Yes, we are two days before the Sabbath we celebrate, but I found this today. I am constantly challenged to think of my capacity to say ‘yes’ to rest in my life, and when I read this by writer and Episcopal priest Barbara Brown Taylor, I was blown away.  (By the way, if you are fairly new to this blog, you will know I take Sundays off from posting — only part of my small attempt to break from labor on the Sabbath.)  Read what Taylor says and ask, “Do I wish to rest and be free?”  If so, “How might I guard these gifts for myself and all other living things?”  “How is guarding rest a way of worshipping God?”

Sabbath is…God’s gift to those who wish to rest and to be free – and who are willing to guard those same gifts for every living thing in their vicinity as well. Remember the commandment? It is not just for you. It is for your children, your employees, your volunteer helpers, your hunting dogs, your plow horses, your fields and your migrant workers. It does not matter in the least whether they believe in God. You do, so they get the day off. Anyone who engages this practice discovers saving habits of work and rest that promise life not only for each of us individually but also for our families, our communities, our far-flung neighbors, our systems of justice, our human economies and our planet.

According to the rabbis, those who observe Sabbath observe all the other commandments. Practicing it over and over again they become accomplished at saying no, which is how they gradually become able to resist the culture’s killing rhythms of drivenness and depletion, compulsion and collapse. Worshiping a different kind of God, they are shaped in that God’s image, stopping every seven days to celebrate their divine creation and liberation.

– Barbara Brown Taylor, An Altar in the World