Isaiah 58: 1-14

Fr. Nutter was ill on November 25th. Fr. Todd Bryant, Associate Rector of Palmer, filled in during Fr. Nutter’s absence.

In last week’s study of Isaiah 56:1-8, Fr. Nutter focused us on Sabbath. “Happy is the mortal…who keeps the sabbath.” (v.2). The discussion that followed has stuck with me all week. How does one keep sabbath in a culture that does not, maybe cannot, help us rest in the Lord? Ultimately prayer, love, support can check our tendency to avoid the renewing energy of sabbath taking.

The text for this week, Isaiah 58, offers another picture of how to love people and keep sabbath. After reading the text someone said, “I like this kind of Sabbath. It seems different from last week’s text.” He was referring to an active side of sabbath taking (focusing on the needs of others) as compared to the more passive side of sabbath we talked about last week in Chapter 56 which invited the hearer to think about sabbath as refraining from doing evil (v.2).

Like a good Episcopal clergyperson I like “both/and” answers. Your sabbath taking will be the most effective when there is passive rest in God and when there is active pursuit of the economic, spiritual, and emotional welfare of others. If we experience rest and bliss while others suffer our sabbath will not be complete. Furthermore, there is a strong connection between how skillfully we rest in the Lord and how effectively we love the people around us. How many of you are filled with light and hope at the end of a 40 hour work week? I suspect most of you would answer that you have the space to love your partners and kids well (even if you don’t). How do you do with family at 50 hours? 60 hours? Or even 70 hours and up? At some point we move from fulfilling our commitment to fulfilling a broken image of ourselves that resembles a bad caricature of duty. Sabbath helps us to remember our smallness in the context of God’s love.

We are called by God to make work a holy endeavor. However, it can become a mistress when it starts whispering to you, “You are indispensable. No one can do it like you can.” Live, work, and love but never forget that you are God’s precious creation. Live, work, and love but never forget the commitments you made outside yourself and work to family, friends, and even foes.