Hallowed

Exodus 20:8-11

           Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

           Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

            But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

           For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

 

What is work?  How is it working for you?

In the poetic story of Genesis, God creates the heavens and the earth and every living thing on earth in six days.  On the seventh day, God rests and, by this resting, God blesses this day and makes it holy.  I can’t think of any act, however, that is more blessed or holy than God’s act of Creation.  And, so, isn’t it right for us to think of every day of the week as sanctified by God?  It is not as though we must labor for six days in an un-blessed state, seeing our work as a sort of ungodliness.  No, created in the image and likeness of God, we participate with God in the holy work of creation by being good stewards of His Creation.  The work in which we engage throughout the week should be in keeping with good stewardship; should nourish, protect, prune, refresh, guide, heal, strengthen and uplift all that is good, true, and beautiful in the world.  For, God looked upon what He had created and saw that it was good.

And all that is in heaven and earth is inherently good as it is in union with Goodness itself, with God.  However… In God’s selfless generosity, He created us human beings in His divine image, giving us the gift of free will.  Therefore, we can choose and, because we can choose, we can truly love and truly be loved and know the infinite joy of loving – but, we can also choose to absent ourselves from true love by choosing to separate our actions from Goodness itself, from God’s perfect will, and, so, separate ourselves from our divinely created selves and from union with God.  This inferior choice, in the same poetic account of creation in Genesis, is what the first humans preferred.  They did not trust in God’s goodness and wanted to decide for themselves what was right and what was wrong.  The fallen world that resulted is the inferior world where humans rule separated from God’s perfect will, intellects darkened by removal from perfect union with the divine light, wills weakened by support lacking when perfect union with Goodness itself was broken.  God could have chosen to leave us in this inferior state, but, because God is Love Itself and loves us divinely, infinitely and eternally, He chose to rescue us, to give us a way back to union with Him.

So, after all, there is an act that is holier than the act of Creation: the act of Salvation.  The Way back to God is God, God Incarnate, Jesus Christ.  Through the acts of Christ, we are redeemed, we are restored to our true selves, to the superior state of God’s Divinely Intended Creation.  The full reality of this state cannot be realized while we still live and breathe upon this earth – for it is still a fallen world, though we are inexhaustibly forgiven.  God’s saving actions, known as the Paschal mystery, grants continual mercy to all those who seek union with God’s perfect will so that we may be nourished, protected, uplifted, pruned, guided, healed, strengthened and refreshed as we journey in the Way.  The fulfillment of our restoration being eternal life, united, without limits, in the pure presence of God in the world to come.  God’s Saving Work sanctifies us and brings us back to Him, as our own work is meant to sanctify the temporal order and bring our neighbors, as well as all our fellow creatures and Creation itself, with us in the Way to union with Goodness, with God.  Christ Jesus is the Way… The Truth and the Life – it is through Him, with Him, and in Him that we, and all Creation, are blessed and made holy, lifted up to God, restored to union with Goodness itself, which is God’s perfect will.  The culmination of this saving work of God is in the holy act of the Resurrection – and that is why we, as Christians, celebrate Sunday, the Day of the Resurrection, as the holiest day of the week.  God made this day most holy and blessed, not by resting from His work of Creation, but by saving it.  That is a hallowing act indeed.

When we engage in our non-sabbath work, let us be sure that this work is participating in the divine work of creation, in upholding all that is truly good, all that is in union with God’s perfect will.  Let us not keep our sights low and and make our work that of sustaining the lesser state where right and wrong is not determined by true union with Goodness, but rather by the fickle, selfish drives of fallen Man.  We think that we work for ourselves when we do the work that satisfies our prideful power, pleasure, honor and wealth, things that we deem with our limited, finite eyes as good.  But, we actually work against ourselves.  The fulfillment of our beings, our true joy, the reality of becoming who we are created to be, must come through union with actual goodness, with that which is in union with the perfect will of the Author of Life, Goodness Itself, God.  Otherwise we destroy our true identities and our work is of despair.  Most joyfully, we are saved from our own self-destruction by the Saving Act of Redemption in the Way, the Truth and the Life, who is Jesus Christ.  That is much reason to celebrate the Lord’s Day and to keep it as Holy by giving Thanksgiving and praise to God for all that He has done and by resting in His love, so that He may nourish, protect, prune, refresh, guide, heal, strengthen and uplift us in the Way.

Christina Chase