Holy Days

As long as the Ten Commandments stand, it will always be true that one day is set aside for purposes other than the work of the other six days.  "Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work.  But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God, you shall not do any work...."  (Exodus 2:8-10)  Not only is the Sabbath to be a day empty of the work of the other days, but is also to be regarded as holy.  Since Moses came down the mountain with the Word, this one about Sabbath has been handled in more ways than would seem possible.   

In my lifetime the world has gone from everything being closed on Sunday to the current anything goes on Sunday.  As a boy it seemed that the Sabbath was put in place to keep anyone from having any fun on at least one day a week.  And as a preacher for over four decades, I have done more than my share of making people feel guilty for not being in a church service on Sunday morning.   Figuring out what the Word is saying about keeping the Sabbath holy has been an ongoing challenge that continues for many of us even today.    

One of the things retirement has done is to create some space to think about things which were regarded as nailed down and poured in concrete.  As this season of life has unfolded, I have gone from thinking of one day of the week as one to be viewed as holy to a way of thinking that calls me to view every day as holy.  Even as every foot of the creation in which we live is holy so is every moment in which we live.  Every moment of our living bears the markings of the Creator who has given it to us.  If there is nothing else which makes it holy, it is the fact that it has passed through His hands as a blessing to us.