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TakeAway: Really? One sermon on How to Keep God’s Sabbath Day Holy (Whole)? Yawn.

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TakeAway:  How to Keep God’s  Sabbath Day Holy (Whole)?

TakeAway:   Really?  One sermon on How to Keep God’s  Sabbath Day Holy (Whole). Yawn.

Years ago people heard the message ‘don’t work on Sunday and go to church.’ That’s how you ‘keep the sabbath’.    Times have changed. That message has morphed …. Are new ideas a better fit for today?

Gospel:  Luke 13:10 – 17   Jesus heals a woman on the sabbath, offering her a new beginning for her life.  When challenged by a narrow reading of the sabbath command, Jesus responds by expanding “sabbath work” to include setting people free from bondage.

“Now Jesus was teaching … And just them there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years.  She was bent over and quite unable to stand up straight.  When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.”

On the sabbath,  Jesus heals and lifts up a  woman bent over for 18 years.

When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God  But the leader of  the snyagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done;  come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.”

But the Lord answered him and said,  “You hypocrites!   Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water?

Ok to give donkey water on  the sabbath? Of course!

And ought now this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free  from this bondage on the sabbath day?

TakeAway:  This is what one person   took away —   from  Christ Lutheran Church,

 www.AptosChurch.org

“Remember the sabbath day.  Call the sabbath a delight.  This is the Lord’s day and the Lord will  do for us what the Lord does:  feed us, forgive us, help and heal us.  Rejoice at all the wonderful things God is doing.”

Here are some ways  to “remember the sabbath…  Here’s some new ideas how to do it today. This is from a sermon delivered in an Aptos, CA church today:

Look for Perspective.

How do you want to spend your time  — versus  how  do you actually spend your time? When first year college kids were asked this question there was a huge dis-connect.  What do you want to do with your time to move toward what goals?

Learn Balance:

Do something  different you’ve never done before. Learn new skills.  Learn balance — so  that you prioritize.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seek Renewal of your spiritual batteries.

Take time to recharge your spiritual battery.  Sit and be quiet.  Then,  re-charged,  when you get up and leave,  things are different.  Take time to ponder, forgive, heal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reach out and Connect:

Connect saying hello, Perhaps play a game  with children and share. Or go to a picnic. Say hello to people you  only slightly know.  Reach out.  Doing things with others gets us out of ourselves.

 

 

Comments?  Thoughts?  What did you ‘TakeAway’ today this sabbath, August 21, 2016?

 For more happenings at this church, go to  http://www.AptosChurch.org

 Readings for next week include Luke 14:1, 7-14.

So — are the new ideas listed above  how to ‘keep the sabbath  holy’ a better fit for today’s world?   Do they work for you? What do you #TakeAway ?

Maybe just ‘don’t work and do things that slow you down’ says it all. Off to work tomorrow!

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