Arguing with Lauren Winner

Every so once in a while, I reread a book I love. Recently, this has meant delving into Lauren Winner's Mudhouse Sabbath. This week, upon rereading, I discovered that I said things in Stone Crossings that could be construed as being at odds with Winner's thoughts on Sabbath. She says...

...rest for the sake of future productivity is at odds with the spirit of Shabbat. ... [the] problem with the current Sabbath vogue [is] the fallacy of the direct object. Whom is the contemporary Sabbath designed to honor? Whom does it benefit? Why, the bubble-bath taker herself, of course! The Bible suggests something different. In observing the Sabbath, one is both giving a gift to God and imitating Him. Exodus and Deuteronomy make this clear when they say, 'Six days shall you labor and do all your work. But the seventh is a sabbath to the Lord your God.' To the Lord your God. p.11

And here is what I said...

Back in the time of the Israelites, God had a novel way of building discipline, emptiness and want into the lives of his people. He mandated the Sabbath— once every week, once every seven years, once every fifty years....These Sabbaths each had specific purposes, but I believe they also functioned to teach us what my grandmother knew: emptiness, want and discomforting discipline are channels through which bounty can ultimately flow.

After all, looking back to the seventh-day Sabbath, we see that a vacuum of work prepared minds and bodies for productivity. And in the seventh-year Sabbath, we see that letting the land lie empty prepared the ground to burst forth with produce. Finally, on the fifty-year Sabbath, we find that the discipline of turning over accumulated slaves and property could prepare the heart to remember who really owned the "cattle on a thousand hills"... ultimately deepening dependence on God. pp.91-92


Reading these two quotes, this is what I think today... It is possible for two things, apparently in conflict, to actually be true. This comforts me. I wasn't in the mood to argue with Lauren Winner.


"Mourning Doves Talking" at the Smithsonian. Photo by L.L. Barkat.

STONE CROSSINGS:

Ted's latest book club post

Time to Be

Sabbath. I love how Lauren Winner explains the Jewish concept, in Mudhouse Sabbath, even as she admits she is out sipping coffee and writing in the margins of a book.

The time period, she tells us, is called "Queen Sabbath" and is described as a bride. Most brides get quite stressed, but as my children's Hebrew lesson reminded us today, Sabbath means "rest". Queen Sabbath is no ordinary bride! She is royal, beautiful, filled with promise and calm.

I'm looking forward to a Sabbath of sorts over the next week. On Thursday, I'll head off to California, a place apart. Redwoods and mist, a room of my own, quiet mornings when no one else is up (the time difference assures this for me). Not quite a Jewish Sabbath, but not my usual fare either.

If all goes well, I'll hold my book for the first time, smell the new pages, remember that God took a mess and turned it into a gift to others, through the careful shaping of words and memories entwined with His Own Word.

Overall, I'm looking forward to a time to simply be...


Antique Clock in Mother's House photo, by J Barkat. Used with permission.


RELATED:

Dave Zimmerman's On Birthing a Book

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Sabbath

Yesterday, I held my daughter close for a long while. To listen to a particular sadness, to give her my presence. It was healing, just sitting there breathing in rhythm. It was restful. I closed my eyes.

Sometimes we need that. To just close our eyes. To breathe. To love and feel loved. Yes, we need Sabbath.

The Jewish tradition calls the actual Sabbath "shabbat". I like this quote from the memoir Stranger in the Midst, regarding shabbat...

"Shabbat is like nothing else. Time as we know it does not exist for these twenty-four hours, and the worries of the week soon fall away. A feeling of joy appears. The smallest object, a leaf or a spoon, shimmers in a soft light, and the heart opens..." (p.2, Mudhouse Sabbath)

Reflecting on this quote I realize I want to close my eyes and open my heart. Close my eyes to the worries of a whole month, or maybe even a year. I want to pay attention to the smallest objects, and the tiny people in my life. Not just for a sabbath but for a whole week of sabbath. And so it is.

After tomorrow, I will be back in about a week. Maybe a little longer if an embrace of peace will not let me go. Shabbat shalom.


...you water the mountains; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work. Psalm 104:13


Fern After Rain photo, by L.L. Barkat.

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