Sabbath

Each Sunday we come together at Unity on Greenville for our celebration of the Sabbath. Our Sabbath observance includes, song, prayer, sometimes a little dancing, meditation, more song, lessons, blessings from our children, and blessings for each other. Our Sabbath is a day filled with activity, joy, gratitude, laughter, hugs, sometimes tears, giving and receiving, and a whole lot of love! Our Sabbath observance defies the definition! In his book “Keep a True Lent”, Unity co-founder Charles Fillmore says:

The true Sabbath is the consciousness that we have fulfilled the divine law in both
thought and action. The Sabbath is a very certain, definite thing. It is a state of mind
that [we] enter or acquire when [we] go into the silence, into the realm of Spirit.

Indeed, Sabbath is a definite thing. Sabbath is a vitally important part of our co-creating process. It is a time when we rest and release our divine idea into the universe and allow it to made manifest. We, in our human experience may become impatient as we wait and wait, only to wait still longer for manifestation to be realized. We, in our human experience sometimes forget that time is the creation of humans. In these days of instant everything, waiting patiently for manifestation may tax our faith and strength.

In truth, Sabbath is each moment our mind is turned to God and we are ready, willing, and open to acknowledging the presence in our heart and mind “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27)

When we sit in the consciousness of Sabbath, we know that we have moved from a consciousness of our divine identity, we have called upon and invoked the powers of our Faith, Strength, Imagination, Discernment, Wisdom, Understanding, Will, Zeal, Life, Dominion, Love, and Elimination to bring our divinely inspired idea into reality. Now, the opportunity before us is to hold the vision of our intention while we release it into the universe and allow the universe to support our good.

Easy, right? Not so fast… I may be challenged by the idea of holding intention and releasing at the same time. In my humanness, when manifestation doesn’t occur in the time frame I have in my mind, I take back my idea and begin massaging it again. I may begin the mind game of “I need to do more imagining, I need to be more specific, I need to…..and so on.” When we strongly stand in our faith and release our intention in the spirit of “this or something better” we truly can relax and be at ease knowing that the universe is here to support our good.

I will only speak for myself, although I suppose I have a lot of great company, when I say: I sometimes hang on to the details of how manifestation will look. I have spent time imagining, so of course I have a concept. Yet, in my human imaginings, I limit the activity of the Divine with my human mind. In those time of my life that I have truly let it all go, I have been amazed with the outcome. I experience life in a way that I simply could not have imagined! I count my journey with Unity on Greenville as one of these precious times. When I cling to my human ideas of what will be, I stifle the universal flow.

It is a constant practice for me to release and let go, while still holding my intention. I have no quick answer, so I continue to practice the practices of prayer, meditation, forgiveness, release and let go. I continue to practice times of Sabbath and sit in the silence. As our beautiful Taize’ song says “Wait for the Lord, whose day is near. Wait for the Lord, keep watch, take heart!”

And I wait…I rest in the Sabbath, and I wait…