Bring Back a Day of Rest

The lazy, hazy, slow down days of summer are over and a full 24-7 world seems to be speeding up again.  So I thought I would post a newspaper article which I wrote for a local paper a few years ago. 
I'm on a crusade of a sort! It's a crusade for the sanity of humanity. My crusade is to have some form of Sabbath-time law enacted by some law-making body.
Some people will remember the ancient -- about 40 years ago -- Blue Laws. These laws closed down merchandise stores and largely prohibited organized sporting activities on Sundays. Sundays became nothing-to-do days. Most people would have a religious-based activity (worship) and then the rest of the day was time for just being with family and friends. It was really down time.
To many, my crusade for a set aside Sabbath time may seem to be the foolishness of an aging minister or a hater of organized sports and retail merchandising. Most people would say that I am nothing of the sort. I love my sports -- played lots of basketball; have hit lots of golf balls; have coached premier state championship soccer teams on Sunday afternoons. And since I live in Greenwich, I root for all the wrong teams -- family connections lead me to Philadelphia and Boston (forgive me and please read on). And I am the last person to try and ruin the capitalist system by not buying more things than I will ever need.
Yet I offer my Sabbath-time crusade because I see up close too many people who are getting the blues because their schedules are overbooked and they are running, running, running 24/7.
For many, being overbooked is a source of pride. "You wouldn't believe my schedule! I have to be here by ... for a business meeting and there by ... so my children can practice ... and here by ... so I can be seen at..."
I know some people say the answer is easy -- "Just say no!"
"No, I can't come to the party;" "no, my children won't be able to play at that time!" I have a feeling that the "Just say no!" approach isn't working.
In the Judeo-Christian Scriptures we find God resting on the seventh day of creation. We find laws about keeping the seventh day holy -- wholly unlike the other six. We find the sabbatical year law for planting crops -- plant nothing in the same field in the seventh year -- after six years the soil is exhausted. Jesus himself takes Sabbath and alone time. So it seems all that is made from the earth -- including us -- need Sabbath down time.
Since people can't seem to say "NO" and since the wisdom of the ages says that we need a seventh of our time for just "being," not "doing," I offer my Sabbath Time Law -- call it a modified Blue Law, to the Board of Selectmen, the State Legislature, or U.S. Congress for their action. It might become almost as controversial as the health care bill. In a way it is an emotional, spiritual and physical health care suggestion.
Since I am Protestant clergy, I would propose Sunday morning for the time. However, that is not essential. Any day or two half-day Sabbath times is fine with me. Just think of it -- time on the schedule that allows us to just be with family and friends; just to meditate or look are the beauty around us or hike in the woods or read a good book. This all made possible because the "world out there" has not been allowed to dictate our schedules.
I remember as a youth my frustration when the town basketball courts were locked on Sundays and there were no pickup games available. I ended up sitting on the beach listening to the waves crash on the shore or talked with my grandmother for hours or ... with being time, I realized that there was more to life than perfecting my three-pointer.
Feeling blue, depressed, emotionally tired? Feeling your schedule is overbooked? I offer two answers to those problems, "Just say no!" or join my "Anti-Blue Coalition" and come to a Being Party where we might serve tea and just be. Until the legislation passes, just say no. Take the time to worship -- what do you expect a pastor to say? -- or just be!