Book Review - "Sabbath"

I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest a book that I personally found a great read with the different stories and the ideas set forth for people who try to observe some form of aspect of the Sabbath.  The reason I said "going out on a limb" is because this book is written by a non-Orthodox and in some places throughout the book quotes different people/religious ideologies of which are not recognized by the Holy Orthodox Church.  But I do feel strongly enough that despite those minor "quotes of inspiration" this book is something that every individual or family can use to create their own way of keeping the Sabbath.


The book, Sabbath , is written by Wayne Muller.  This is an excerpt from the back of the cover:

"In today's world, with its relentless emphasis on success and productivity, we have lost the necessary rhythm of life, the balance between work and rest. Constantly striving, we feel exhausted and deprived in the midst of great abundance. We long for time with friends and family, we long for a moment to ourselves. 

Millennia ago, the tradition of Sabbath created an oasis of sacred time within a life of unceasing labor. Now, in a book that can heal our harried lives, Wayne Muller, author of the spiritual classic How, Then, Shall We Live?, shows us how to create a special time of rest, delight, and renewal--a refuge for our souls. 

We need not even schedule an entire day each week. Sabbath time can be a Sabbath afternoon, a Sabbath hour, a Sabbath walk. With wonderful stories, poems, and suggestions for practice, Muller teaches us how we can use this time of sacred rest to refresh our bodies and minds, restore our creativity, and regain our birthright of inner happiness."

One may click on the image of the book, where it says, "CLICK TO LOOK INISDE."  This will allow anyone to see the "Chapters", of which there are 6; Rest, Rhythm, Time, Happiness, Wisdom, Consecration, and A Sabbath Day.Then with the different Subjects it addresses. Finally then underneath the Subject, in italics, will be a short section on how to celebrate the Sabbath in a certain way, that is just a guide, one of which can be molded to form an individual/families time. 

It would most definitely be a way to get spiritual to take the idea and conform it with Orthodox belief and praxis (accepted custom/tradition).  I'll take an example from a section of the "Practices." One of the practices suggests creating a Sabbath meal, that you prepare specially for this occasion, to make it be distinguishable from other meals that you might cook, or carry-out (guilty here!).  So, find a recipe that is rarely made or a new recipe you've been wanting to make.  Next, invite your friends, or remind your family, that this meal is a special meal and centered around bringing loved ones together. If your a family, remind your kids or perhaps husband/wife to not bring their cell phones to the table.  This is a time where you should separate this from being just another meal to a holy meal.  So unless they are expecting a text or tweet from God, keep the cell phones off.  Begin the meal by offering a traditional Orthodox prayer.  Then when everyone is seated keep the conversation so that it is full of happiness, love, laughable, or perhaps those funny embarrassing moments.  Then be sure to end the meal with prayer.

Then perhaps if you are family, or friends who gathered together in Christ, that is those who are Orthodox, could spend the time after the meal reading a passage from the Gospels or the Epistles or a new book about a/the Saint(s).  

Another example is the idea of kicking off our shoes and to not move.  How many people, I'm one of them, find themselves going home and doing chores.  I get caught up in the mode that after Church I've got to go home and do the laundry for the week, clean the house, and dare I say it, go to the crowded grocery store, which turns out to be more like a test from "American Gladiators", trying to battle obstacles and so many people.  Instead of going home and doing the chores, kick off your shoes as soon as you walk in the door.  Grab a book that you've been wanting to read, or one that has been on the nightstand that every night you promise you're going to finish, but feel like you're too tired to read and put it off for another day.  Or find a special movie that is particularly a way for you to be able to sit back and relax and enjoy it.  Nothing else matters.  It's just you and the book/movie.  The idea is to keep us from having that urge of "got to be on the move."  

Remember that the idea is to bring ourselves and other people together in love and friendship and to remember our purpose in life and in the Holy Orthodox Church.  We should recall that Jesus Christ said, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27).  A line from the book says this powerful, but true, statement, "Sabbath requires surrender."  

I'll add another quotation from the book, "Sabbath implies a willingness to be surprised by unexpected grace, to partake of those potent moments when creation renews itself, when what is finished inevitably recedes, and the sacred forces of healing astonish us with the unending promise of love and life."

To end there is a quote from the Old Testament that should help us to not have a worried mind about what is to come, or what needs to be done, but to keep it simple, "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 1:9).