Summer Sabbath Rest

By Brad Henderson

“The higher goal of spiritual living is not to amass a wealth of information, but to face sacred moments. ”

So says Abraham Joshua Heschel, one of the great rabbis of the 20th century, in his classic, The Sabbath.

I tend to return to this physically thin, but spiritual thick book at this time of year as I am reminded that for the first 18 years of our lives, summers were often times of Sabbath rest. Those “lazy, hazy days” were times of letting go of the “have to’s” and laying claim to the “get to’s” of life. Gone were the daily anxieties of the school year; replacing them were the ease and disconnect of hot, humid days spen t in seemingly squandered living. As I got older, and my summers were no longer my own, I realized that my body and mind still approached summer with something of anticipation, as though I could once again let go of those things that prevented me from living the sacred moments of which Heschel speaks.

For so many of us, the idea of Sabbath rest is a quaint but obsolete practice that has no place in this world of constantly increased productivity. And yet, Heschel pokes us with the reminder that in so easily dismissing the need for Sabbath in our lives, we are depriving ourselves of the sacred moments that fulfill us far more than the extrapay check, career advancement or title upgrade ever will. And no, before you even ask, there’s nothing wrong with success... but it must be balanced. Even God rests at the end of the week of Creation. Shouldn’t you?

Let me close by quoting one of my favorite comic strips: after bemoaning the imminent end of summer, Calvin tells Hobbes, “There’s never enough time to do all the nothing you want. ” Go ahead... do nothing to the glory of God.