Sabbath, A Park in Time

Sermon for North Hill Adventist Fellowship

Sabbath, May 19, 2012

Last Sabbath, I walked at to Mather Point at about 5:30 a.m.. To my surprise there were about a hundred other people there. I heard the languages and accents of China, Germany and France and the voices of kids. I saw people in their 80s and a three year-old girl with frizzy, curly, white-blond hair.

Mather Point is an overlook on the South Rim of Grand Canyon. These hundred people were there to watch sunrise. Even though they were talking, their voices were hushed like they were instinctively aware they were in a holy place.

People shot pictures of the eastern sky. Strangers took turns taking pictures of couples and families.

Finally, the sun climbed above the horizon. Slowly the crowd melted away. Families headed back to campsites for breakfast. Hikers wandered off to explore trails. Some people headed to their cars to begin a long day of driving, headed back into the “real world.”

All of them were better for having experienced those moments of grandeur, for having watched the glory of another day unfold over the magnificence of the Canyon.

I was especially impressed with the parents who had gotten their kids up at 4:30 or 5:00 so they could experience dawn at Grand Canyon, and I was impressed with the response of the kids. They were subdued. They weren't running around. They weren't making a lot of noise. You might think this was just because at 5:30 in the morning they weren't awake yet. But I observed the same hush, the same sense of wonder and magic in the larger crowds that gathered to watch sunset.

The immensity, the spaciousness, the sweeping vistas and the setting—away from the parking lot. Away from lights and games and billboards—something about the place charms the soul. Inspires.

While waiting for the bus another morning before dawn, I met a man from Australia. He was returning to Grand Canyon for his last visit, he said. He had been there thirty years earlier. The visit had changed his life. Now he was back with his wife. Given their ages, this would be his last visit. He was thrilled to be there. He went on at great length about the wonders of American National Parks, especially Grand Canyon.

I was pleased to hear his praise for our parks. They are a great treasure. Special places where millions of people experience awe and wonder. For many of us, time in one of our national parks is like visiting the grandest imaginable temple or cathedral. They are places that give us a special sense of connection with God.

The wonders protected by our national parks were created by God through the processes of nature. Humans make the parks only in the sense of recognizing something special that already exists and taking steps to protect that specialness and to make it accessible.

This interplay of divine and human activity is especially obvious at Grand Canyon.

The Canyon itself is immense. It's grandeur is beyond words or numbers.

The park, the human creation, includes not only the natural features of canyon and forest and river. It is the system that manages and serves 5 million visitors a year. To enable those five million people to experience the wonder of the canyon, the park service built a 23-mile pipe line across the canyon. It operates 4 sewage treatment plants. It has over 400 full time employees. There are 250 miles of roads inside the park and two bridges across the Colorado River for the mules and hikers who make that deep into the canyon.

There are places to eat and places to sleep.

All of this infrastructure is designed to serve visitors without turning Grand Canyon into just another busy place. And it works. As my experience at 5:30 on Sabbath morning demonstrated.

Parks are the perfect fusion of human culture and the natural wonders that evoke an awareness of the bigness and majesty of God.

Parks are an ideal model of Sabbath.

Human did not create Sabbath. God did. God created the Sabbath as a park in time, as special time set apart for a special purpose. It is up to us to act as wise, responsible stewards of the treasure God has entrusted to us.

The Bible first mentions Sabbath as the grand climax of creation.

Genesis 2:1-3.

There was the regular world, then there was the Sabbath. Not a separate space, but a special way of experiencing the space we live in.

It was the first honey moon and the first worship experience. Adam and Eve together. And Adam and Eve with God.

Then we come to the Ten Commandments. God's ten basic rules for life. And one of them, the fourth commandment is: Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Don't work. Exodus 20:8-11.

