Sunday 22 March 2020

The Unintended Sabbath

I awake this morning to the wonderful aroma of fresh bread! I have unearthed our bread maker, and set it to bake during the night. Can't wait till breakfast! Maybe just one new habit to get into?

Apparently the reason there was no 'Casualty' last night is that all the staff have been seconded to help with the Cv crisis! (Thanks to my sister-in-law Di for that one.)

It feels very odd today: a Sunday with no services. And I'm not on holiday. I've decided to make it as normal a Sunday as I can. I would have had 3 services this morning, though one of them only to listen to an ordinand's sermon in order to assess it. (So Gill escapes for the time being!) I will go to Cockermouth first, where there would have been an early Communion service; then on to Dean - one of our more distant villages, where I will meet one of the churchwardens for a short service of Morning Prayer, or even Communion. It seems very important to continue the pattern of prayer, and for our church buildings still to be used for that purpose. As our Archbishops have said, we may not be able to pray with people, but we can still pray for them. Our world needs prayer!

As I've suggested before, we are now in a time of Unintended Sabbath. During this season of Lent - which is also a kind of Sabbath time - we use some different words in the Communion prayer. From the beginning of the season, they have struck me as very significant - even more so now:

...in these forty days you lead us into the desert of repentance that through a pilgrimage of prayer and discipline we may grow in grace and learn to be your people once again.

'Learning to be God's people' takes us back to the Scriptures. The origin of Sabbath lies in the book of Genesis and the story of creation. God saw; God rested; God blessed. 
  • It seems to be that, in 'seeing', God was appreciating the wonder of creation. Appreciating it. There's a good word for us to re-learn: 'appreciation'! 
  • In resting, God simply ceased activity. Many would say that the relaxing of the Sunday trading laws in 1994 hastened our downfall as a society. Not only did it open us to the disease of affluenza  (affluence + influenza), it also gave us permission to work without ceasing.
  • By God's blessing of the Sabbath Day, God blessed the human race with the gift of rest. And, generations later, the gift of resurrection.
You can listen to a half-hour service from Cockermouth after 10am this morning here: Staying Connected. It was going to be video'd but we haven't quite mastered the technique! If you're up in time, you can also listen to a service on Radio Cumbria at 8am.

On Mothers' Day, here is a very appropriate prayer of Archbishop Anselm:

Jesus, like a mother you gather your people to you;  
you are gentle with us as a mother with her children.
  Often you weep over our sins and our pride,  
tenderly you draw us from hatred and judgement.
   You comfort us in sorrow and bind up our wounds,  
in sickness you nurse us, and with pure milk you feed us.
    Jesus, by your dying we are born to new life;  
by your anguish and labour we come forth in joy.
    Despair turns to hope through your sweet goodness;  
through your gentleness we find comfort in fear.
   Your warmth gives life to the dead,  
your touch makes sinners righteous.
    Lord Jesus, in your mercy heal us; 
in your love and tenderness remake us.
   In your compassion bring grace and forgiveness,  
for the beauty of heaven may your love prepare us.
from Anselm of Canterbury 1033-1109



4 comments:

  1. Thanks, Godfrey. Keep up the good work. I’ve just recorded my telephone prayer for the day for our Wirral Methodist folk. Strange times.

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