Hello everyone and welcome to this week's episode
of Trinity Talks. My name is Kyla. My name is
Amalvel. My name is Elizabeth. And Hugh. And
we are here to continue talking about some spiritual
practices. Some of those things that we can do
that help us as we learn what it means to follow
Jesus. And we started by talking about prayer.
Then we moved to talking about scripture reading.
Then last week we talked about this idea of solitude.
And today we're talking about this thing called
Sabbath. And Sabbath is a practice where we take
some time out just to rest, to delight in God.
And that sounds really great, but I think it
can also be really challenging sometimes. And
so, yeah, I want to sort of unpack together what
that might look like and what are some of the
ways that we have found that to be helpful, what
are some of the ways that we found that challenging.
But first, what is Sabbath? When you hear that
word, when you think about it, what sort of comes
to mind for you when you think about what is
Sabbath? Do you want to start us off, Hugh? Sure.
Sabbath is a time of rest. And rest means disconnecting
from the world and filling your mind, your heart,
your soul again, so you can go back into the
world and embrace the world. When we get so busy,
so stressed out, so burnt out on the edge of
burnout, I mean, the research is saying that
A large percentage of people in the workplace
now are on the edge of burnout. And so we need
Sabbath more than ever. Sure. And Sabbath is
something that God mandated. It's one of the
Ten Commandments. But Jesus also said that it's
more than a rule, that it was made for us. We
weren't made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath
was made for us. So he's ordering us, in a sense,
or commanding us to rest. And it's the best self
-care we can do. For sure. It's to rest our minds,
our souls, our emotional, our psyches, so that
we have more to give others. Because we can't
give to others what we... don't have ourselves
sure so that's what the sabbath is for sure yeah
and i think like what you were saying there it
connects to the idea that we talked about last
week of like solitude and that it is a bit of
a withdrawing and and taking time apart but it
doesn't always have to be that sometimes we sabbath
with other people as well absolutely absolutely
yeah what would you add to that elizabeth when
you think about what is sabbath um to me um to
me according to from the hebrew The foundation
is from the Hebrew, Shavuot, to cease, to rest.
And it's a 24 -hour period of rest. It's the
seventh day of the week, designated in the Bible
as Holy Day of Rest. Worship and reflection.
It was established in Genesis 2 -3. Exodus 28
to 11. In regards to the Sabbath day, it was
written in 10 commandments to keep it holy. Right.
And then in Mark 2. 27 to 28. Right. So those
are the passages that he was just talking about,
that it's part of the 10 commandments. And then
it's part of what Jesus commands us as well.
And then the part that you talked about in Genesis,
I think is really interesting because there we
see that God takes a Sabbath, right? We see that
God rests. And so I think that's important to
remember that like, we don't take a rest because
Yeah. Like we take a rest, like God took a rest.
Right. And so we can't say, oh, I'm too busy
for this. Right. Because God did it. And if God
rested, then like we should rest. Right. God
has made an example for us. Yeah. Yeah. What
would you add to that? I would say, especially
in the modern sense, I mean, Sabbath is really
a digital detox. OK. Because, you know, again,
it's. you know maybe in back in the day it was
a lot easier to do to keep Sabbath but we have
our phones we have our laptops we have our we
you know sometimes we have to work on Sundays
you know and so it's it's one of those things
where like we can occupy our time and our space
and our energy through technology but on on the
Sabbath you got to replace that with you know
either with stuff like you know just gathering
with other christians sharing a meal going for
a walk reading your bible doing any any of that
sort of stuff so it's it's a day where you kind
of have to replace like the norm the of our society
because again like our society is not i don't
think especially modern society i don't think
uh we are the i don't i don't think we we're
like we're it's not it's almost like we're not
designed to be keeping sabbath our society trains
us you know right always keep busy keep going
keep going exactly harder do more i mean you
look at retail for example there's no sundays
off right you know good lucky being a christian
wanting to go to church on sunday even sometimes
if you're in retail it's like not gonna happen
right yeah The city keeps running. People keep
going. Everybody. Nobody stops. Nobody. Yeah.
