Here is a Sabbath reflection by Cliff Cain, one of Heritage’s members who moved into retirement at the end of last year.

I’ve been struggling a little bit with the idea of creating a space for Sabbath as we have approached this first Second Saturday at HPC.  Perhaps it is because I have a good deal more leisure time since my work career ended in mid-December.  Perhaps I don’t have as much need for Sabbath since demands on my time are now set by me rather than a job.

I just don’t know.

What is Sabbath?  What does it really look like?  Do I need to put on sack cloth and ashes and just be penitent for a day?  That doesn’t really feel like what we are looking for.

As we completed the first second Saturday worship at HPC, which was an awesome experience, by the way, I was still trying to figure out what my first deliberate Sabbath observance would look like.  I still don’t fully know!

I have always experienced God through nature and since the last thing I do each night before bed is walk the dogs I usually notice the night sky as I walk.  As I walked the dogs this evening and thought about Sabbath, I decided that I would stop and spend a bit of time looking at the night sky before I turned in.  So, I sent the dogs inside, turned off the outside lights and went and stretched out on the driveway.  It was full dark and the first thing I noticed was a very bright star shining in the South above my head.  I had to look it up, but it was as I suspected, Jupiter and not a star at all.

The next thing that happened was I saw a bright white light moving across the sky from North West to South East.  Immediately, I knew I was watching the International Space Station fly over (don’t ask how I knew that – I’m a bit of a space geek) and was impressed by the idea that there were human beings riding that light over my head.  Next I caught a shooting star out of my peripheral vision to the North West and a second satellite scooting across the sky above me.

My impression in all of this was, there is a wealth of life happening all around us that we fail to notice if we don’t take the time to slow down and just look.  Perhaps that is why God told us to remember the Sabbath day and keep and holy.  So that we won’t miss the abundance of life happening around us.

I don’t know in this moment what the rest of my Sabbath observance will look like, but I know it is off to a good start.

Good Night.

Share your Sabbath Keeping experiences by using the hashtag below or emailing the church office at officehpc@att.net.