One of the best synonyms of “holy” is special. God orders us to keep Sabbath special. The first way we do that is to avoid work. Sabbath is not a day for earning money or grades. On Sabbath we let go of our drive to succeed, to accomplish, to shape the world, to fix the world. On Sabbath we enjoy what we are given. First the grace and smile of God. Secondly, our connection with other people. Then the glory and beauty of the world.

Notice that what is forbidden here is good. Work is good. The Bible strongly affirms the value of work. Making a living. Going to school. Practicing our art. Improving our skills. These are good things. But on Sabbath we are called to lay them aside so that we can give attention to special things—things like family connections, friendships, and worship.

In Grand Canyon National Park, there is no gas station. There's not a McDonalds or Burger King. There are no car repair shops or land fills. Those are all essential elements of our contemporary society. We are glad they exist. But they are excluded from the park to help preserve the specialness of the park.

A hundred years ago, you could drive your car literally up to the edge of the canyon. Now there are parking lots situated back from the canyon rim. There are sidewalks navigable even by wheel chairs. So nearly any person can experience the wonder of the vistas. But those vistas are protected from the intrusion of cars and buses.

Ten years ago you could drive your car to every overlook along the rim. As the number of visitors increased, there was gridlock at the height of the vacation season. Now the western half of the rim overlooks are served by a free shuttle bus.

This gradual restriction of automobiles is a function of the park service's commitment to keeping the park special for all.

So with Sabbath keeping. We work to exclude the regular stuff of life to make room for the special stuff.

In addition to keeping Sabbath special, to giving us opportunity for making a special connection with the God who is always there, Sabbath invites us to give special attention to the sweetness and beauty of the world God has given us. The world is not only glorious and beautiful, of course. If we are not careful we can become so engrossed with ugliness and meanness, with horror and evil, that our own souls begin to shrivel and atrophy. Sabbath calls us away from all that to contemplate, to enjoy, the sweetness and loveliness of the world God has given us.

Now a bit of a digression: On my trip I saw a couple of billboards about the Sabbath. Same message in a couple of different locations. I don't remember the exact words but they included the words: Sabbath, Mark of the Beast and Anti-Christ. I was disappointed. This kind of thinking obscures the sweetness and light God has for us in the Sabbath.

Jesus declared the Sabbath was made for humanity. God designed it with us in mind. Keeping Sabbath enriches our lives personally and socially. Mark 2:28.

As a denomination, Adventists are committed both Sabbath keeping and Sabbath promotion.

I invite those of you who are young to take up the challenge of protecting the Sabbath. Grand Canyon would be overrun with automobiles and commercial establishments if it weren't for the protection provided by the park.

Just outside the park is a heliport with a dozen helicopters parked waiting for people who want to experience the canyon by air. If the tour leaders had their way, helicopters would be landing on every flat place inside the canyon all day long. There would be no quietness left. There would be tramways floating down cables to the river's edge. There would be condos built into the side of the canyon. If it were not for the protection provided by the park, the canyon would be nothing more than an Arizona Disneyland.

Fortunately there is a park. And 5 million people a year are touched by its grandeur.

You who have children at home or will have children in the future: I challenge you to be wise and strategic in making sure to pass onto them the specialness of the Sabbath.

Make sure that your children see, taste, feel and hear God in their Sabbath experience. Give them special music, special food, inviting scenery and décor, sweet words, happy conviviality. Give them an experience that is memorable.

Beware of taking “the weekend” for granted. Your experience of the weekend—something you have never lived without—is available because earlier generations fought to push back the tyranny of the capitalist system that regarded people merely as tools of production, to be worked, if possible seven days a week, 12-14 hours a day. It was the labor movement and Sabbatarians who fought this and created the wonderful open space in our lives that we enjoy today.

Act as guardians of the Sabbath as a park in time.

Further, I invite all of you, young and old, married and single, childless and parents to experience the special sense of God's favor and presence that is offered in the Sabbath.

Eat special food. Drink special juices or teas. Spend time connecting with God and with people. With friends, with family, with spouses, with neighbors.

Enjoy Sabbath. And enjoy God.