Today – “On the first day…” – I start the pause, the first day of rest and renewal: this sabbatical time.
And, as I said in worship on Sunday, May 19: I’m kinda nervous. I’m nervous I’m going to “fail” sabbatical-ing! I’ve already got a list of like ten things that I’ve left at the office. I’ve picked up my keys three times, saying:
It’ll only take me a minute. I can sneak into the building, and no one would be the wiser!
But we do have those darn cameras and HID fobs, ensuring that the space is safe for all to gather. So, no. No cheating. For these ninety days, my job is sabbath.
I’ve always had my workplace in the basement living room. We set that aside when we moved in. Today, I refit the space for the upcoming asynchronous workshops that start this week. With the pace of life, my desk took on a characteristic of creatively evolving stacks of old projects, things that need to be filed, and precociously piled manuals for the myriad of modern amenities that we acquire in life. Filing and re-piling, Genesis 1:2 kept popping into my mind, how the earth was
formless and empty (Genesis 1:2 Heb. תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ | to-HU va-VO-hu)
The last major organizing binge took place in March 2020, setting out a creative space during the COVID pandemic. My mini-studio for quick clips, and my Zoom meeting space took shape after I sifted out the four years of piles since we moved in. Now four years and a global pandemic later, the space is re-set for the Sabbatical. Very different times, but not so different purposes. Back in March 2020, we were asking, “How are we going to do this?” Worship and prayer? Community and care? How will we keep the body of Christ at St. John UCC thriving and healthy in the “formless emptiness?” We did it by caring and communicating, and chalking ourselves to focus on the needs of our neighbors. And when we got to “Building Back,” it was with careful focus that brought us out of that liminal place.
Now, on the first day to re-enter this space with the Sabbatical theme on “Enter to Worship / Depart to Serve,” I find my mind leaning back into that familiar formless emptiness. But this time it’s with a Spirit of Peace and Renewal. Tomorrow, I’ll write on the five focus points for these twelve weeks. But today, I’ll leave it here: rest into this time of renewal with me. It’ll find form in its time, and be full of so much Spirit. Just as the earth was “in the beginning’s” creative time.
So tonight, no sneaking. Let’s settle into the re-creating. And in the end, we know: that with God, it will all be
“found very good” (Gen 1:31, Heb. הִנֵּה־ט֖וֹב מְאֹ֑ד | hiNEH tov m’OD).
P.S. Big thanks to Sefaria and the JPS for The Contemporary Torah (2006) for helping me brush up on my Hebrew transliterations: https://www.sefaria.org/
