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Enjoy another wonderful text by Rev. Phil Smedsted, minister Emeritus of Oasis Rising Center

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Phil Smedstad's texts are one of the ways Oasis Rising Center supports members.

A Positive Path for Spiritual Living

Oasis Rising Center Spiritual Center
Oasis Rising Center 8125 West Sahara Avenue
Las Vegas, NV 89125
(702) 804-8189
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“The Sabbath Principle”
`By Rev. Phillip Smedstad

This was the second Sunday in a row where the focus was on “self care.”  I think one reason I was guided to do these two is that sometimes the Christmas season can seem like, “Tis the season to be busy and stressed,” instead of, “God rest us merry gentlemen and ladies.”

Have you ever felt like a “human doing?”  I know that I have.  Sometimes I’ve found that if I don’t take time to rest, I get sick.  In fact, for some of us, illness is the only time we give ourselves permission to stop.

Recently, I read a wonderful article by Dr. Wayne Muller called “The Sabbath Principle.”  It’s from his book of the same title.  This year, as you prepare for Christmas, I invite you to make the Sabbath Principle a part of your holiday.
As far back as the Exodus, the Israelites knew the importance of a day of rest.  The Fourth Commandment, received by Moses during that period, says, “Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy.”  Of course, the Sabbath was first mentioned in the creation story, where it says, “And on the seventh day, God rested.”

Whenever I refer to one of these passages, I always think it’s important to remind us all that there is no being somewhere “out there” with a long white beard named God.  In our life today, the “seventh day” refers to the seventh stage of creation.

On a physical level, most of us have discovered what happens when we don’t get enough rest.  Even when our intention is to “do good,” in this state we do good pretty badly.  In his article, Dr. Muller says,
“The problem is not necessarily working hard.  The problem is working so hard and long without rest that we begin to imagine what we’re the ones making everything happen.  We begin to feel a growing, gnawing sense of responsibility and grandiosity about how important our work is and how we can’t stop because everything is on our shoulders.  We forget that forces much larger than we are, in fact, do most of the work.  When we don’t stop, we don’t remember that.”

As for the “steps of creation” in our lives, as important as it is to do and to work, it is equally important to BE, and to be WORKED ON.
Some years ago, I took a mindfulness meditation course.  My classmates and I were all “human doings” – psychologists, psychiatrists, and ministers.  Our teacher started off the first class by saying, “Buddhist meditation is BEING practice.”

For many of us, the name of life’s game is, “do, do, do.”  We’re busy all day every day.  Even when we’re not doing anything, we’re still busy thinking.  In our mindfulness class series, we gave 20 minutes each day to sitting meditation.  The idea was to simply breathe, and then notice – our  thoughts, our feelings, our body sensations, outside noises, etc.

Speaking of outside noises, one thing I love about Buddhist Meditation is that there are no distractions.  It is simply practice for the rest of living our lives.  The concept is that whatever we notice, simply open softly to it.  Then, just bring our attention back to our breath.  Interestingly, we can’t “notice” and “think” at the same time.
One psychologist asked the teacher, “But what if we get a really great idea for a book?  Surely we should stop and write it down, shouldn’t we?”  The teacher smiled and reassured her that the idea would still be there later, and to just take time to be.

In fact, this is exactly what DOES happen in meditation.  Creative ideas “come to us” more frequently throughout the day.  This is part of the Sabbath Principle.  If we take time to BE, life can be created THROUGH us, rather than by us having to “work by the sweat of our brow” to get things done.  (One of my favorite signs says, “Don’t just DO something.  STAND there.”)
So, take time to rest, to receive, and to be worked on by Spirit.  It’s hard to receive if we aren’t standing still.

Part of the Jewish Sabbath tradition is, on the Sabbath, that there be no “prayers of petition”  (prayers of “asking”).  The thought is that we take one day each week to simply be grateful and celebrate what we have.  We can ask on the other six days.

Dr. Muller said, “It’s also important to remember that the Sabbath doesn’t have to be justified with the promise of some great spiritual insight.”  The Sabbath is simply a time to be, to have fun, to relax, and to enjoy our relationships.  It’s a time to come together as a community.

I looked up the word “Sabbath” in Charles Fillmore’s Metaphysical Bible Dictionary.  In Hebrew, “Sabbath” means, “restoration, restitution, a return to a former state, at-one-ment, completion, perfection, wholeness, and rest.”

Wow!  No wonder so many of Jesus’ healings took place on the Sabbath!  Healings also happen on our personal Sabbath as we take time to open to Spirit’s infilling – that is, when we take time to rest, renew, be, and be rejuvenated.

In my life, when I’ve tried to DO without taking time to BE, I end up “efforting” and struggling.  When I first take time to be, life is much easier as I let the energy flow through me.

In Isaiah 40:31, we read, “Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.  They shall mount up with wings like eagles.  They shall run and not be weary.  They shall walk and not faint.”  It’s interesting to note that the words which we translate as “wait upon” actually more accurately connote “being connected, plugging into.”

All this is not to say that the “doing” part, the preparation work, is unimportant.  What do you suppose would happen if I tried to receive “musical dictation” the way Mozart did?  Right.  Nothing.  Both the doing and the being, the work and the being worked on, are important.

So, I invite you to join me this Christmas season in “remembering the Sabbath to keep it holy.”  We can practice this daily as we take a few minutes for meditation.  We can practice it weekly as we give ourselves a day to play, to celebrate, and to be in community.  And we can even practice it yearly as we put our vacations on the calendar first.

The more we come from a place of rest and fullness, the more Christmas becomes a time of joy and fun instead of a time of sacrifice and duty.