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Don't know why but the book of Genesis has been coming at me, fast and hard. First with Rob Bell's, Everything is Spiritual and a short time stumbling onto Anne Jackson's blog with this post:
am reading this amazing book right now. here are some things i’ve highlighted so far…it’s truly enlightening. i realize it’s a bit long, and it takes a little time to read, but it is so rich, i really recommend you invest a few minutes in absorbing this.
• technical civilization is man’s conquest of space. it is a triumph frequently achieved by sacrificing an essential ingredient of existence, namely, time. in technical civilization, we expend time to gain space to enhance our power in the world of space is our main objective. yet to have more does not mean to be more. the power we attain in the world of space terminates abruptly at the borderline of time. but time is the heart of existence.
• there is a realm of time where the goal is not to have but to be, not to own but to give, not to control but to share, not to subdue but to be in accord.
• we have often suffered from the degradation by poverty, now we are threatened with the degradation through power. there is a happiness in the love of labor, there is misery in the love of gain.
• many hearts and pitchers are broken at the fountain of profit.
• to retain the holy, to perpetuate the presence of god, his image is fashioned. yet a god who can be fashioned, a god who can be confined, is but a shadow of a man.
• time to us is sarcasm, a slick treacherous monster with a jaw like a furnace incinerating every moment of our lives. shrinking, therefore, from facing time, we escape for shelter to things of space.
• the bible is more concerned with time than with space. it sees the world in the dimension of time. it pays more attention to generations, to events, than to countries, to things; it is more concerned with history than geography.
• the sabbath is not for the sake of the weekdays; the weekdays are for the sake of the sabbath. it is not an interlude but the climax of living.
• it must always be remembered that the sabbath is not an occasion for diversion or frivolity; not a day to shoot fireworks or to turn somersaults, but an opportunity to mend our tattered lives; to collect rather than to dissipate time.
• labor without dignity is the cause of misery; rest without spirit is the source of depravity.
and i am only 18 pages in…(The Sabbath Paperback)by Abraham Joshua Heschel)
I have never been much of a OT girl. I have read thru the whole thing but would be hard pressed to recite much of what I read. In my journal, there is a note to read Isaiah but I can't remember why I wrote that. Time to read whether I understand why or not. In my quest to understand that I will never understand it is becoming increasing important to follow these little paths whether I see where they are leading or not.
Growing up, Sunday was most like any other day. Maybe a bit more scary because no one had to go to work and Saturday had given them a head start to do their thing. By the time I started attending a church, what with going day and night, it seemed somewhat overwhelming. Whatever the reason, this is where my head is concerning the Sabbath these days. Always the student, always in process and always in awe...
