I’ve been writing a lot this spring about Sabbath.  Friends tease me that I must really be looking forward to taking a vacation -- and they’re right!  In fact, I will be on vacation and not writing E-notes for the next few weeks.  I am looking forward to getting away and I am also look forward to resuming this writing on July 9. 

Last Sunday, something emerged in my sermon preparation that I’d like to revisit briefly here.  It involves two familiar church words:  stewardship and Sabbath.  Both words have familiar meanings within a faith context.  Stewardship is the word we use to talk about how we use time, talents, and treasures in response to God’s call for our lives.  Most often, it is synonymous with money.

Sabbath comes from our Jewish heritage in response to the fourth commandment.  Sabbath involves a series of Jewish observances.  There is a Sabbath Day, a day of sacred rest each week.  There is a sabbatical year in which, after six years of planting and harvesting, on the seventh year the fields lie fallow.  It is a year of replenishment and renewal.  Finally, there is a year of Jubilee.  After seven times seven years (49), the 50^th year is the Jubilee when all debts are cancelled, slaves are freed, and land returns to its original ownership.

I am coming to believe that stewardship and Sabbath are essential guidelines on the journey of faith.  They are twin poles between which much of that journey takes place.  The Christian journey is being all about change:  about transformation into the image of God seen in Jesus and about a change in attitude from scarcity and fear to abundance and hope.  Our mission as people of faith is nothing less than being partners with the Spirit to change the world.  If our mission is to live in full partnership with the Spirit, then how will we accomplish this mission?  The first thing we have to is make the decision actually be full partners with the Spirit.  If we are, it will mean doing our best and giving our utmost while trusting that God is always seeking peace and justice in partnership with us.  This is stewardship. 

The second thing we have to do is decide how we will be church.  We will have to decide how we will minister and how we will reach out in love, sharing the life of God with each other and with others.  This is Sabbath!  Who we are and how we live emerge from sitting in the presence of God.

A really effective way to practice stewardship and Sabbath, as well as to practice the freedom in which Christ has made us free, is by asking questions.  Questions reveal truth about our selves, our world, and our faith.  Our questions propel us forward on the journey.  They connect us to each other as well.  More often than not, we hold the questions more in common than our answers.  Never stop asking questions of yourself and of our faith.  Never stop letting your answers change you and help us grow. 

My book that will be coming out this summer, after I return from vacation.  It is a book based on questions I have been asked as a pastor.  The title is:  Too Painful to Pray:  a Pastor Responds to Questions of Faith.  It includes my responses to those questions and some questions of my own to stimulate reflection and discussion.  I’ll let you all know when it’s available. 

Thanks for continuing to bless me on the journey.  I’ll see you in a few weeks.

--Jack Price

Return to the Enotes index