This past weekend my wife and I traveled to Subiaco, Arkansas, home of an Abbey and Academy and four hundred and some-odd residents. There we joined some members of our church including a priest and his wife, and another couple from a nearby congregation. We spent the weekend in a guest dormitory at the abbey, eating our meals in a church dining room and saying the daily office with the resident monks of the abbey.
In between we read readings that our clergy handed out to us and then gathered together to discuss what we thought about them. One of the most interesting questions raised was "When is the Sabbath?" Not in the literal sense of which day of the week, mind you, though that did get talked about a good bit, if only because of the modern collision of Sunday and that the Sabbath to many. Instead, the focus was more on the qualitative nature of Sabbath - what are the characteristics of Sabbath time. So I had a great surprise today in learning that an acquaintance of mine has decided to start taking Friday off as her 'Sabbath' time and that, coincidently, she had also been to Subiaco, though many years ago.
I do think that the pace of modern life does push us into very narrow and carefully considered rest. I think that many, myself certainly included, feel guilty when we are not working. I also think that that technology can have a positive effect and can reduce stress in our lives, but I don't seem to be around many people who share this opinion. Rather, I hear people complain about email and blackberries and other devices. They seem to forget that, paraphrasing the NRA, blackberries don't send emails, people do, and that email is the natural extension to the hand-written letter and the telephone. I wonder where the line is with such people, and I want to ask, "Are you okay with the wheel? Is fire adding too much stress in your life?"
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