And I mean, I do. I do. I don't think I can remember
it, but like there was a period of time where
even in Canada where Sundays most things were
closed. Right. And now look at it. It's like
nothing closes on Sundays nowadays. So. Yeah.
So I think there's. Two questions that are now
coming up for me as we think about this. So the
first question maybe is like, okay, so we've
talked about Sabbath as a concept, that it's
a time for rest. It's a time for delight. It's
a time for slowing down. But what does that actually
look like? Like is Sabbath just sitting on the
sofa and like being quiet all day? Is Sabbath
like taking a nap? Like what does one do? What
does Sabbath look like, do you think? To me,
Sabbath is the day of reflection. You're reflecting
back to what God has done in your life. And it's
a solemn day to worship, to read your Bible,
and then to pray. So to take delight in God.
creation, you know, all those things. So that's
for me as a day of Sabbath. And again, it's a
day that, you know, we come around like church
brethren here to worship, to praise God in the
beauty of his holiness, you know, to fellowship
with each other. Yeah. Yeah. So in some ways
Sabbath is like, excuse me, is a practice that
like holds space for all of the other spiritual
practices, right? That it becomes a place where
we practice prayer and we practice scripture
reading and we practice gathering and worshiping,
right? So it holds some of those other practices.
Okay, what else? That's right. Well, I think
it's, I like what you said, Elizabeth and Kyla.
I think it's all of that. To me, it means that
we stop doing so that we can be freed from being.
And being means that we're not captured by all
the things, all the tasks, but we're free to
be who we are and to be more of who we are. And
I think the key for Sabbath is the freedom to
build and pursue relationships. Because it's
a time devoted to people and to build those relationships.
You're sitting around a table or you're eating
or sharing a meal or you're playing with your
kids or you're calling your mother or your grandmother.
It's a time for people. And I think that's a
lot of the reason Gabe... God gave us this time
because relationships are so key. God is relationship.
God has always been in relationship. Relationship
is the key thing for God. It's a central focus
of our existence is relationships. And we're
discovering now through our contemporary research.
how relationship is so important. In fact, people
who come to church, who have Sabbath regularly,
people who have good relationships in their life
actually are healthier and live longer. And so
the Sabbath is so important because it affects
all of our life. And if you don't do it, you
don't live as long and you're not as healthy.
Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. That's interesting to
think about. Like it doesn't, it obviously has
like spiritual benefit as we like get to spend
time with God. It also has like physical health
benefits and relational health benefits. Yeah.
Yeah, for sure. Now, what about when you think
about like what Sabbath looks like a model, are
there like specific things that you would sort
of put in that day or that period? I mean, for
me, it's like my experience with Sabbath itself.
It's, I mean, the closest that I come is. coming
to church because for that at least for those
two three hours you know the phone's away it's
not you know the ringers are off you know i'm
you know listening to the sermon i'm singing
the worship songs and then oftentimes i'm spending
a good amount of time after church just chatting
with other christians and you know it's a it's
a nice way to forget about all the nonsense that's
going on in the world or As well, it's a time
to gather with other Christians. And especially
when you don't come from a family of Christians,
it's nice to be able to share that Sabbath with
people that are walking the same faith journey
as you. Yeah, I remember when I was having a
conversation with my partner at one point about
like, okay, what would it look like for us to
practice the Sabbath together? You know, it was
like, well, what does that even mean? Like, what
counts as Sabbath? Right. What counts as rest
and delight? I was like, I think of it as things
that we are doing because we want to do them,
not things that we're doing because we have to
do them. Now, obviously, in a given day, there
are certain things that you have to do. Right.
Like to take care of yourself, to be healthy.
But like, what if we fill our day with, you know,
going for a walk or. What if we fill our day
with like having a meal with our families? Right.
