Whether you’re travelling or taking vacation time in place, here are two specific ways to open up to the refreshment a seasonal sabbath offers.
(1) Consider prayerfully detaching from continuous electronic notifications. Decide how often you’ll check your mail and phone messages. Every hour? Three times a day? Every other day? Here’s a CBC discussion on this subject (first broadcast in Sept. 2014). The same episode featured an interview with Michael Harris, author of The End of Absence.
(2) On August 30 during our 10 am family service, the prayer of the people will make use of stones and water. Why not look for a small stone from a special place you visit this summer, to bring back and offer as a token of thanksgiving for the graces received during your travels or summer leisure?
Comment(1)
Pat Jones says:
July 16, 2015 at 11:05 PMHi Vivian
I loved your idea of bringing back a special stone as a memory to share. And usually it is fine. I have done this often. However, it has been suggested to me that in reverence for the earth we should ask permission before removing any earth objects like stones, shells and sand etc. to bring to another home. They live in these places and may wish to stay there. It is a simple question that will intuitively be answered. Sounds strange? I think it is something the aboriginal culture well recognizes.