My heart is full as we emerge from the whirl of our daughter's wedding. I mean, at first, it absolutely flattened us. We felt like we had been run over by a train, and indeed, we had. A wedding train! David and I were so exhausted, we mostly slept on Monday and then did some necessary self-care on Tuesday just to return to some sense of baseline. But, my oh my, what a beautiful weekend of goodness and beauty and love! It was hard to take it all in! It was one of those days that gives us a glimpse of heaven. Where we celebrate and feast, laugh and dance and remember what is most important in life -- LOVE. Connection. Relationship. Commitment. Family.
As I watched through tears the love that my daughter and her new husband share as they looked into each others eyes and committed their love for a lifetime. As I took in the deep affection that my children have for one another as they offered banter and support with plenty of laughter that eventually gave way to tears. As I took in the heart-rending dance as my daughter Anna sang the song she had picked to dance with her dad at the young age of 9. As I was blessed by all our family who traveled near and far just to be together. And as I witnessed this community that surrounded these two. I realized again that these moments of celebration, goodness, and delight are the most profound reality that we know. They are moments of sabbath - of shalom - of heaven here on earth that remind us who we are.
For God created us to live in these rhythms of Sabbath, rhythms of rest, play and delight to orient our lives around God's goodness in the world.
Some may think the Sabbath archaic as a ritual reserved only for observant Jews, no longer relevant in our 24/7, always-on, technological culture, but the Sabbath has never been more relevant. For we were created to live in harmony, connection and delight. And for the devout Jew, the Sabbath is not for the sake of the weekdays; it is not just an interlude of rest and recreation to enable us to work all the harder during the week. Rather, the weekdays are for the sake of the Sabbath. The Sabbath is not just a break in the pattern of daily life but the whole meaning of it.
For this taste of heaven is the organizing force, that which orients all of our lives.
“The Sabbath, thus, is more than an armistice, more than an interlude; it is a profound conscious harmony of man and the world, a sympathy for all things and a participation in the spirit that unites what is below and what is above. All that is divine in the world is brought into union with God. This is Sabbath, and the true happiness of the universe."
― Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath
As I watched through tears the love that my daughter and her new husband share as they looked into each others eyes and committed their love for a lifetime. As I took in the deep affection that my children have for one another as they offered banter and support with plenty of laughter that eventually gave way to tears. As I took in the heart-rending dance as my daughter Anna sang the song she had picked to dance with her dad at the young age of 9. As I was blessed by all our family who traveled near and far just to be together. And as I witnessed this community that surrounded these two. I realized again that these moments of celebration, goodness, and delight are the most profound reality that we know. They are moments of sabbath - of shalom - of heaven here on earth that remind us who we are.
For God created us to live in these rhythms of Sabbath, rhythms of rest, play and delight to orient our lives around God's goodness in the world.
Some may think the Sabbath archaic as a ritual reserved only for observant Jews, no longer relevant in our 24/7, always-on, technological culture, but the Sabbath has never been more relevant. For we were created to live in harmony, connection and delight. And for the devout Jew, the Sabbath is not for the sake of the weekdays; it is not just an interlude of rest and recreation to enable us to work all the harder during the week. Rather, the weekdays are for the sake of the Sabbath. The Sabbath is not just a break in the pattern of daily life but the whole meaning of it.
For this taste of heaven is the organizing force, that which orients all of our lives.
“The Sabbath, thus, is more than an armistice, more than an interlude; it is a profound conscious harmony of man and the world, a sympathy for all things and a participation in the spirit that unites what is below and what is above. All that is divine in the world is brought into union with God. This is Sabbath, and the true happiness of the universe."
― Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath
Every year in August, it is my tradition to take a Sabbath. To rest and to take some time away from our community. And admittedly, this is hard for me. Of course, I enjoy the vacation, but it also is a discipline for me to let go and to trust, to remember that I am human and in need of rest, and to cease from my work to allow room for the Spirit's work. And so as I take a few weeks of Sabbath, I invite you to practice Sabbath as well! To enter into goodness, play, delight, and community. To let go of all the burdens and concerns, injustices and sorrows of the world for some moments of gratitude and delight and pure joy. Because these are the moments that we are living for. As the words of Saint John compel us, may we orient our lives around this love that is at the very center of the cosmos.
“Unless one learns how to relish the taste of Sabbath … one will be unable to enjoy the taste of eternity in the world to come.”
― Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath
But if you are like me, you may struggle to cease from vigilance, performance and control. You may find it difficult to fully enter into rest, delight and play. You may have stories of harm that have dictated to you that you must never let your guard down, that you must stay vigilant, responsible, and in control, preventing you from fully celebrating goodness because you fear when the other shoe will drop. And while I hate to break it to you, the shoe will drop. Even on my daughter's beautiful wedding day, I am aware that there will be many more days of sorrow, difficulty and pain ahead. This is the way of life as we wait for the full redemption of all things.
And yet, on feast days, on wedding days, on days of magnificent goodness when we get a taste of heaven, these are not days for anxiety or grief or despair.
These days are reserved only for deep gratitude, for profound joy, and for heart-singing delight!
And so my prayer is that you would experience the grace to practice for eternity when everything will be put to right -- and that you will taste moments of sheer goodness, delight and joy in the days ahead!
by Jessica Ketola
“Unless one learns how to relish the taste of Sabbath … one will be unable to enjoy the taste of eternity in the world to come.”
― Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath
But if you are like me, you may struggle to cease from vigilance, performance and control. You may find it difficult to fully enter into rest, delight and play. You may have stories of harm that have dictated to you that you must never let your guard down, that you must stay vigilant, responsible, and in control, preventing you from fully celebrating goodness because you fear when the other shoe will drop. And while I hate to break it to you, the shoe will drop. Even on my daughter's beautiful wedding day, I am aware that there will be many more days of sorrow, difficulty and pain ahead. This is the way of life as we wait for the full redemption of all things.
And yet, on feast days, on wedding days, on days of magnificent goodness when we get a taste of heaven, these are not days for anxiety or grief or despair.
These days are reserved only for deep gratitude, for profound joy, and for heart-singing delight!
And so my prayer is that you would experience the grace to practice for eternity when everything will be put to right -- and that you will taste moments of sheer goodness, delight and joy in the days ahead!
by Jessica Ketola
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