Sermon:  Dancing in the Street

Texts: Isaiah 58:13-14

Date: July 13, 2008

Rev. Emily Tanis-Likkel, Eagle Harbor Congregational Church

              Didn't you love how Eileen took a deep cleansing breath before she sang this morning?  Let's all take a moment to do that.  Last week I preached on Sabbath, on the need to stop and breathe, and how restorative and necessary it is for our health, our spirits, and our relationship with God.   The book of Exodus reads, “In six days God made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day God rested, and was refreshed.”  Here “refreshed” literally translates “and God exhaled.” 1   God created the world as an inhale, giving life, and then creation was completed with a giant exhale. I described how necessary it is for us to exhale, to let our bodies, minds and spirits recuperate, to be complete whole human beings.  So let's say we set aside a day, a morning or an hour for Sabbath, what do we do with it?  How do we honor it?  How do we take delight in the Lord as Isaiah writes, on the Sabbath? 

              First we must practice observing a sanctuary in time – Sabbath is not a suggestion, but a commandment.  You have put down the broom before you can dance in the street.  This part is a little subjective.  Some of us are more uptight or wound-up than others.  Many of us have found ways to loosen up, to let our up-tightness unfurl, our bodies relax, and allow our spirits to delight in the Lord.  Some of us can be refreshed by gardening or cooking, while others relish a day to put down the spade or spatula.  You may love to walk in the woods, or you may love to sit quietly on your porch.  There are some tried and true ways to celebrate Sabbath – and our Jewish friends can teach us a lot in this area.  The ritual of sharing a meal together is a wonderful way to observe the day, whether with a big family gathering, or two neighbors who would otherwise be eating alone.  In the Jewish tradition, after everyone washes themselves, the woman of the house lights two candles, and offers a blessing.  Then the bread and wine are blessed, and then the children.   

              Robert Fulghum, who you may know from his book, All I really need to know I learned in Kindergarten, told a story about how he volunteered in his son's kindergarten class every week to teach folk songs.  He wrote, “I always enjoyed staying for snack time. I enjoyed watching the children carry out this ordinary task with extraordinary care.  Since learning community cooperation is an essential part of kindergarten, the children took turns bringing cookies from home.  Each day every child had an essential job in the sharing.”  Some would set the table, others arranged chairs and other necessary items.  “For half the class, their job for the day was being good guests.  Saying, “Yes, please, I would like to have some milk,” and “Thank you very much,” and “How nice the table looks.'  An important task.  When all were served, everyone sat quietly with their hands folded in their laps, until the teacher said, 'Let's share.' Each “host” took a cookie off their plate, broke it in half, and gave it to a 'guest' before eating the other half.  The 'guests' cleaned up before they all went out to play.  “For me,” Fulghum wrote, “it was communion. . . When attention is paid to this sharing (of food), it takes on a ritual character.”  An outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.  In our sharing of food, we are to be mindful, remembering the holy, blessing and being blessed. The time is consecrated, set apart.   

              Fulghum wrote, “The nurturing of the body becomes a metaphor of the mutual nourishing of our lives.  Every time we hold hands and say a blessing before a meal, every time we lift a glass and say fine words to one another, every time we eat in peace and grace together, we have celebrated the covenants that bind us together.” 2   When visiting Frances Roberts, prior to her move to Wyatt House, I soon discovered exactly what the visits entailed.  First, we sat in the living room to catch up.  After about 20 minutes of conversation, she went to the kitchen to prepare the tea.  She laid out a tray with beautiful cups and plates, with a selection of tea, sugar, honey, milk, cookies, and napkins.  The last couple of years, she was no longer able to bake much, so she apologetically served store-bought cookies.  The tray she moved to the lace-adorned table, and it was there that we celebrated what I now consider Holy Communion.  And although I said the audible prayer, it was Frances who blessed the elements.  Those who vigiled at her bedside this past week echoed back to her the graceful, mindful way that she lived to the very end.  An hour of Sabbath, of being mindful, has the power to transform our interactions with one another. 

              Besides the sharing of a meal, other common Sabbath practices include connecting with nature, reading, caring for others, whether it be our children, aging parents, or volunteering at a homeless shelter; nurturing intimate relationships, participating in corporate worship, singing, playing, and let's not forget the afternoon nap.

              Sabbath is not merely a good idea, it is integral to the Christian life.  “Once people feel nourished and refreshed, they cannot help but be kind; just so, the world aches for the generosity of a well-rested people.” 3   It is in a restful state that we connect our exhale with God's exhale.  In Sabbath we honor the day to feed our souls and take delight in God.  In Sabbath we recognize that God wants us to play.  This past week I was blowing bubbles with the kids, and then realized after awhile that they had moved on to Legos, and I was still entranced with floating bubbles up into the air.

              I'm sure there are many stories in this room about enjoying or not enjoying a day of rest in childhood.  Growing up, I went to worship in morning and evening, as well as Sunday school.  My Dad was the pastor, so we were always among the last people in the fellowship hall, as mine usually is today.  I often had a church friend, Emily VerHuel, over for the afternoon, or went to her house, for we could re-join our families at the evening church service.  We had Sunday dinner (not lunch, which I explained to Eva recently). At Emily's, Mr. VerHuel would ask difficult questions at the end of the devotions.  After dinner, while the kids played, the adults napped.  Otherwise when home on Sundays, I played on my own, baked cookies, read, day-dreamed.  After the evening service we ate popcorn and watched television as a family.  We didn't go anywhere or do anything other than go to church and rest.  But I don't remember any restrictions or rules or feeling trapped.  It's just what Sunday was, and I enjoyed it. 