Like now that isn't inherently restful for some
people. Having a meal with their parents is very
stressful and you don't want to do that. But
if that is a place of rest and delight and like
it brings you joy and peace, then like do that.
Right. It might mean sleeping in and, you know,
taking a really slow day. But like there are
having a day of rest doesn't mean. We do nothing.
Right. It means we do things that feel that like
feel life giving to us. That's right. Yeah. OK,
so then the other question that sort of came
up when you were talking a model, you said, you
know, Sunday is like really hard to make that
a day of rest for some people. So then my other
question is, when is the Sabbath and does it
matter when it is? Yeah. So I think traditionally
in the Christian experience, Sunday. has sort
of been a day of Sabbath. But yeah, what is sort
of your experiences of when Sabbath is? What
does your Sabbath look like, Elizabeth? To me,
my Sabbath starts from Saturday evening. So in
preparation for Sunday service or Sunday mood.
So like, For me, growing up, the way we were
raised in my family, so we have to prepare everything
that we're going to use on Sunday, on that Saturday
evening. Especially our clothing, because thank
God for Canada, we have electricity 24 -7 here.
But back in Nigeria, you know, there is an issue
of lighting off for like days or so. So in preparation
for Sabbath, you know, you have to get your clothes
ready because you don't want to go to church
on Sunday with wrinkled clothes. So you iron
your clothes, you know, you prepare meal. Because
we don't cook on Sunday. We just warm the food
on Sunday. So all those things start from Saturday
up to this moment in my life. Yeah, I think that's
important to think about. Okay, whenever our
Sabbath is going to be, maybe we need some time
before the Sabbath starts to prepare well so
that we can actually rest. Yeah, yeah, for sure.
And you said that there's Sundays where you have
to work. So how does that work? Like, do you
take your Sabbath on an actual day off? No, not
really. I still take my Sabbath on Sunday because
at work I have break time. Okay. Even sometimes,
most of the time I was service online. Okay.
So I still observe my Sabbath and, you know,
the work I do deal with people with disability.
So you have to be 24 -7 compassionate towards
the people that you care for. So I always observe
my Sabbath despite I'm working that day. Okay,
yeah. So your work has a little bit of flexibility
where you're able to do that. So yeah, make that
space for yourself. What about for you, Hugh?
What does your Sabbath look like? When do you
try and find time in the week to practice that?
Well, it varies. Sunday, for sure. But sometimes
if I'm traveling on Sunday or have other commitments
on Sunday, then I have to carve out another time
of the week. Sure. It's interesting. This conversation
reminds me of Julia Cameron, and she wrote the
book The Artist's Way. Okay. And in that, she
said that, you know, sort of her Sabbath, is
having a date with herself. Okay. So taking the
full day and just doing things that really pampers
her soul, like visiting a museum or calling a
good friend or spending lunch with someone that's
really important to her. So she's having a date
with herself. And I like that. And sometimes
when I get really busy and things are all over
the place, I remember that. And I think, okay,
it's time that I have a date with myself. And
so the Sabbath, for me, could be a Wednesday.
It could be a Thursday. It depends. Yeah, it
really depends on what the rest of your week
looks like. Yeah, I think the other thing that
you had mentioned in the novel was that sometimes
it can't be a whole day, right? And so even taking
a few hours for rest and for delight and that
sort of a thing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, and I think
really it's the sense of rest, the sense of spending
time with God, the sense of spending time in
community, like all of those things. just being
really intentional about it is what makes it
Sabbath. Yes. And, and there is something important
about gathering for worship. And so if you're
able to sort of have a Sabbath on a Sunday, then
like, that's awesome. But if that doesn't work
for you, like, I know I like working in a church
Sunday morning does not feel like a Sabbath for
me. Right. I'm always like, okay, is this working?
Is that working? Whatever. So like, I need to
find other spaces where I can be like, okay.
I am not on right now. You're not having your
Sabbath right now. Yes, no. Clearly not. I love
this. This is great. This is not restful. No.
