Take a Day of Rest

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Episode Transcript

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Thank you for joining me. I'mRabbi David Lyon from Congregation Beth Israel in
Houston. The Sabbath day is aholy day in many faith traditions and Judaism.
The Sabbath begins on Friday evening asthe sun sets and last for twenty
four hours. We begin with homerituals that are followed oftentimes with communal prayer

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and the synagogue prayers over the candles, the wine, the khala, the
special braided bread for the Sabbath,and the Sabbath is said goodbye too on
Saturday evening as we also conduct homerituals typically called Habdallah, which means separation.
Whether your Sabbath is Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, it's a time

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for many people to set outside allthe challenges the work of creation during the
week, all the toils, allthe issues, and whether it was a
time of joy and there's reason tobe greatful, or as a time of
challenge and a time to regain strength. The Sabbath is ordained by God and

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given to us as a gift torelax physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
When we begin the Sabbath day,we have to get in the frame of
mind. Some people enjoy the ritualsof the Sabbath that I've described and look
forward to communal prayer, song,familiar readings, a sermon, in many
ways to conduct social time with friendsafter the service, in dinner, or

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in other ways. So I'd liketo share it with you today, some
readings from our prayer book, whichI'll change a little bit, not to
speak of the role of the synagogue, but what really is even more important
in the Jewish community is the roleof the home. So here's a reading
that helps to engage us and orientus not to the days of the week

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and what we endured, but ratherthe Sabbath day and what it permits us
and invites us to do and tobe. Here's a reading. It says,
may the door of this synagogue,but I'll change it to say he
may the door of this home,so that we can begin to imagine,
reciting and feeling the meaning of thesewords, not in the synagogue necessarily,

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but also at home or where wespend time with family and friends. If
we come together on the Sabbath,May the door of this home be wide
enough to receive all the hunger forlove, all who are lonely for friendship.
May it welcome all who have caresto unburden thanks to express hopes to
nurture. May the door of thishome be narrow enough to shut out pettiness

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and pride, envy and enmity.May it's threshold be no stumbling block to
young or straying feet. May itbe too high to admit complacency, selfishness,
and harshness. May this home befor all who enter the doorway to
a rich and more meaningful life.You can hear in the words why we

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might read it in the synagogue becausea house of worship should be all things
to all people. There should beno reason to exclude or uninvite a person
just because he or she isn't likeus, or isn't a member. We
welcome visitors and guests, but evenmore important in our home, when we
invite family, especially, they tooshould cross the threshold and join us at

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the dining room table. Because wewelcome them, we want to nurture them
and invite them without stress or enmity, but rather to nurture them and to
welcome them with unconditional love. Evenmore so our guests who might join us
there too, on a personal level. However, we have to go a

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little deeper and appreciate that the Sabbathday can also mean something to us alone.
In this prayer we come to understandit. It says, begin with
a prayer of gratitude for all thatis holy in my life. God needs
no words, no English or Hebrew, no semantics, and no services,

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but I need them. Through prayer, I can sense my inner strength,
my inner purpose, my inner joy, my capacity to love. As I
reach upward in prayer, I sensethese qualities in my creator. To love
God is to love each other,to work to make our lives better.
To love God is to love theworld God created and to work to perfect

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it. To love God is tolove dreams of peace and joy that illumine
all of us, and to bringthat vision to life. Beautiful words that
if we read them, digest them, and understand them, they orient us
to first a view of gratitude,to be grateful for that which is holy

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in our life, not because it'sreligious, but the value, the work,
The way we engage with other peopleis set apart for very special purpose,
and we don't take any of thatfor granted. And so it goes
on to say that God doesn't needthe words, whether they're in English or
Hebrew or Latin or any vernacular,but rather we need them. We need

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to find a way to connect ourselvesto that which is larger than ourselves,
and feel not smaller, but significantlyconnected to that which is larger than ourselves,
and find in it a way toreach upward towards that creator. And
then to love God is as wesee a means to love each other,

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to make all that we do andin all the places we do. It
better too, to find in theworld that God created many areas of potential,
even if they're not perfect. Yetwe are partners with God, as
the prayer also suggests to it tobring the contributions of our heart and our
hands to the project that can makeit better to love God than is to

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love dreams of peace and joy,because God's presence in our life represent something
high and holy and ideal, andso the striving in our lifetime is not
to accept what is in front ofus, might rather to see what we've
been given and then to decide whatto do with it. The last line
of the prayer says, to loveGod is to love dreams of peace and

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joy that illumine all of us,and to bring that vision to life,
not through hatred, now, throughmeanness, now through vengeance, but rather
through opportunities to take the high roadand to see that all that God has
given us is potentially good, evenin matters we don't understand, even in

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people who disagree with us. Ifwe can take the high road and be
the role models, then we canorient ourselves to that which we know is
good and valuable. And if othersjoin us along the way, even better.
But if they don't, then wecan go in a different direction and
find the people who can join usthere. To sad, that day gives

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us an opportunity to reset, torestart again, And though it's just one
day in the course of a week, that weekly pause and punctuation affords us
the privilege to see what we cantake the time to see during the week,
and also to follow up on thecommandment to rest and make the day

