Sabbath is not for sissies...

It shall be a statute to you forever that in the seventh month (nearly October) on the tenth day of the month you shall afflict yourselves by fasting with pertinence and do no work at all, either the native born or the stranger who dwells temporarily among you.
For on this day atonement shall be made for you, to cleanse you, from all your sins you shall be clean before the Lord.
It is a sabbath of solemn rest to you... It is a statute forever. Leviticus 16:29-31
Keeping the Sabbath holy was serious business when I was growing up and in spite of the rest required, it was hard work. Church attendance twice on Sunday, morning and evening, was the norm in our church. The morning was for worship and the evening was for training. Baptists, for all they did not do, knew how to prepare you for the work of the church.
After Sunday dinner, a special event with fried chicken and mashed potatoes and banana pudding, quiet time was enforced. Mama and Daddy took a nap and woe betide the one who woke them up! Gayle and I would emigrate outside to the field to have our noisy
disagreements. We were free to run and play, read, or go play with neighbors. Doing homework was not allowed since that should have been finished before Sunday.
While Daddy was Sunday School Superintendent, we would go visiting after the nap. He made it his mission to visit every home in our church during the year he served. That meant donning our Sunday dress and shoes again because often we would go straight from visiting back to church with a leftover picnic in the car for supper. Daddy held firm to the ideal of not purchasing services or goods on the Sabbath. We did not eat out or go to the store. Our Sabbath was not for sissies.
As a child I often complained about the rules for Sabbath. My mother would respond with stories of her childhood sabbaths... no outdoor play, no sewing because every stitch would take a day off your life, sitting and playing with the button box, going to church, having to rub Uncle Bill’s back until he went to sleep, endless tedious boredom. That was supposed to make me feel better and sometimes hearing those stories of long ago did help. Now my stories are the stories of long ago and I am surrounded by a generation who have no memory of Sabbath.
I see now some of the wisdom contained in the observance of Sabbath as a holy day set apart from the rest of the week. It is a day that begins with worship, praise and adoration offered to the One who is our Creator. We set ourselves apart from the workaday world so that we might remember to whom we belong. We gather together so that we might find comfort for aching hearts and bruised spirits in the company of other Christian believers. Our souls are strengthened and soothed by an encounter with the Holy One. We lift our hearts up to God and we are lifted up in body and soul, renewed and revised, ready to re-enter the world that needs us.
We rest, really rest. We take some time away from our usual routines so that our souls might catch up with our minds and bodies. All too often in our culture productivity becomes the altar at which we worship and anything that does not result in accomplishment is denigrated. Our list making and checking off should be given a Sabbath rest also. For every thing there is a season and Sabbath is a season for rest. Lent is the liturgical season for soul Sabbaths.
For Lent I am going to take a Sabbath day every week. Maybe it will be Sundays or maybe not. One day each week I will give my soul some time to come out of hiding and play. I will read books that help me consider the state of my soul. I will make atonement so that I might be as one with God. I will play with my art and not worry about it measuring up. I will sing praises to the One who sings back to me in the winter wind. I will eat a Sabbath meal with those I love and give thanks for this most amazing life I have in the midst of an amazing universe. I will count my blessings and count myself blessed. This is Sabbath indeed.