I slipped into the office to complete the bulletin, sermon, check the mail, answer a few e-mails and write this Pastor's Corner.  I'm just on my second real day of vacation.  I'm in the process of refinishing a bench.  I'm doing household maintenance.  I have exercised by swimming laps.  I  haven't started on cleaning the den and catching up on reading as I'd planned.  Okay, I struggle with vacation.

We Americans don't do the time off stuff very well.  For instance, our lunch "hour"  averages only 31 minutes.  That's down 5 minutes in the last ten years.  (Time, June 26, 2006, Page 78.)

If you read the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20), the information about the   Sabbath is not only good; we are told to keep it holy.  In fact, the Sabbath commandment takes up about one third of the space concerning the Ten Commandments.
 
The Hebrew people gave six days to Pharaoh, but the Sabbath was the day the people gave to God.  Perhaps you have felt that way.  Five or six days you are a "slave" for your employer and government with taxes; then you are ready to give yourself to God on your Sabbath.

The Hebrew people were later given 234 specific tasks prohibited on the Sabbath.  One was to cease from all the acts of creation.  The people were to stop competing with God.

Today, we are to stop these acts of creation, at least for one day.  We are to stop competing with God.  Our good news is that we can trust God with creation until Monday.

Jesus gave us the flip side of this thought.  Jesus said,  "The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath." (Mark 2:27).  Jesus allowed the Sabbath to be used for works of mercy.  Jesus also gave back the joy of Sabbath day that the regulations seemed to be lacking.

The subtle point of the Scriptures was to avoid idol worship.  When we stop competing with God in the creation, we acknowledge that God is God and we are God's creation.  So, maybe I better re-read this Pastor's Corner for my sake, too.

Your partner in ministry,

Bill

The Rev. Dr. William R. Nirote