DE PONDERING by Kevin Kessler

I'm always elated when I find a nugget of profound wisdom in a book I'm reading. One of these gems jumped out at me in Food and Faith: A Theology of Eating by Norman Wirzba. This profundity from Wirzba certainly relates to the subject on which he writes, but it can also stand alone, out of context, which is the way it impacted me. The subject is Sabbath, and here is what he writes:

Scripture tells us that God blessed and hallowed the seventh day "because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation" (Genesis 2:3). God's rest has nothing to do with fatigue, as if God could become tired of creative work. Rather, it has to do with the intense joy and peace, the supreme delight and contentment that followed from God's life-giving work. When people think of Sabbath they tend to think in terms of exhaustion: rest is a break, the time to escape from the harried pace of life. For God, however, rest is best understood as God's complete entrance into life and as God's availability to and joy in the beauty and goodness that is there. Directly contrary to human restlessness, the constant, frantic searching and striving for a different place or a better community, God rests because there is no other place God would rather be. God rests because the place where God is is the place of God's love and concern and work, and there simply is no other place worth going to. Sabbath is not a reprieve from life but the putting to an end of the restlessness that prevents deep engagement with it.

Wirzba's words guided me to think about Lent, the season of the church year now upon us. Lent is a time when we are invited to be self-reflective, to examine our lives in relation to God and others. This opportunity allows us to consider a vast array of behaviors in which we engage to determine how well we are doing. To perform this practice thoroughly takes time. Therefore, carving out occasions to be exclusively contemplative seems beneficial. Provided, then, is an opportunity to rest from the constant restlessness which tends to consume our waking hours. In this manner, Lent becomes for us a Sabbath.

Lent is indeed an occasion for us to consider our less than attractive behaviors for which we seek forgiveness. As Sabbath, Lent is likewise an opportunity to consider the joy and beauty of our lives, to contemplate that which is good, acceptable, and right in the eyes of God, which our lives display. Pondering these attributes lets us rest in a place that is worth going to. Furthermore, tarrying in these thoughts for a season potentially helps us alter our lives to become more wholly immersed in attractive behaviors. Ultimately, we reach the point of being Sabbath people, ably living our lives in love and concern, where there is no better place to be.