Sabbath Messages > Sabbath Message: Dec. 11, 2004
Good Sabbath
December 11, 2004 "And Thou has given us love, O Lord our God, and Sabbath for rest, holidays for gladness and seasons for rejoicing."
"The Sabbath is the link between the paradise which has passed away and the paradise which is yet to come." ( Wylie)
"The Sabbath is the core of our civilization, dedicated to thought and reverence; it invites to the noblest solitude and to the noblest society." (Emerson)
I sit in my car, driving quickly to a supermarket where a plethora of goods and goodies awaits my checkbook, and then return to my warm home, gaze at Fran's and my wedding photo of young yesterdays, passed faster than any modern car, thanking God for it all.
Sealed away in my mind is the awareness that the pioneers of the early 1850's, s n a i l ed at 3 miles per hour, "blazing" new trails to the West, preceding the arrival of the transcontinental coal-breathing locomotive; Whether lusting for California gold or Oregon farmland or a celestial city in Utah, these were the ancestors who were foolishly braving cold, mountains, Indians, flood and breakdown; water was scarce and breakdowns were often; an early arriving winter was devastating. David Dary's new book, "The Oregon Trail" describes the meaning of courage, desperation and foolhardiness, without which the West would still be the frontier.
In my early morning walks I see beauty of Autumn without fearing the "buffalo gnat"-"the most detestable thing in creation".
Recently, a Russian archaeologist discovered an undisturbed tomb, just between Russia and China, which belonged to the Iron Age horsemen, who lived there until the 2nd century BC. Others have discovered the first textiles of 20,000 B.C., which gave neither warmth nor modesty, but announced the female's reproductive readiness. The first course I ever took in college was "textiles"; it traced civilization as it "dressed up". History is not just about warfare and man's inhumanity to man, but also where we came from, what we were, and perhaps, a thought to what we could be, which is my professional preoccupation.
"It is good to give thanks unto the Lord
To sing praises unto Thy name,O Most high.
For Thou, O Lord, hast made me rejoice in Thy work;
I will glory in the work of Thy hands.
(Psalm 92, the Sabbath prayer)
I thank God for my senses: I can see the humming bird, the miracle of tiny flutter and smallness, which can hover and fly sideways, backwards, upside down, up, down and whose wings move at a rate with which they make that wonderful humming sound, barely detectable unless you are willing to listen.
Before I allow sleep to conclude each day, like Frances, I read. I've mentioned Jeff Shaara's "To the Last Man", an historical novel of the first World War, which reminds me that Iraq is not the first war that has made us begin to comprehend the stubbornness of bureaucrats, whose job, they feel, is always to interrupt progress or supplying precious armor to our troops. General Pershing, who led us in WWI, was heartsick to find how terribly foolish so many generals in D.C. were in protecting their own turf, while Pershing waited for troops, planes and supplies, while Europe almost fell to the Kaiser.
Reading is like water to a thirsty mind, it must be loved by the young or we learn no lessons from history. A philosopher said that history never repeats itself, but man always. Professor Tom Stonier divides our history into three phases: The first involved machines that extended human muscles; the second used machines that extended the human nervous system, e.g radio, TV, telephones; and the third yielded machines that extended the human brain, e.g. computers. And yet these are the beginnings of our evolution. Tomorrow isn't just a series of calendars; it is also the aspiration, imagination and courage of the humans who will follow us, somehow surviving our collective foolish mistakes, and God knows, how much we deserve to survive.
This week was one of the happiest in by professional life, for at my un-young age, I was still a container of enthusiasm, energy and imagination, sharing aspirations and problem solving with good people, and thanking God for everything from walks to thought.
As a prelude to Holydays, fill your heart and mind with thoughts that allow family and humankind to be in touch with hummingbird as well as invention, pioneer spirits as well as spirituality, and do it accompanied by those you love and who love you.
sandy
