Mother's Day? No, Sabbath Day.

No I’m not going to write anything about that. You probably heard enough about it on TV, radio, in stores, at church, school. And I don’t have anything to say about Mother’s Day anyways. Well, I would probably need to think about it, but why would I actually write about that?

For two school years I worked in Bethany kitchen. Since students need to be fed during the weekend as much as during the week, cooks have to work during the weekend as well. Not all of them though. So we took turns working a Saturday and/or Sunday here and there during the month. So my days off were not all the time on the weekend. I sometimes had my Wednesday and Friday off, but was on duty for the weekend and it was changing all the time. Because of that kind of schedule, and the fact that working in a kitchen is not really a physical work (no, standing all day long isn’t considered a physical work for me, sorry) I never felt like I needed a day off, that my body needed to rest… oh for sure, I few times like after Youth Advance or big events I did felt I needed a break. So I never really fully appreciated my days off. I rested but my batteries were still half full.
Now that I have switched to cleaning the dorms, it’s been different. It’s not hard work, but it requires energy and strength (moving beds with Gerald is almost a hard-core sport!) so when it’s the weekend, I really appreciate it. Because my body needs a break

I’ve been wondering about the Sabbath a littlebit. I must say that I don’t know what to think about it, or rather, I should say, I don’t know how to practice the Sabbath. It’s not simply a day off work. It’s not only a day when I enjoy relaxing and doing whatever I feel like doing. Is it really a day for ME? I wonder how I am supposed to enjoy the Sabbath today.
I’m thinking as well about the apostles like Paul, John, Peter. I think of pioneer missionaries all around the world in all history. I wonder if they had/have a Sabbath day a week and if yes, what it meant/means to them. Because Jesus’ view of the Sabbath was a bit different from the people around. I think that it is a day where you rest from your work, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t work. Because Sabbath calls for mercy and if on the Sabbath you hear of some people’s needs, you should go and help, even when it means to work. So how about the apostles who were traveling much and helping out churches and speaking much, even on the official Sabbath day of the Jews, I wonder if they set apart a day of the week to rest. You know what? I feel like they did not. At Bible School I remember a staff saying that Sabbath for us, was not a day in the week, but Sabbath was everyday of the week because of… I don’t remember. I cannot imagine the apostles, Jesus Himself, stopping their ministry once every seven days. Would they? I would say that they probably did, but maybe in a different way. It was not a “day” but an everyday attitude of Sabbath (maybe that goes with my teacher’s idea) or maybe it was set times with God throughout the week… I really don’t know what I’m saying here and what it implies. I know nothing about the Sabbath.
I am aware that in Luke 23:56 it says, “Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.” (Interesting that it doesn’t say “in accordance to the Law”… it’s about the same eh?) This verse is about the women who did the burial prep. For Jesus’ body. They rested, they stopped from their work because it was the Sabbath. That shows us that they rested, not from their usual week work, but from a special work (they did not prepare spices and perfumes all week long all the time). So it tells me that Sabbath is not only about stopping from my week job at Bethany. Even for special work that must be done, Sabbath most be observed. Well, actually, I don’t know. Because the text doesn’t say that it was a good thing or a bad one to observe the Sabbath. I wonder if they had chosen to “work” instead if they would have been commended or not. Anyways, I can’t see them working, because they had been observing the Sabbath since the day they were born. It was a custom. It is not a custom here in the West, so I don’t know how I am supposed to observe it today.
Oh, happy mother day to all the “mommies” reading this blog, have a good restful day…


BANK FOR NATIVE MISSIONARIES: 14$/ as of May 13, 2006.
This month’s $$$ will be sent to Gospel for Asia so they can help provide a bicycle to a missionary who desperately needs one. Please send GFA or myself your few bucks. Help, it is a privilege, not to say a duty, pray, pray for them. Do as Jesus leads you.