Sometimes our Sunday scriptures present such a wealth of material that if we hope to treat one subject in any detail, we must leave others unexplored. In an earlier age, when worship routinely continued well into the afternoon, a preacher could be expansive in the pulpit. Not so today. In recent years, the classic three-point sermon has been reduced to one point. Sermons that used to go on for hours have been pared down to 15 minutes . . . 20 minutes, max. In an age of high-speed internet, instant rebates and headline news, we preachers had better waste no time getting to that single point.

So, this morning, we're going to sidestep most of Isaiah 58 altogether, setting aside for the moment God's definitive prescription for spiritual health and happiness, a foolproof divine blueprint for the renewal of our society. Someday, we'll explore how this simple program will, according to Isaiah, bring inner peace and joy, foster deep intimacy with God, and establish a legacy for future generations. We'll come back to this, eventually, marveling that God demands so very little of us, really; only that we be civil to one another (specifically, that we stop talking trash and making rude, contemptuous hand gestures), and that we insure that sick people get medical care and no one goes to bed hungry. We won't go into all that now.

But there is one other thing in Isaiah's program...something that merits our prior attention in the pulpit today, because, in fact, this spiritual practice seems to be a precondition for all that civility and compassion and transformation and healing and justice. It is the foundation that supports our spirituality and our relationship with God. We can gauge its importance by the great many times it's mentioned in scripture (coming in at number 4 on the Top 10 Commandments Countdown). After all, it's God's own personal strategy, established at the creation of the world to promote regular renewal and maximum productivity. That other thing we call "keeping the Sabbath", and in our present day, it has become entirely optional. That's not so good.

To paraphrase the 4th Commandment, we are to remember the sabbath day, that is, to be mindful of it when it comes and careful to preserve it. We are to "keep it holy", which to me means that we try to keep it from looking and feeling just like any other day of the week. It is a time to slow down, so that our thoughts and deeds may reflect our connection to higher things. The key to this mindfulness and consecration is the specific prohibition of work on the Sabbath. The model for Sabbath rest is found in God's decision to rest after completing the work of creation. If it's good for God, it is good for us, too.

We human beings need Sabbath more than ever in a world which seems hell-bent on filling every minute with busy-ness. Driven by distorted notions of success and the fear of failure, spurred by advances in technology that enable and compel us to work harder and longer, we are fast becoming a people that never stops striving, never stops thinking about work, never turns off our cell phones. Even our children suffer from over-scheduling, leading to burnout and depression.

I remember when I was growing up in small-town Pennsylvania, back in the 50's and 60's. We had so-called "blue laws" on the books then. Most people went to church on Sunday morning. And then they went home. There was a little window of time in between the end of church and noon on Sunday, when the corner drugstore was open. You could stop in on the way home from church to pick up the Sunday New York Times, a loaf of bread and a gallon of milk. Otherwise, there was nothing to do in town . . . no movies . . . no shopping mall.

The prophet Isaiah accuses the people of "trampling on the Sabbath". This colorful language suggests a certain heedlessness, like a bull in a china closet, unaware of the damage our unrestrained activity is causing to something precious underfoot. But, says God, if we can undo our obsession with work and achievement, if we "call the sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable . . . then [we] shall take delight in the LORD". Imagine that . . . actually learning to enjoy rest (instead of feeling guilty about it). Imagine being able to sit and savor the goodness of God in the present moment, without regrets about the past or anxiety about the future. Observing the Sabbath is its own reward. The prophet testifies that this act of obedience holds the key to all that God has promised.

Bishop Cate, in the forefront of a movement among the clergy to reclaim the Sabbath in our own busy lives, has made a point of publishing her own Sabbath day and encouraging all of us to do the same. Some of you may remember that I dabbled in this five or six years ago, announcing that I would take each Thursday as a personal Sabbath day, without appointments, meetings or other work-related things. That lasted for about two weeks. Something always came up, something that demanded my attention (if I were to satisfy my own expectations and my need to meet the needs of others). I did not attend to my true interests, which would be best served by quiet, rest, reflection and contemplation of God, but responding to a complex set of desires; to be seen by myself and others as dedicated and responsive, caring and competent.

One of the clearest indicators of the need for Sabbath rest in my own life is my tendency to run late. This is something I struggle with. But it wasn't always that way. I was raised by my punctual father to be on time for things and not keep people waiting. I prided myself on this, but at some point along the way, something changed. When I first noticed it, I told myself that I was sick and tired of being on time for things and then having to wait for others to show up. If everyone was going to keep me waiting, then why should I worry about being punctual? But what may appear to be a character flaw, a lack of consideration for others, may be more complicated than that. Observing myself in this behavior, I realized that I am almost always made late by my own poor decisions, my tendency to try to get one more thing done. It goes without saying that I should apologize to those I've kept waiting. But when will I realize how this behavior keeps me waiting, too . . . waiting to encounter my own real self in its true relation to God. When will I apologize to myself for adding the additional stress of running late and for not allowing some natural breathing space in my daily activity?

Now, the observance of the Sabbath can and does become an idol in itself. In today's gospel, when Jesus heals a woman of a long-standing affliction, he comes in for severe criticism from religious leaders. Jesus helps us to understand that it is the spirit of Sabbath keeping that is the issue, not the letter of the law. When we act out of concern for others, when we seek to ease suffering and glorify God, we are not pursuing our own interests and desires. We are taken outside ourselves and into the realm of divine love and service. In Jesus view, that goes beyond keeping the Sabbath holy and becomes a matter of entering into holiness . . . the very point of observing the Sabbath in the first place.

AMEN