
So far, so good. We have a principle of stopping work for a day, and resting. Sounds good. But what does that actually mean in practical terms? What does work mean? And what does rest mean? My questions come from realising that these terms can mean very different things to different people, or even to the same person at different stages of their lives.
When I was doing an ordinary 9-5 office job, it was very clear to me what work was. Work was what I did in the office, obviously... Some of you may have already noticed what's missing here - what about stuff like housework, I hear you saying. But then in those days I didn't do much of that (not that I do now, come to think of it) so this wasn't an issue for me. Having said that, I do remember visiting a Christian friend who was also working 9-5 but had a young daughter to look after and very different standards to me as far as housework was concerned, and I was surprised to see her doing the ironing on Sunday afternoon after church. My understanding of the Sabbath principle is that you would somehow squeeze the ironing etc into the rest of the week, say in the evening after work, so that you could have a day that is completely restful. But I didn't ask my friend why she did it, and it just may be that she is one of those people who find ironing relaxing - who knows?
It could be very easy in a way to go with the list the rabbis put together of what you shouldn't do on the Sabbath - it would mean not having to think about it. But it would enslave me under a set of rules that I don't believe God intended. You see, he made me and he knows what I'm like, and he doesn't expect me to be like everybody else. He's made each of us different! And he knows that what is work for me is restful for you, and vice versa.
I remember when living with my friends up in Wales - I helped them run a retreat house and we had a "community day off" on Thursdays (Sunday was not an option for them as a day off as they were both church ministers). I was stunned to see one of them doing some gardening on a Thursday afternoon, but then discovered that for her, pottering in the garden was relaxing, it was a way to unwind and rest.
The rabbis would frown on gardening on the Sabbath. But then I expect they would also frown on, say, embroidery or knitting, which for me are fantastic ways into stillness. Or what about drawing or painting? At least they do allow going for a walk, but they tell you how far it's ok to walk - again laying down the same standard for all of us, no matter how fit we are! And they won't let you go for a nice drive, take the family somewhere nice for a stroll in the countryside, have a nice picnic, enjoy the beauty of creation.
I have seen how silly it can get, following the rabbis' rules and regulations. For instance, my mum keeps the rule about not writing on the Sabbath. So one Saturday afternoon - this was a few years ago when I was living with her - I was having a rest and she was going out for a walk with a friend. She needed to leave me a message, but couldn't write me a note. So what did she do? (My mum has always been very imaginative!) She got her Scrabble set out, chose the right letters from the bag and left me a message on the dining table made out of Scrabble letters, saying: Gone for a walk with Erika. Now, I take my hat off to my mum for the ingenuity, but I have to ask: which would have been the greater effort? To make this message out of Scrabble letters, or to write a quick note?
But having said that, if I try to define work in terms of effort, I run into problems too, because there are some things that we do for fun and relaxation that involve effort, like playing sports for instance. (You'll notice I said "we do" not "I do"...)
You see why I said I had many questions and not so many answers?
The question of "what is work" has been a big question for me in recent years as I am not in a job and when people ask me "do you work?" or "what do you do?" I don't have a straightforward answer. No, I don't go out to work, I try to explain, and all sorts of well-intentioned people say, ah, so you're a housewife (or homemaker). Well, no, I'm not really. I'm at home and I do the household shopping and I cook a meal for us every night, I do some washing up once a day and once in a while I throw some clothes into the washing machine, but that's as far as my housekeeping goes. My husband does a fair bit - he's actually much more fussy than I am about cleanliness, so if he waited for me to notice it needed doing he'd wait a long time...
So, what is work for me right now? Well, cooking and washing up and supermarket shopping - definitely. Which is why I make a point of doing the shopping before the weekend so that I can have time off from that; and I've negotiated with my husband a couple of nights off from cooking over the weekend - either he cooks or we get a takeaway. Then there's coursework - it's quite obvious to me that that is work. And the course involves residential weekends, so obviously when I have one of those, I have to take a day off in the week instead.
Oops, I said "obviously" but that's just obvious to me, not to everyone. Many people on the course work full time and so they come on Friday straight from work and on Monday they're back at work. I don't know how they do it! And here's a question: is it right?
But another non-obvious bit about this is that for some people on the course, those weekends feel like a break, like being away on holiday. I've spoken to some women on the course who so enjoy being cooked for and not having to do the washing up! For me these weekends are something to be endured and survived - as a night owl having to be up before 7am, and as an introvert having to be with people all day, I get through these weekends with the help of coffee and chocolate and then I come home and crash. But for extroverts, who thrive on being in company, I can see that it could be positive and recharging.
This issue comes up for me again and again when I go away on Messianic conferences. I love these get-togethers and wouldn't miss them for (pretty much) anything, but... I struggle with the Sabbath issue. We do the candles and wine on Friday evening, welcoming Shabbat. We do the Havdalah on Saturday evening, saying goodbye to Shabbat. But for me as an introvert and a night owl, this is not a Sabbath, it's a day in which I'm pushing myself to be up early, having to interact with people over breakfast, and there's no way I can see this as keeping the Sabbath. I come home from such a conference and have a day off on the Monday to rest and recharge.
And here's another question: surely there are some things that are work for you but you still simply have to do them on the Sabbath? If you're a farmer, no doubt you still have to feed the animals and milk the cows. And if you're the mother of a young baby, you won't leave the baby in dirty nappies for a day, will you? I suppose some things can be resolved by getting someone else to do them, but a breastfeeding mum wouldn't really be able to delegate... So how does she go about having a Sabbath rest? or doesn't she?
Just a few questions... Would love to hear what you think. Do you have a regular day of rest? What does rest mean for you? How do you interpret the Sabbath principle in your own life?
