A few weeks ago our minister preached a sermon on Keeping the Sabbath. She's doing a whole series on the Ten Commandments from a UU / humanist point of view.

The reaction has been so typical of our church (and our faith). Instead of bowing down in reverence to the received interpretation of priest, rabbi or evangelist, our congregation each time has been inspired to lively -- um, what shall I call it? -- interactions among different points of view.

The different points of view ranged all the way from horror that anyone would be so sacrilegious as to reinterpret the Ten Commandments to vigorous commentary that all those ancient stories are nothing but outdated mythology. A lively debate brought nearly everyone into the discussion--which was part of the minister's purpose in the first place.

We seldom snooze through sermons--but, then, we seldom get preached at. We are invited, urged, to engage in the search for truth, meaning, or existential angst (whatever path).

Back to the Sabbath. She encouraged us to keep it one day a week; failing that, one day every two weeks or one per month, to rest and reflect. Stop doing and striving and accomplishing and coping. Just be silent, and listen to the heartbeat of the universe.

I thought about that sermon this morning as I...

--made breakfasts for the week (grab and go)
--did dishes
--cleaned bathroom
--folded laundry
--changed sheets on bed
--set up husband's new phone bought for him yesterday (dropped old one)
--watered tomatoes
--changed cat litter
--paid bills
--sent in rebate for new phone

and thought to myself, I really must take a Sabbath day. (Which I guess makes it another task on a list, rather than a promise to myself and to the universe).

Something to meditate upon.