Two Minute Sabbath

Have you taken a sabbath moment today?

Psalm 23


Which words or phrases, and animation most stood out to you?
How is it connecting with your life today?
What are you being called to do about it today/this week? Or, how are you going to be with it today/this week?

Sabbath Again - Day 39

In the closing of our 40 day experiment, it is good to look back at the place where we started. Many of us started at a place grappling with definitions. What is sabbath? What does it mean to practice the Sabbath? Do we even need to anymore? I have used this experiment as an opportunity to reconnect to the heart of sabbath and, as I've said so often in previous posts, reorient myself through sabbath practices. In this experience, sabbath has taken on a new meaning for my daily life, as I know it has for many of you as well.

So much of our lives is just this - taking words, old ideas, a life-time of education and experiences, meeting them again, and seeing them with new eyes. It is pretty awesome to watch something we once thought dead or meaningless suddenly filled, even breathing, with new life...



Most of us know the story, The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. If you own a copy of it, take some time to read it or watch the video below. You may come to the story with reactions from previous readings... loving it, hating it, critique of this or that... As you read or listen to the story, I want you to read it from the perspective of sabbath.

Where do you see the gift of sabbath in this story? 



In his book, Yearnings, Irwin Kula discusses the different ways people usually understand The Giving Tree, closing with a description of the one he has found to be least popular, in which the story is re-titled, "The Receiving Boy."

Here the boy-turned-man is able to voice his vulnerability and accept the care of the tree. He is unafraid of showing his dependence. He is joyfully dependent, freely expressing his weaknesses, needs, and dreams. This in turn evokes unconditional generosity from the tree... This interpretation touches the part of us that longs to be cared for unconditionally; to share our neediness with our hands fully open and our hearts exposed. When we can overcome our fears, and surrender in this way, the boundaries between giving and receiving can dissolve. There is an honesty and transparency between helper and helpee. When we receive, we give. When we give, we receive.

We are created to give and receive. In sacred time, sabbath time, we live simultaneously as giver and receiver. 

Is it harder for you to give or receive? What are ways that Sabbath Mission can help you balance both of these needs?

Peace & Bitterness - Day 24

Could there be peace?

Week 4: Peace & Bitterness - Day 22

Peace is another daunting task; a daunting perspective; a daunting commitment. It's a nice answer to the question of what we would most like to see more of in the world, but much more difficult to fully grasp, let alone live out, on a daily basis. Why is it that when we intentionally focus on sabbath, we have to face all of these things that do not have easy answers?*

Worship & Idolatry - Day 17

Talking about worship is a lot like talking about music. We all have different tastes and different understandings of what makes "good" worship or "good" music. In some ways it's a little insane of us to attempt mixing the two every Sunday. But what would worship be without music? It's hard to imagine. So we continue to attempt to mix it up. Here's the thing. "Good" worship and "good" can be distractions from appreciating worship and music for what they are. Sometimes we are so caught up in our judgment of what is "good" that we miss the deeper message, deeper gift, that is being held there.

Week 3: Worship & Idolatry - Day 15

Like sabbath, worship and idolatry are two words that we may think we know, but probably haven't spent much actual time defining in our lives. Instead, we probably have some generalized assumptions that make up our working definitions. The more generalized our working definitions, the easier it is for us to keep thoughts of worship and idolatry at an arm's distance, never fully immersing ourselves in what those definitions mean for our lives.

Caring for Creation & Confession - Day 10

Recognizing the ways we do and don't care for creation says something about how we live every day. When we recognize our connection to creation, we live with more care.

Week 2: Care for Creation & Confession - Day 8

We've entered the Sabbath Experiment with gratitude and letting go. Continuing on in the process leads us to another aspect of sabbath, Care for Creation & Confession. In my life, I've found it's difficult to truly care for another (person, place, thing...) without also facing the ways in which we have failed it. However, as humans, we are fallible. We mess up. Sometimes those mess ups feed into bigger consequences than we ever want to admit or recognize. Consider our oceans, farming practices, and over all use of our resources... The interest of money and quick turn around has led us to make choices that may not be the best in the long run. So, while we give gratitude for the beautiful gifts that surround us, we also need to take steps to care for these gifts. We also need to take steps to confess the ways we have not honored these gifts.

Gratitude and Letting Go - Day 2

Daily Order: Day 2

Yesterday you began creating a gratitude and letting go list. What did you notice? Did you find any commonalities?

I wonder what will happen to our day when we fill it with thoughts of what we are most thankful? There are people out there who have already been researching this like the Greater Good Science Center, linked on Day 1. What I think is really cool about this stuff is that it scientifically reinforces what I believe most of us already know somewhere inside of us, but don't always take the time to admit to ourselves. Recognizing those things we are most thankful for makes us happy. Expressing our gratitude spreads the happiness. This happiness can ripple through our day, changing our perspectives, changing our actions, changing our words.

WEEK 1: Gratitude and Letting Go - Day 1

This first week of our Sabbath Experiment begins with a focus on gratitude and letting go. I do not think we can truly have one without the other. Gratitude is not just saying "thank you" for something that makes us feel good. Gratitude comes out of recognition of the gifts that surround us and fill our lives; gifts that have nothing to do with what we have done to deserve them or make them happen. Gratitude, in essence, is a practice of letting go. Letting go is hard. Recognizing the beauty and gifts in our lives that have nothing to do with what we think we deserve is hard. Saying "thank you" and simply receiving these things, is hard. So we begin with little steps.