A Personal Sabbath!..... after all these years!!!

Yesterday I observed the Sabbath. I'm not a christian although I was raised in the Presbyterian church.

I'm a secular humanist who believes in the  power of compassion and the natural flow of life.

My first family (my mom and dad, 2 sisters and a brother) went to church every Sunday and I loved it. I sat next to my father who was a spiritual man (gentle and kind and full of wisdom/he was not an outgoingly talkative man so when he spoke everyone always listened carefully because he was either going to tell a joke, a story, or a bit of wisdom you undoubtedly needed to hear). He disciplined with that one glaring look with the raised eyebrow; that look that asked a silent kind of question; a look that made you ask yourself why you did whatever it was you did. Which reminds me of a story.

When I was a senior in high school a friend of mine and I snuck into the base swimming pool one warm summer night to skinny-dip (we lived on a very small navy communications station outside Washington D.C. where we had a lot of freedom and a lot of fun without having to worry too much about weirdos). While we were back-floating looking up at all the stars the MP's (military police) were making their rounds. We saw the lights of their truck, hopped out of the pool to put our clothes on in some bushes but.... busted, they had seen us. They unlocked the gate and escorted us to the back of their truck.

My Dad was the Communications Officer on this base but on that night, little did I know, he was taking his turn as the Security Officer. Oh my, wasn't I surprised when the MP's brought us to him? Of course, they knew he was my Dad, I'm sure they got a big kick out of it. He took one look at our dripping wet hair with dry clothes and no swimming suit and knew what my girlfriend and I had been up to.

I thought I was in really big trouble that night but all he did was give me that look (maybe he held it a little longer than usual) and told me to walk on home. I'm sure he probably told the MP's that the incident didn't need any kind of report.

He never mentioned the incident to me. The lesson he taught me with "the look" was bigger than any lecture he might have given me......don't do silly things.

I adored my Father very much.

I've gotten sidetracked with this story.

Anyway.... I loved going to church and listening to the music and watching how calm and relaxed my dad seemed in this place with candles and pretty, shiny wood and lots of natural light coming in from the giant stained glass windows. I never felt that the God these ministers were talking about was a malevolent God. I figured he was a kind and loving God or why would my dad seem so peaceful sitting there next to me? My dad had a beautiful singing voice so when we opened our hymnals (I loved sharing one with him) and he began "Eternal Father, strong to save," I'd lean in a little pressing up against his warm, strong body so his voice could be heard way over the others.

I've pasted the words to this song below. It still makes me feel protected and secure.

Eternal Father, strong to save, Whose arm hath bound the restless wave, Who bidd'st the mighty ocean deep Its own appointed limits keep; Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee, For those in peril on the sea! O Christ! Whose voice the waters heard And hushed their raging at Thy word, Who walkedst on the foaming deep, And calm amidst its rage didst sleep; Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee, For those in peril on the sea! Most Holy Spirit! Who didst brood Upon the chaos dark and rude, And bid its angry tumult cease, And give, for wild confusion, peace; Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee, For those in peril on the sea!

     O Trinity of love and power!

Our brethren shield in danger's hour;

From rock and tempest, fire and foe,

Protect them wheresoe'er they go;

Thus evermore shall rise to Thee

Glad hymns of praise from land and sea.

O Trinity of love and power!

Our brethren shield in danger's hour;

From rock and tempest, fire and foe,

Protect them wheresoe'er they go;

Thus evermore shall rise to Thee.

My Dad was often out to sea for months at a time - to places we could only imagine. He was a submariner. I remember feeling really great about some Eternal Father protecting him from the rock and tempest, fire and foe while he made way fathoms deep through our earth's oceans. 

I loved the quiet of Sundays. We would always go to the social gathering after the service to eat donuts (the white powder ones that got all over my clothes were my favorite) and drink coffee. My parents didn't mind if we had coffee! My Mom said it would warm us up before we went outside (we lived in Connecticut for a hunk of my childhood). 

So, I decided this week that one day a week I'm going to set aside a Personal Sabbath to stay home, not clean toilets or go grocery shopping or pay bills or do anything that isn't relaxing and nourishing. 

Yesterday was my first Personal Sabbath celebration of renewal. I drank some nice, hot Organic La Frontera Decaf coffee while I watched the sun come up. 

I ate a grapefruit slowly.......

I went for a walk where I saw in the photo at the beginning of the blog, the first daffodils poking up. I read. I said a lot of thank yous. I called a friend I haven't talked to in ..... to long. We laughed. I noticed how very blue my husband's eyes seemed. 

Maybe next Sabbath I'll go to the movies or sip red wine and let it swirl around in my mouth or make some nice soup while listening to Mozart or arias from Rigoletto. Maybe I'll linger in the bath tub or visit a neighbor or read a good poem. Hey, maybe I'll write a prayer for our world leaders to become like an Eternal Mother/Father for health care for all and no weapons even of a little bit of destruction (why should there be any destruction?) and no bullies in the classroom or on the streets or in our Congress or in Somalia and Syria or Baltimore and for the homeless woman, Sarah, who lives on a bench at the end of our street and who is young and looks so much more tired and sick than she did even 4 months ago, Sarah who has taught all of the many of us that know her hard lessons as she walks up and down the highway on a pilgrimage that only she can understand in her confused mind, and for excellent education for all people everywhere and anyone that wants to be united in marriage to be free to do that and for all humans to just dang love each other and also for our suffering planet and include some gratitude for all the good things because there are many of those too.


All of these things speak to the soul and I think that's what the Sabbath should be - a time to nourish your soul and be easy in this complex world.  

What do you do to nourish your soul?

Can't wait for next Sunday.... maybe I'll go get a Dunkin powdered donut just for fun. Ummmm.

Amen!

Donna Rae
p.s. A fathom (abbreviation: ftm) = 1.8288 meters, is a unit of length in the imperial and the U.S. customary systems, used especially for measuring the depth of water.

There are 2 yards (6 feet) in an imperial or U.S. fathom.^[1] Originally based on the distance between the fingertips of a man's outstretched arms, the size of a fathom has varied slightly depending on whether it was defined as a thousandth of an (Admiralty) nautical mile or as a multiple of the imperial yard. Formerly, the term was used for any of several units of length varying around 5–5¹⁄₂ feet (1.5–1.7 m).

The name derives from the Old English word fæðm meaning embracing arms or a pair of outstretched arms.^[2][3][4] In Middle English it wasfathme. A cable length, based on the length of a ship's cable, has been variously reckoned as equal to 100 or 120 fathoms. At one time, a quarter meant a fourth of a fathom.