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sacred in special ways. To makeit sacred can be confusing. Very often
we are led to believe that wehave to attend services and light candles and
make everything so holy and religious.On the one hand, yes, we
can do that. On the otherhand, we can also choose to do
things that are very different than whatwe do during the week. I've often

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said that if we were in thefield, or we work with our hands,
digging and creating during the week,then perhaps a gardening on the weekend
on the Sabbath isn't really what youlook forward to doing. But maybe if
you're behind a desk or inside allweek, then maybe, in fact,
on the weekend a little gardening andtime outside. Even if an orthodoxy might

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say that that's actually worked, ifit's your pleasure, then how could it
possibly be worked. There are somany ways that we can find the middle
ground to be sure that what wechoose to do is filled with meaning,
relaxation, and orientation to that whichis separate from the week. And so
one of the other prayers also teachesand says, we offer thanks God for

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this Sabbath which unites us in faithand hope. What it means is that
it unites us God and each ofus. We are united on the Sabbath,
but so are we also united withlike minded people who share our interests
and determination. To make the Sabbathday a day of punctuation, a day
of rest, and joy. Itgoes on for Sabbath holiness, which inspires

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sacred living, for Sabbath memories glowingeven in darkness, for Sabbath peace born
of friendship and love. We offerthanks and blessings Oh God. This form
of gratitude, to give thanks forsacred living that is inspired means that even
if it's been a difficult week,it doesn't mean that we are mired or

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stuck in that place or in thatframe of mind. The Sabbath can lift
us up and give us room andfreedom to think about what can be better.
For Sabbath memories glowing even in darkness. But it suggests is that when
we light those candles on the Sabbath, or take the time to observe the
rituals of our own faith tradition onthe Sabbath day, we're actually linking ourselves

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to those in history who live beforeus ancestors, our parents, grandparents,
and great grandparents who did the same. Sabbath memories are part of how we
link ourselves generation to generation. Weare part of something larger than our own
immediate experience. And for Sabbath peaceborn of friendship and love, it really

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is a time to set aside thedifferences and the struggles and say it can
wait till tomorrow. Let's talk aboutthings that bring us together. Let's focus
on something with greater potential, andultimately we offer things and blessings Oh God,
because it is from God, andthat which we discovers larger than ourselves,

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is a source of so much potentialwithin all of us. These are
beautiful prayers that help us to findthe way in and not to create stumbling
blocks for those who are unfamiliar withprayer, worship or ritual, but rather
like poetry, it helps us tofind new words and new ways to understand

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our way around the obstacles that wemight have placed in front of ourselves or
were placed in front of us byothers, to discover that the Sabbath twenty
four hours can be a time ofgreater meaning. Abraham Joshua Heschel, a
Jewish thinker, philosopher, and teacherof the twentieth century, taught in his
book The Sabbath in the introduction tothat beautiful book, that the Sabbath is

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not a time to focus on thecreation of the world, because even God
was involved for six days and thecreation of the world, like we who
are set upon our tasks at workin an other place is to create something
that contributes to the well being andthe product of the world. The Sabbath

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is actually focused on the world ofcreation. That is, that we focus
on that which is around us thatperhaps we had nothing to do with.
We are mindful of the limitation ofour hands and our minds and all that
we can contribute, but sometimes wehave to sit back and take note of
what we've created and what God hascreated too, to be sure that we

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see what needs to be seen,so that we can also express gratitude.
Like I said, it doesn't meanto make us feel small in a world
of God's creations, but rather significantlyrelated and connected to the Divine, and
therefore we have a very special purposein a special place before God. Unlike

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animals, unlike plants, we arehuman beings who are conscious of the world
around us and conscious of God's actof creation which also created us. And
as we are familiar and aware ofthat relationship, how do we pay tribute
to it, just as we wouldpay tribute to the relationships we have with

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our spouses, our children and grandchildren, family and friends. So too,
if we're conscious of the relationship wehave with God. How do we pay
attention to it? How do weserve it? How do we express gratitude
for the partnership that we share.I'm Rabbi David Lyon from Congregation Both Israel
in Houston. To listen again orshare this message, please find it at

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my podcast called Heart to Heart withRabbi David Lyon at Sunday dot com on
the iHeartMedia app. I don't knowwhat faith you observe or don't observe,
but I hope that in some way, if it isn't Friday, Saturday,
or Sunday, that you will finda day or at least as a beginning,

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some hours to reflect on rest thatyour body, soul, spirit,
and emotions need to take. Ifyou continue at a backbreaking pace for seven
days constantly, you'll wear out andyou'll tire of the things that keep you

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so occupied. A little version,a book, a poem, a quiet
space time to reflect or in yourhouse of worship, too, are meaningful
ways to appreciate that you are aspecial human being, created with value and
meaning, and in God's presence,unconditionally loved. So to go back for

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just a moment remember that the firstreading I read was it in your house
of worship, at your home.It should be a place where the door
is wide enough to receive all whohunger for love, all who are lonely
for friendship. You be the rolemodel. You'll be the one who opens
the door and welcomes them in andin your house of worship, take a

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seat front and center and feel warmedand welcomed in God's presence. Thank you
for joining me today. I lookforward to being with you again next time.
All the best to you on theSabbath Day.