Council for Health and Human Service Ministries

Word and Deed: Thoughts on Faith-Based Leadership

Sabbath's Sacred Blessings

Over the next few months, we will continue to feature excerpts from Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in Our Busy Lives by Wayne Muller, the CHHSM 2007 Annual Meeting keynote speaker. We hope these selections encourage you to reflect on the meeting's theme: The Rhythm of Rest and Work: Leading with Soul.

Why are we afraid to rest? What is it within the quiet and solitude of stillness that challenges us? There are no easy answers to these questions. However, Muller suggests that our reluctance to rest may have something to do with our belief system and says, "If we believe our soul is naturally luminous and that we are filled with innate, natural perfection, if we are the light of the world, then when we sink into quiet we return to peace." On the other hand, when we are incapable of seeing ourselves in that light, our perspective is different:

Conversely, if we believe creation is badly flawed, then we must avoid intimate contact with it. We greet silence with fear, afraid it will show us the broken center at the core of the world and of ourselves. Afraid of what we will find there, we avoid the stillness at all costs, keeping ourselves busy not so much to accomplish but to avoid the terrors and dangers of emptiness. (42)

If our lives are so full then why are we so empty? Could it be that the value we place on the things our lives are filled with help to create that illusion? It is not unusual for us to push things away that are unfamiliar and uncomfortable. When endeavoring to quiet ourselves it can be awkward, hard to settle into, and we tend to fight against the mystery of the moment instead of embracing it. However, on the other side of that restlessness is the goodness that is inherent in sinking into the place that returns us to peace and the resultant blessing of renewal and delight in our busy lives.

Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in Our Busy Lives is filled with exercises that will help you to maintain and embody a sense of fullness on a daily, continuous basis. Following is an excerpt from "Blessing," a practice that can transform ordinary moments into joyful experiences.

. . . practice guerilla compassion--silently blessing people on line at the bank, at the supermarket, in the cars next to us in traffic. Each blessing a tiny Sabbath, a secret sanctuary offered to a hurried and unsuspecting world.
There are many ways to offer your blessing. You may bless your children, your lover, your friend, by placing your hand on their head, and offering a prayer for their healing, their well-being, and their happiness. Let them feel the truth of your prayer in their bodies. When this happens, many report feeling the physical blessing actually enter their body. It is as precious as it is free--completely gratuitous. (46-47)

For more reflections on the rhythm of rest and work and excerpts from Muller's book, see the September 2005 column, and the June and September 2006 columns, titled Sabbath's Sacred Six, Sabbath's Sacred Reminders, and Five Factors for Finding Sabbath Time.

Shirley Nelson

Earlier Columns