Yeah, for sure. So does your Sabbath begin in
the afternoon or so? So usually I alternate.
Depends on, again, the week and sort of what's
happened. But usually I'll take Friday or Saturday
as a Sabbath. Got it. And usually more Saturday
because Friday is also a day off. I generally
don't work on Fridays. But that means it's also
a really good day for me to make appointments
to do other things because other people are working
on Fridays. But then Saturdays can be a little
bit more chill. I can sleep in a little bit.
I can make plans to go out for a walk or to go
have dinner with somebody or whatever sort of
feels helpful and restful that week. Yeah. So
when we think about Sabbath, it sounds really
delightful. But what makes it so hard? Why do
you think people struggle with the idea of having
a Sabbath or practicing a Sabbath? Well, I think
if you haven't grown up in a family where that's
practiced, it almost seems like, what am I supposed
to do with my time? Like, I remember it's funny
because. I don't remember which of the deadly
sins it was, but when we were doing the series
on the deadly sins, one of them was talking about
how we need to rest and what that looks like.
And I remember listening to that and be like,
does anyone really rest? Right. In that sense,
does anyone really do that? Because we're so,
again, we're so conditioned to. you know to be
busy to be on the go again like our society celebrates
people that are you know not you know that are
like always working and always hustling and always
making appointments and all these you know it's
glorified in our in our society for sure to be
able to say no you know and i'm going to take
a rest you know because then you also get because
then it's also easy for people to be like, Oh,
you're just being lazy or why aren't you motivated
or whatever, you know? But it's, you know, I
think we, it is a good thing to be able to take
a rest from the world. I mean, it can be exhausting.
I mean, just even just getting on your phone
and looking at on Facebook or Instagram or so
it's mentally exhausting to be able to put all
that away for a while and just be like, you know,
and, you know, be reminded of God and remember,
you know, his people and everything like that.
I mean, it's, it's a lot, it's more, it's, it's
more beneficial because it's, you know, we're
not asking for, you know, spend all your time
away from technology and all that, but you got
to give yourself a break. For sure. Yeah. Yeah.
What about you folks? When you think about like,
what makes Sabbath hard? What comes to mind for
you? To me, Sabbath is not that hard for me.
Okay. You find it easy to rest and to take a
break? Excuse me. I love myself. Okay. And I
always work hard. So taking Sabbath is like a
self -care for me. So time to... renew my mind,
you know, to be at peace with God, to connect
with God. And I know every day I read my scripture,
I pray every day, but I find Sabbath day more
profound in my life where I can connect to my
family. And friends and also to my church community.
Here we are now. We are here to worship God and
to praise him for what he has done in our life.
So Sabbath day is not an issue. Okay. For me.
You find it really like motivating. Yeah. Okay.
That's awesome. What about for you, Hugh? Well,
I think it was at some point in my career because
I was in the people business. Yeah. Social worker
for over 40 years. And what happens when you're
giving and giving and giving to others, you get
compassion fatigue. And sometimes you're not
aware that that's happening. And that's when
you really need the Sabbath. And when I realized
that and I could get back and restore my soul,
restore my body, restore my heart, my mind. my
compassion rose up again. It was like I was refueled.
I was renewed. And I could go out there and be
more compassionate again instead of being really
tired. And, you know, there's a term that I really
like. And you know that your compassion is restored
when you go out there and you're excited about
caring for others. It's kind of like a gorilla
compassion. Right. You're meeting people on the
highway and you're praying for them. Or you're
in line at the grocery store and you're saying,
oh, no, not again. You're not saying that. You're
saying you're praying for the cashier. Right.
And you're doing that kind of thing. That means
you're renewed. Your compassion is on edge again.
Right. But compassion fatigue is a real issue.
It's a real issue for people and the professionals
in the people business, especially. Yeah, yeah,
yeah, for sure. And I think especially folks
who work with people, like you said, like social
workers or doctors or whoever, sometimes it can
be really hard to leave work at work. Right.
Like you can be like, OK, I need to take a break.