              Isaiah 56:7 says that God will gather those who keep Sabbath, that they will be filled with joy.  There is practical wisdom in communities resting on the same day.  Lynne Baab, in her book, A Renewed Spirituality: Finding Fresh Paths at Midlife, wrote that she and her husband loved observing the Sabbath while living in Tel-Aviv for eighteen months.  There was a frenzy of activity during the day on Friday as people stocked up on groceries and finished errands before the Sabbath came on Sundown.  I imagine it would be it little bit like Safeway on July 3rd.  Then no matter how much work they had left to do, the whole city would pretty much shut down.  Everyone ate, enjoyed their families, and rested.  The buses did not run, and they did not have a car, so their options for what to do was limited.  They spent Saturdays reading, talking together, and walking by the river.  She writes, “All along the river, families would be walking together—children, parents, grandparents.  They walked slowly, in no hurry to get somewhere.  They were dressed in their finest clothes, and there was a festive air of relaxation and abundance.”  They came home to the United States and told their friends about how wonderful their experience of Sabbath had been.  But their friends didn't get it.  That is so legalistic,  they countered, defending their choice of hurry.  They referenced Jesus' healings on the Sabbath, saying that there is no longer a need for intentional Sabbath observance.  Certainly it is true that legalism is not a healthy way to practice Sabbath, however Lynne and her husband discovered that Sabbath observance freed them, restored them, and gave them life.   Fortunately for them, they were able to continue the practice after re-integrating into the culture.  She wrote, “Because our North American culture doesn't remove options on Sundays, we removed our own options.  We didn't go shopping.  We didn't try to do anything productive.  And we continued to reap great benefits from this rhythm we had chosen.”  The test of time and culture teaches that it is most effective for a community to practice Sabbath together.  It is much more pleasant to walk together rather than one rushing on ahead of the other.  And like the tortoise and the hare, there is wisdom in slowing down. When we are quiet, we can better discern our deepest needs, and when we are quiet with one another, we can better glimpse the other's deepest need. 

              We can observe Sabbath with another, and we can be Sabbath with another.  We can cultivate a Sabbath spirit by slowing down, by being aware of the Spirit's presence, and relying on God's grace.  Wayne Muller wrote, “One of the most precious gifts we can offer is to be a place of refuge, to be Sabbath for another.” 4  

              Isaiah tells us to call the Sabbath a delight.  It is a day to be grateful.  What would you do today if you could do anything?  Rabbi Abraham Heschel wrote that the “Sabbath is a little taste of eternal life, and unless we can enjoy it here on earth, we certainly won't find ourselves enjoying it in heaven!” 5   The Sabbath year, when the community let the land rest, they ate what they had.  Every seventh year, the year of Jubilee, all lands were returned to their original owners and debts were erased.  In Sabbath, we are mindful that our food, our land, everything in our lives is a gift from God.

              In addition to creating a day or block of time for Sabbath, we can create Sabbath moments everyday.  I like to light a candle on my desk to bring my awareness of the Holy Spirit's presence in my office.  I also keep reminders around me to help me cultivate an unhurried way of being – such as an answering message from Brett to “Go with the Flow” that I can't bear to erase.  I try to have a Sabbath moment in the car by saying a prayer before jumping out to do my next task. 

              Sabbath observance takes some planning.  If we decide to set aside a day where no cooking or laundry is done, but there is no milk in the fridge or clean underwear in the drawer, we may not be able to rest as easily. However, we need not keep the Sabbath waiting by washing just this one more load.  I don't know about your house, but at mine, if we only rested when the laundry basket was empty, then we would never accept the gift of Sabbath.  It takes some planning and organizing and routine to observe Sabbath, but as sundown approaches, it also takes some surrender.  We remember the singer of a song after we stop trying to think of it, after we let the thought rest.  There is a story of Alfred Hitchcock, who when the cast of a movie was working late into the night to figure out a solution to a problem in a scene, came in telling goofy jokes.  One of the actors asked him why he got them off track when they were so close to solving the problem. “You were pushing,”  he said.  “It never comes from pushing.” 6 There is a surrender quality of Sabbath.  When we set aside our to-do list and unresolved questions, wisdom and discernment is allowed to grow.

              I'd like to close with a story.  [Read “The Book” by James Marshall.  Hippos George and Martha are trying to capture some Sabbath. George is relaxing, Martha is fidgeting.  He gets angry.  She wants to share his Sabbath -- she was lonely, and wanted to be with him.  “I got lonely” she says.  “I never considered that”  he says.  They stayed up talking late into the night.]  I think that there is more wisdom here than an entire volume of adult literature.  Sabbath is observed so beautifully and wonderfully when we are together.  In hushed conversation, a walk together when we can bear our souls, singing, praying, being silly together, it is here that grace crowds out loneliness, that the Spirit calms our fidgeting, our hurry, our anger, our want for more.  It is in Sabbath, that we exhale, that we are complete, that we are whole.

1        Sabbath.  Wayne Muller, p. 36.

2        From Beginning to End: The Rituals of our Lives.  Fulghum, 81-2.

3        Sabbath.  Wayne Muller, p. 11.

4        Sabbath.  Wayne Muller, p. 119.

5        Baab, 105.

6        Sabbath.  Wayne Muller, p. 190.