Today, we hear the term 24/7 quite a bit, a few years ago you would have looked at me blankly if I had used it in the pulpit. 24/7 simply means 24 hours a day 7 days a week and it is often used to describe the 21st century culture we now live in. No longer can the week be divided into the five day working week and the two day weekend off. Life today tends to be more of a continuum of work, leisure and sleep. For many there is not a specific weekend or day off and the concept of Sunday as the Sabbath Day of rest is long gone. As Dame Maggie Smith said as her dowager duchess character in Downton Abbey; ‘What is a weekend?’ And it is a good question!
We live in a society that never sleeps. Did you know that a few years ago Edinburgh had the greatest number of call centres and call operators in the UK, if not in Europe? These call centres operate 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. Which means that should you wish to check your bank account or pay bills at 0300 on a Wednesday morning you can?
The life we live today in 2022 is strikingly different to the way in which we lived life during my childhood in the late 60’s and early 70’s, as it will be very different to the way life was lived when you were children. Yet, it does not depress me. In order to live and survive in today’s world one has to be realistic and accepting of the changes in one’s pattern of life. Bemoaning that; ‘Things are not what they used to be’ gets you nowhere. It does not mean, however, that like a lemming you have to follow the crowd; you can challenge the status quo and strike out on your own, establishing your way of doing things but don’t expect too many others to copy you. Challenging the status quo is, however, a good thing to do at times, as it can be life-changing and energising.
I have a great respect for all those who seek to challenge the accepted norms, especially where those norms do don’t benefit others. Think of those who champion the underdog, the poor, and the forgotten. Those who fight to change attitudes towards those who society tries to marginalise such as: asylum seekers, the disabled, those from the LGBTI+ community. Progress may be slow but I believe they will succeed because right is on their side. I have no respect, though, for those who try to dictate to us what we are to believe, say or do; for example extreme political or religious groups. I also have little sympathy for those who moan about the changes to Sunday - why?
It is not because I do not believe that Sundays are special I do but I also recognise that for the majority of the population Sundays are not special days off, they can be working days and busy days ferrying family to one event after another. For many people Sundays are certainly not a Sabbath or a day of rest. I am a realist, we are never going to have shops closed on Sundays again but as a Christian I believe that we should encourage everyone to keep a ‘Sabbath’. To find new ways of applying the old concept because if a day of rest was good enough for God then it is good enough for God’s creation too. How can we 21st century believers redefine the ‘Sabbath’ concept for today’s society?
Firstly, we need to encourage everyone to have at least a day off during the week, to keep a Sabbath but not necessarily on a Sunday. This also challenges the church to look to itself and the days on which it offers worship, if Sunday is not the best day for some people when do we need to have our churches open and to invite people to join us?
My personal ’Sabbath’ tends to be a Friday, if not some other day depending on my diary. I always try to have a day off, (even if now the SEC encourages us to have two days off!). It is a chance to slow down and to rest. For me Sundays are a day of work and tend to be quite full – it might be the same for you.
Choosing when to keep ‘a Sabbath’ is not a new concept. The early Christians chose Sunday as a time to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, in contrast to their Jewish neighbours who kept the Sabbath on Saturday. Followers of Islam keep Friday as special. The common thing here is that a day is kept as sacred time, a day to rest and pray, to relax and to give thanks to God. It is, I think, less important what day is kept as the Sabbath than the fact that a Sabbath Day is kept.
In today’s Gospel reading the leader of the synagogue chastises Jesus for healing on the Sabbath:
There are six days in which work ought to be done, come on those days and be cured, and not on the Sabbath.”
Jesus responded in telling the official that he is wrong, for even the scriptures tell you that you may work on the Sabbath when you need to, where it states that you may lead your ass to water. What Jesus is actually saying is one should not be hidebound to the law, that it is not there to dictate to you but to help you organise your life and society around. He implies that the law has to be flexible to needs and the local environment or else the whole thing will collapse. If the ass did not drink on the Sabbath then it would die and allow no work to happen in the coming week. Jesus was always concerned with the welfare of others and was prepared to challenge the status quo, where it would be harmful. In seeing the crippled woman in pain, Jesus seeks to help her thereby putting the needs of God’s people above the letter of the law.
We are told to keep a Sabbath after six days of work but we are not told specifically which day to keep as the Sabbath. It depends on which day you start your six days of work. The theologian Jurgen Moltmann wrote about 40 years ago that it is vitally important to keep the Sabbath, a whole 24 hours in which things can slow down and God can be given some quality time. It is good advice and advice we all in today’s society need to hear and respond to.
Keep your Sabbath special would I think a better campaign that one trying to keep Sundays alone as special. As you will gather by now, I do not mourn the passing of the old Sundays. As a youngster I hated them and found them depressing. Just when I had some time and energy to do things, places were shut. As the Church we need to continually discern how we can best serve God’s people in this 24/7 culture. We need to recognise that for many Sunday is not their Sabbath and that 10 am on Sunday might not be the best time to go to church either.
We are being challenged by society to bring Christ into the world as it is today. It is a challenge we cannot afford to ignore, for if we do we are doing God, Christ and God’s people a disservice. Whatever day you keep as your Sabbath, enjoy it. Encourage your family, friends and neighbours to do the same and nag the church to do something about it too.