But as I'm taking a break, what's going to happen
to Bob or Sue or whoever? Right. And so, you
know, making sure that you have trusted colleagues
who can take that and like surrendering that
to God in prayer in some way is really, really
hard, but also like so important to be able to
take that step back. I let things affect me emotionally
that I was having too much stress. Despite I'm
praying, but this issue is a prolonged issue
and it was addressed. But when you're addressing
an issue and the individual is still taunting
you, taunting you, So it comes to a point that
I almost have a cardiac arrest. Wow. That was
last year, July. But I thank God for my life.
I took some time off from work. I took three
months off. But during that time, I bounced back
again. Because it's like a solemn time for me,
for reflection. take good care of myself so that
time that three months time was like a self -care
yeah time for me you know to renew right that
was kind of forced upon you right yeah you know
if we don't take care of ourselves right yeah
it was a forced sabbatical Yeah. University professors
have had sabbaticals for years. Right. And then
some companies now are giving sabbaticals as
well. They might be like three or four months
or they might be six months. Yeah. But they see
the value now. Not enough for doing it. For sure.
But I think it's important. Yes. Yeah. I think
the other challenging thing about Sabbath is.
If you don't live by yourself, you really need
to get your, like, whoever's in your household
on board with this idea of Sapna. Right. Right?
Because it does... If you're going to do it for
a whole day, it changes that day. Right. You
can't be like, oh, I just don't want to parent
today because it's my Sabbath from parenting.
Right. Or like, oh, well, you know, I'm not going
to cook dinner and we're just going to we're
all going to fast today because I'm Sabbath thing.
Right. Like or whatever it is, like you need
to get your household on board and be like, OK,
what works for us, for our family, for our living
situation so that we can do. this together and
that can be hard but like i would say that's
a really important conversation to sort of have
and it helps because if you can establish with
your family early on then when they go out into
the world it's easier for them to sure to try
to keep the sabbath and understand what the sabbath
looks like to them yeah for sure for sure yeah
so we've talked about some of the joy and the
rest and the benefits you know of compassion
fatigue and then you know having this renewed
sense of compassion time for rest and connection
are there other things that when you think about
like the joys of sabbath that come to mind for
you anything else you wanted to add elizabeth
you know like The joyful part of it is coming
to church, you know. Okay, yeah. To set certain
hours apart for God to worship with other church
community. And, you know, our God is King of
Kings and Lord of Lords. So, you know, I look
at myself. I'm a daughter of Zion, so I'm here
to worship God, you know, and to fellowship with
my church community. And after, you know, the
joyful part of it is sometimes Sunday when I'm
off, either my daughter and her children come
to me, you know, to just enjoy ourselves, or
I go there to visit. So that's... a joyful part
of my life to connect with my church community
to my friends and my fellow family members yeah
and I think if if you're able to take a sabbath
on sunday and sort of come to church that's awesome
like definitely encourage that if that's like
not possible for whatever reason then like maybe
you take your sabbath around the same time as
you like meet with a small group of people or
maybe you just like make extra time in that sabbath
to like you know re -watch the sunday service
or like listen to some worship music like making
that time for gathering and that sort of thing
Yeah. So then when you think about Sabbath, what
are some like practical tips, some things that
people can do to really help them get into this
practice and structure it well in their lives?
What would you have to add, Hugh? I would say
just schedule it. Okay. Yeah. You know, it's
very, very basic, but I guess if you don't, if
you don't plan it, if you don't schedule it,
it's not going to happen. Yeah. But so schedule,
let's say next week I have Wednesday and Wednesday
is going to be a Sabbath. Right. Or Sunday or
whatever. Yeah. Yeah. Schedule. Make a plan.
For sure. Yeah. What else would you add? I would
say you kind of almost have to treat the Sabbath
like making like a healthy lifestyle choice where,
you know, where they say like, like instead of
just getting rid of an unhealthy item. Right.
