Holy Justice (or) Sabbath, part XX
Richard M. Wright
Isaiah 58 challenges us to see Sabbath keeping as part of a larger whole that includes and is not divorced from justice and liberation and feeding and clothing and providing and speaking kindly to and about each other. In my next article I will try to be more specific in terms of practice. / Not just that Sabbath is part of… but could Sabbath keeping include these other things? – “Holy Justice (or) Sabbath, part XIX”
Time to keep the promise.
Isaiah 58 seems to connect justice and compassion with Sabbath-keeping. Are there ways to practice Sabbath that also address justice (against oppression and for the oppressed) and compassion (for those who suffer)? So how might one practice Sabbath (perhaps in terms of worship and prayer) and sharing food with the hungry, giving shelter to the homeless, clothing the naked, and so on?
Hmm. Let’s see. Have you heard of Sharlo Apartments? Kairos? 17th and Florida? Ministry and communion with the lonely, imprisoned, homeless, hungry. And not just ministry and communion. But prayer and worship – along with ministry/communion. On Sunday. (Again – not to get into the debate about Sabbath/Lord’s Day and Saturday/Sunday. Suffice it to say “the day of the week when University Baptist and Church of the Nations gather for worship/prayer/communion.) It is quite possible that these and other (even Sunday) ministries represent Sabbath keeping in its purest (or perhaps fullest) form.
(Although there is another side of this which I will explore next week.)
I would also mention a relationship between Sabbath-as-fasting and the call for justice and compassion (“Holy Fasting [or] Sabbath, part XII”). If Sabbath-as-fasting means a single day when we refrain from spending and buying – what Donald Miller discussed as consumerism – there is also an extent to which we refrain from spending on ourselves what others do not have as basic necessities. From buying products made/grown/picked by people who are not paid a living wage. (The average daily wage for someone who picks coffee is $0.83. Which is not enough to buy a single cup of coffee at [fill in the blank name of your favorite coffee shop]. Just one example.) Sabbath-as-fasting(-from-consumerism) helps us become more aware of economic (in)justice. And the choices we make during the rest of the week when we do spend and buy.
Which I think is part of what Isaiah 58 is trying to tell us.
