There were many things wrong with the blue laws that existed when I was a child, but it did have some benefits that we have now lost. First, it built in the idea of rhythm in our week. There was a day, and in many cases two days, when things shut down. Without having to consciously think about it, people pulled away from their work and focused on other things. In harmony with the intent of the fourth commandment, even if you were not Christian, you got a break from work. For Christians, of course, it also built in a societal support for the churches. There weren’t as many competing choices that might tempt a believer from not attending worship.
For pastors, however, it meant an extra hard day of work. That part hasn’t changed. For most pastors, Sunday, and even for some Saturday evening, means extra work as they seek to provide services for the members and visitors to their congregation. In some ways, it has always been true in both the Jewish and Christian faiths that the priests, rabbis, and clergy had extra obligations on the Sabbath.
Jesus made it very clear that the sabbath was made for humanity and not humanity for the Sabbath. It is the principle of the Sabbath, not the exact position in the week that is important. In that freedom, Christians actually moved their celebration of the Sabbath from what we now call Saturday to Sunday.
Whether it be Saturday or Sunday, our society has stopped honoring a day of rest and often Sunday has become one more opportunity for commercialism. Therefore, if one is going to practice the principle of the Sabbath, one has to be much more intentional about it. Because of the increasingly complex nature of the pastorate, I think it is all the more important that clergy find creative ways to practice the Sabbath. In doing so, they are making an important witness for their time stressed society in which we live.
To practice the Sabbath creatively, we need to remind ourselves of the purpose of the Sabbath. I would suggest that it begins with relationships. The Sabbath is a time to step outside the world that stresses productivity and focus on the primacy of relationships. Their are four relationships that seem to be the center of the emphasis in the Sabbath Commandment. It is certainly a time to nurture our relationship with God. The Exodus explanation of the commandment reminds us that our whole existence has its origin in God’s creative activity. It is also a time to emphasize our relationship with our neighbor, the creation in which we live, and our relationship with ourselves. Over the next couple of days I would like to look at the practice of Sabbath with respect to these relationships.