And going cold turkey, you know. Yeah. You replace
it with something else. Sure. So if you're going
to get rid of the technology for a while, what
are you replacing it with? Sure. And I mean,
if anything, I mean, start small. Like, can you
go to church service without looking at your
phone? Right. Do you need to even bring your
phone for church service? Sure. Right. You know?
Yeah. So it's just, you know, like anything,
you start small and see how it goes. Again, it's
not. Especially, I think, my generation and younger,
we grew up with the Internet and phones and games
and all of this technology, all this distraction
and escapism. We have to sort of reprogram ourselves
to be able to be like, you know, being at church,
being with Christians, being, you know, reading
scripture. This is all things that we should
be filling our times with. Right. And even if
it's for one day, at least it helps to know that
we don't have to 100 % rely on technology. Yeah,
for sure. For sure. What about you, Elizabeth?
As for me, you know, Sabbath day, according to
the scripture, to keep it holy. So we should
keep it holy, then come and worship at church,
then avoid shopping. You know, do something good
that will benefit the individuals on Sabbath
day. Like before the COVID, we used to do like
travel light. We visit hospital. Long -time care,
you facilitate all those things. We go there
to sing worship songs for them. It's like a small
worship group that we go around the community
to do for the people that are... uh elderly and
all that that even some people that can come
to church so we offer them um worship song and
all that so do something profitable for the for
the body of christ it's a great rewarding to
be doing you know so after after i leave church
now i'm going to visit some individuals in the
community. So sometimes that is the way I spend
my Sabbath day if my daughter doesn't call me
or I don't go and visit them. So I do something
then later in the evening I come back. eat my
special meal for Sunday and relax. Yeah. Yeah.
So like making time for other people and for
serving people. Um, and I think that's, that's
really helpful and important. If that's something
that feels like really life -giving to you, I
think to go back to what Hugh had said about
like compassion fatigue, some there for some
people that will be really awesome. Like to have
times to serve and to be with people for other
people. Doing more volunteering on the Sabbath
is not actually going to be restful, right? And
so making sure that you know what will work for
you. The other thing that you had mentioned earlier
in the week, Hugh, was this idea of beginning
and ending your Sabbath really well. Yeah, do
you want to say a little bit more about that?
Yeah, I think... But scheduling it, for one thing,
is the beginning of thinking about it. And then
once you get into it, especially you wake up
in the morning, you say, okay, this is my day
that will be life -giving. I like your term,
life -giving. And so how do I structure my day
so that it is life -giving? So maybe, yes, I
put my phone aside. Or maybe I read a book that
I've been wanting to read for a long time that
I know will pamper my soul, will give me strength,
will be inspirational. And then maybe there's
someone I want to spend time with. And I do that
during. And that's kind of the beginning of thinking
about it. And then kind of going through your
day doing that. And then ending it. I think a
really powerful way for me, and I think for many
people, is ending the Sabbath with. with gratitude,
you know, thanking God for all the good things
that are in your life. And many people don't
realize how many good things are in our lives.
You know, I mean, you asked, I used to do this
exercise in groups and ask people to write down
a list of things that they're grateful for. They
would, you know, they would list 10, 15, 20.
They started out by thinking, oh, I'm not sure
what I'm grateful for. Once you get going. Yeah,
for sure. I think finishing off with gratitude.
Yeah, that's good. Yeah, for sure. So sometimes
Sabbath is not necessarily resting, but at least
at the very least. Doing things that will please
God. Doing things that will please God and that
will bring a sense of peace and comfort to your
soul. Right. Right. And that will look different
for different people. But really, yeah, I think
the phrase I keep going back to is what will
be life giving for me? What will fill me up?
I like that. I like that. Yeah. And that's what
makes a Sabbath. Yeah. Thank you so much, folks,
for unpacking this a little bit with us. Thank
you for tuning in to this week's episode of Trinity
Talks. I hope that you are able. to find things
that are life giving to your soul and make some
really intentional space for that in the week
ahead. And we will see you again next week.