The God Squad: How do you keep the Sabbath?

When I asked you, dear readers, in a recent column to share with me the ways you honor the Sabbath Day I was anticipating a flood of responses from orthodox Jewish readers. I was therefore surprised and delighted to receive this extraordinary story of Christian family piety on the Sabbath. What this reveals is that there are many of you who take seriously the commandment to keep one day holy out of every seven days. This, I believe, more than any other commandment will build pious families and secure a future for the spiritual legacy of the biblical faiths. God bless you, B&R.

I believe that when God created people, God carefully planned everything that we would need in order to be healthy and happy. That included food, fresh air, water, work, families, rest for bodies and minds, mental stimulation, an interesting environment of nature and animals, relationships between us and God, and perhaps other things we take for granted.

God said we were to work six days a week and rest on the seventh. God gave us the work of caring for the earth and animals. God knew our physical needs, that we would need to be active; and our mental needs, that we would need to plan and think things through, and our social needs, to interact with other people and our spiritual need to be with Someone greater than ourselves – our Creator. The Sabbath, which God gave at the time of our creation, meets the need for an entire day of physical and mental rest from the work we do during the week. It also meets a spiritual need so we can take an entire day to remember our Creator, commune with God, relax and be happy. We do this well with other people, so together we worship and also meet social needs.

As we study God’s creation, enjoying the outdoors, nature, and animals, we stimulate our brains to enjoy God and nature and also relax our brains from any stress that might build up during the work week. So our mental needs receive attention, too. God’s decision to rest was part of the original plan for an ideal life for people. Preparing for the Sabbath is like preparing for any other activity, such as a picnic or wedding. We plan what we will need, then get it ready ahead of time.

Some people call Friday the Preparation Day. We prepare the clothes, food, house, car, and whatever else needs to be done. We put away secular things that might distract us from the Sabbath. Then Sabbath can go smoothly and stress-free. We go to bed a little earlier than usual so we will be well rested. We have a good breakfast that was planned ahead of time, and go to church in our clean car wearing clean clothes with polished shoes (respectful for our meeting with God). We eat a special lunch at home or take it as a picnic to a beautiful place in nature. We take a walk and enjoy the scenery and animals. We talk about spiritual things, and about our wonderful God. We sing hymns and read and discuss something from the Bible. If there are children, we may play a Bible or nature game. We sometimes go visit elderly people or sing at a nursing home. Occasionally, we invite another family to spend some time with us on Sabbath and together have sundown worship. If there are children, we make it interesting for them with Bible stories and children’s Sabbath songs. We sometimes repeat memory verses.

Our God is so good to us. We are refreshed and grateful. Then another happy Sabbath has ended. We are one week closer to Jesus’ second coming! – (From B and R)

MG: I am so impressed by the spiritual intentionality you have created to make the most out of your Sabbath observance. I love the balance you create between communal elements of Sabbath observance at your church and family observance in your home and in nature. This balance strengthens your faith community and your family all in one holy day. I also want to congratulate you on making sure that you have clean shoes and clean clothes prepared and ready for the Sabbath day.

Once upon a time people spoke naturally of their “Sunday Best” as a sign of respect for God and God’s holy day. Unfortunately, the Sunday Best has left us in too many places. The idea is that if we offer the best we have to God we will more easily remember the best that God has given us.

I hope others will share their Sabbath observances with me after you share them with God.

(Send ALL QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS to The God Squad via email at godsquadquestion@aol.com. Rabbi Gellman is the author of several books, including “Religion for Dummies,” co-written with Fr. Tom Hartman. Also, the new God Squad podcast is now available.)