Saturday, April 22, 2017

Heschel on Time & Rest

Easter Day 7
Psalm 62:2
Only in God is my soul at rest


All week it has been time and rest that have been on my mind.  Big time, fast time, slow time, God's time…chronological time.  And it takes rest to think about time!  

Who better than Rabbi Heschel to offer a word about time and about rest:

The meaning of the Sabbath is to celebrate time rather than space.  Six days a week we live under the tyranny of things of space; on the Sabbath we try to become attuned to holiness in time.  It is a day on which we are called upon to share in what is eternal in time, to turn from the results of creation to the mystery of creation; from the world of creation to the creation of the world....

The seventh day is like a palace in time with a kingdom for all.  It is not a date but and atmosphere....

[A legend says:] "Angels have six wings, one for each day of the week, with which they chant their song; but they remain silent on the Sabbath, for it is the Sabbath which chants a hymn to God."  It is the Sabbath that inspires all the creatures to sing praise to the Lord.*

Moving from results to creation...that sounds like moving from looking back to looking ahead…maybe from analyzing to dreaming? 
Just rest Cindy.

*Abraham Heschel, from The Sabbath, It's Meaning for Modern Man, 1951, as quoted in An Easter Sourcebook: The Fifty Days, p25, Edited by Gabe Huck, Gail Ramshaw, and Gordon Lathrop...which I am loving as my 50 day prayer companion;)

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