Sabbath Time in Covid Chaos ~ Sermon for November 15, 2020
Genesis 2: 1-4
For this first reading we go back to the first creation story, to the last action God takes, which is to rest.
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. 2 And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.
4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.
1 Kings 19: 1-15
This is a story of the prophet Elijah, who brought the word of God to the rulers of Israel, Ahab and Jezebel. They were not monarchs who wanted to hear from God, so Elijah was often in conflict with them. This story takes place after a time of particularly violent conflict between the rulers and Elijah.
Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” 3 Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there.
4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: “It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.” 5 Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, “Get up and eat.” 6 He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. 7 The angel of the LORD came a second time, touched him, and said, “Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.” 8 He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. 9 At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there.
Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10 He answered, “I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.”
11 He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.” Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. 13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
14 He answered, “I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” 15 Then the LORD said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram.
I took a course on Genesis in Quebec in the early 90's, just when the province was going through the whole shopping on Sundays debate. When we got to those verses from Genesis 2 we read this morning, about God resting on the 7th day of creation, the professor decided they were obviously very relevant to what was going on in the province, and he asked us to explore Sunday shopping in light of that passage. He made it clear he did not want a paper saying it was God's will to rest on Sundays, he wanted an exploration of what sabbath means.
It was quite an eye opener for me. As a full time student also working part time, “rest” wasn't really part of my vocabulary. But the more I explored the concept of sabbath, of holy rest, the more I realized how essential it was.
So in the end I wrote a paper saying that the problem with shopping on Sunday wasn't that it didn't honor the Christian faith or even that it didn't honor God, the problem was that it meant there was no day when everyone could rest together. As a society we need time set aside for rest.
That was my first introduction to sabbath time. Since then I have grown to appreciate it more and more. I think it is something we particularly need right now. We're exhausted aren't we. Between Covid and the US election we are at the limit of how much stress and anxiety and uncertainty we can take. We need some holy rest.
The story of Elijah illustrates both the need and the practice of sabbath time in a powerful way. Elijah was a prophet who knew what it was to go through a rough time. He was a prophet in Israel about 800 years before Jesus. His job was to keep the people of Israel on track in following God's law and living in God's way. It wasn't an easy job, in fact it was pretty hard and thankless.
His biggest obstacles unfortunately were the King & Queen themselves, Ahab & Jezebel. They were firmly convinced that being rulers meant they could do whatever they wanted and take whatever they wanted (sound like another leader you know?) rather than govern in God's way~ peace, justice, compassion.
So Elijah often found himself in conflict with Ahab and Jezebel, and seeing as they had all the power, it meant Elijah had to flee for his life each time they got angry at him.
At the start of today's reading, Elijah is once again fleeing the wrath of Jezebel & Ahab, and he's just about had it. He is exhausted, terrified, despairing. He can't take any more and he isn't afraid to tell that to God.
"It's too much, Lord," he prays. "Take away my life; I might as well be dead!" God listens to Elijah's rant and then, like any good mother, says “have something to eat & take a nap.” This happens twice, and then Elijah goes to Sinai, the holy mountain. Now that he's had some food and some rest, Elijah can manage the trip to Sinai. It is there that he and God finally connect and have a proper conversation. Elijah spills his heart out to God, and God comes to Elijah as directly as any human can ever experience God's presence.
It's interesting to see how God comes to Elijah. Not in any of the powerful things we would normally associate with God, wind, earthquake, fire, but rather as a still, small whisper. That whisper essentially says, you've had your time to recover, now you need to get back to work.
We all have moments when we feel like Elijah, don't we. Even without Covid, we have moments when we're exhausted, overwhelmed, fearful, stressed, we just can't take it anymore. And what do most of us do when reach that point?
Push ourselves to keep going, don't we.
This story has a lot to teach us. It says that when we reach that point, that place where we aren't sure if we can continue, the point of exhaustion and anxiety and fear, that's when we need to stop and take time for God.
The first thing God tells Elijah to do is eat a good meal, and sleep. How wise. How many of us aren't sleeping well these days? How many don't always eat properly, skipping meals, eating on the run, or eating too much of the wrong thing?
Once Elijah has eaten and had some rest, then he takes time away from everything else to simply be with God. Again, how wise. How many of us have trouble taking even 10 minutes of prayer with God, let alone a whole day? We all need time to eat properly and sleep, time to connect with God at a deeper level.
This is especially true right now when our entire world is going through a time of anxiety and uncertainty. How many conversations do you have that end up being about either Covid or the US election? It's hard to escape the existential anxiety surrounding us. And yet we have to take time to do so. Otherwise it's too easy to be overwhelmed by anxiety and end up being cranky and useless to ourselves, to others and to God.
That's the point Elijah had reached. And he was far more important to his society than we are! He was the main prophet, the main voice of God, of justice and compassion. He knew so much was on his shoulders, but he also knew he had to stop, he was worn down, worn out, he couldn't do any more.
God's gentle, compassionate response to Elijah's stress tells us so much. It tells us that God wants us to follow God's own example in Genesis 2, of holy rest, God wants us to recognize when it's time to stop and look after ourselves, time to let go and let God be with us.
A big part of it is giving ourselves permission. Sometimes we need sabbath time because we get so caught up in our responsibilities and our lists and the pressure we put on ourselves, that we convince ourselves the world will fall apart if we say no, if we take a quiet day, if we quit running.
Sometimes we need sabbath time, we need a holy break, from carrying the weight of world on our shoulders and in our hearts. I think that's where many of us are at right now. How many of us check news at least 3x/day if not hourly? Even when it makes us feel upset to hear it or read it? How many of us wrestle with what is safe to do and what is not, almost every time we go out or consider doing something? In some ways it's harder to take sabbath time from that sort of burden than it is from actual work and busyness. But we need to.
Some parts of sabbath time, of holy rest, look the same, no matter what we are taking sabbath from ~ prayer, quiet, spending time in a place or doing an activity that soothes your soul. The most important thing is setting aside time, not just hoping it will happen, but planning for time to be quiet, to pray, to walk or sing or meditate.
Right now I think there are a few other actions that are important to sabbath time. The first one is, take a sabbath from the news. I know it's hard! But the world won't end if you don't know the latest Covid numbers for 24 hours, or if you don't hear about Trump's latest outrage. The world won't end and you just might feel a little calmer.
So, take a break from the news, maybe from Facebook too, even from e-mail.
Give yourself permission to take a break from people who mean well, but who will only make you more anxious by wanting to talk about these things, or who get very worked up about them. It doesn't have to be a long break, but maybe 24 or 48 hours.
Taking sabbath time isn't easy, whether it's from the busyness of our lives or from an anxiety ridden world. In fact, for many of us it's down right scary to think of letting go, of slowing down, of taking time to truly connect with God at a deeper level. It's scary and hard, but the rewards of holy rest are amazing.
Look at Elijah, he went from being ready to die, to being renewed and ready to carry on with his work as God's prophet in a very difficult place. He no longer felt alone in his work, he had reconnected w the source of his call, with the source of all love and courage and strength.
Even God needed sabbath time after creating the world!
For each person sabbath time, holy rest, will look different. It might be making time for a walk where you can connect with God, it might be letting go of some task or chore and instead just looking out a window, or listening to music and feeling God's presence with you.
Sabbath time is for all of us, anywhere, any time that we make a little more room in our lives and in our hearts to connect with God and with one another.
It's a gift we give ourselves that also comes from God, and in the end it helps us to live out our faith with more authenticity and energy, just like Elijah.