Shabbat and moments to rest...

It's sundown in Jerusalem on a Friday evening. Now begins the Jewish Shabbat. The sabbath day begins at sundown Friday and goes until sundown Saturday and nobody can miss it. Everything, and I mean everything, comes to a halt. Shops close, buses stop, museums and all Jewish businesses close, elevators stop on every floor, and if you want a cab....you are going to need a Palestinian driver. All of Jewish society observes the sabbath day here and only essential services operate. One has to go back in time to a Sunday in the 1950's in Canada to remember what a day of rest is where everything comes to a halt. It turns out I should have planned ahead for this as I needed to get to a bank to withdraw some money in U.S. funds and exchange my Israeli Shekels for the next segment of the trip to Uganda. D'oh! Airport exchange kiosk here I come!


Shabbat like everything else grabs your attention here. There is something good about it that touches on the necessary rhythms of life that we the human species need to observe in order to stay sane and not define ourselves simply by what we do for a living. Don't get me wrong, even as a Pastor I don't think I would do too well adjusting to a roll back of the clock to the 1950's when everything closed down on Sundays in Canada. I am too accustomed to getting what I need (or want) when I want it and including on a Sunday. No need to plan ahead, if I run out of something on Sunday I'll just go buy it or if I am too lazy to cook then I'll go out and order it.


But if we are really honest about it, when there is no day at all that is meaningful for relationships and rest and NOT for working there is something not quite right about that. We're always working and doing something in our busy society. And even if we're not working then many of the people we like and are in relationship with ARE working. It's become nearly impossible for two friends or two relatives to harmonize their daytimers to find a common day to spend together -nevermind if we add more than two people to the mix. Forget that! Somebody can't join in because they are busy or working. There is no day anymore that we all agree on together that is about rest and relationships. There isn't even much TIME anymore that is available to agree on together to just rest and hang out. I learned this week that the Africans have a saying about those of us who are Americans and Canadians. "They have watches but they do not have any time!" True indeed!


I am looking forward to the sun going down today. I am exhausted. With the time change (and waking up at 3:30 a.m.) and the long days of this conference I want merely to rest. I am going to skip tomorrows group tour to Galilee partly because I have to pack and be ready to go to the airport in the evening but also because I am tired. I know also that the day will be spent with colleaugues while on the tour scheming, planning, and strategizing about how we will spend the next decade doing great Anglican things for God since we're all jazzed and pumped from the awesome impact of this conference (more on that in the next post). In other words ....we'll be WORKING! Strangely, I am even looking forward to the fact that the elevators stop at every floor of the hotel so that I too don't have to push a button!

As I sit and write this there are in front of me 4 or 5 Orthodox Jewish families in the hotel lobby. They must be travelling or here for a wedding. They are just relaxing in the lobby and observing the Shabbat. Several of the little boys walk past me in their little Shabbat outfits, with the long hair tails in front of their ears, and wearing their skull caps. They stare at me as I stare at them. I must look funny in my shorts and red Canada baseball cap. They are just enjoying the evening and being silly. So are their parents. They don't look rushed and they have time it seems to play with the kids and for the kids to play with them.

Biblical studies tells us that the intention God had for the Sabbath more than simply obeying the Sabbath rules was for the renewal of relationships that the rules were meant to serve. It is no surprise then given that we do not do this anymore that North Americans are amongst the unhappiest people on the earth and the ones most mentally unhealthy. It has been studied and established that North Americans more than any other people on earth, including those living in poverty, are the least satisfied with life and the ones most needing therapy and accustomed to utilizing the services of mental health professionals. Go figure! But hey, at least in our busyness we keep the world's economy humming right along..... even if perhaps it is so that people here and in Africa can have the time to enjoy one another.