03/03/11: "Sabbathian" Experiment Update

Food from the day before yesterday: 

03/02/11 Bed at 10:30 pm/up at 7:45 am

Didn't track

03/01/11 Bed at 1:30 pm/up at 9:00 am

God time? No

[P] Egg white

[P] Hamburger, no bun

[V] Large salad

[V] Large salad

[V] Large salad

[F] Blueberries

[F] Blueberries

[F] X

[St] Noodles

[St] GF/SF Muffin

[St] GF/SF muffin

[St] GF/SF muffin

[D] Skim milk

[D]Skim milk

[Sn] GF/SF Muffin

[Sn] Nightfood bar

[Nightfood bar] Yes

[W] Two cups

Well, slap me upside the head and call me "Betty." I didn't know there was such a word as "Sabbatarian" or I would have used it in the title of my my last post (or maybe not just to be contrary). I'm doing some preliminary research for my church's Sabbath experiment (yeah; we're kind of flying by the seat of our pants here [my almost-favorite way to fly]), and most of the phrases I Googled in the beginning ("Christian Sabbath, "observing the Christian Sabbath") yielded a froth of debate on whether or not keeping the Sabbath even still applied to Christians. I ignored those results and entered a new search term, "Presbyterian Sabbath," which yielded much more useful information. I haven't read it yet, but I'm sure you'll hear about it in future blog posts :-)

When I recently asked my pastor (Jeff) for some more information on keeping the Sabbath, he told me that in a nutshell, it's about "not exerting force over the world," which fascinated my complex and convoluted mind. I'm pretty much prepared to give up TV and the computer on whatever day the group decides to observe the Sabbath, but I've been wondering, "In what other ways do I exert power over the world?"

I talked about it today with a person whom I respect (Nancy), and she said that the Sabbath is about rest, reverence for God, and appreciating God's goodness in your life. I was trying to reconcile that with what my pastor had said, and I gave Nancy this example: If I want to lie in my bead and read a book, when I pick up the book, aren't I technically exerting power over the world? She said, "It depends on the intention with which you pick up the book." I thought that was a pretty cool answer because I'd like to think of the Sabbath as a time to practice reverence and gratitude with intention!

How about you? What would your Sabbath look like?