That Sabbath Commandment

SUN., MAY 17, 1992, 6:27 AM
FARM, STUDY

Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy… This is a commandment about which I have spoken several times, in Teachings. This is another of those recurring Christian Sabbaths, and I want you to keep it holier than would be the case without My guidance.

My original Sabbath was Saturday, the seventh day of the week according to the calendar. The Christian Sabbath is on Sunday, the first day of the week, which technically violates the Commandment already. When Christians and Jews began to separate… when Jews would not accept that I, as Jesus, was the Messiah and that My death and resurrection was an atonement for their sins (which included putting Me to death)… Christians pulled away from Jewish holy days. Instead, because the Scriptures tell that “early in the morning, on the first day of the week” I arose from the dead, this first day became the Christian Sabbath, a dedication to Me rather than a joining of the “original Yahweh” in rest.

This is the day of Christian worship, and in a few short hours you will be in your familiar sanctuary, joining in the service of worship which is so familiar. It has a liturgical style which makes it last just about an hour. Then there is fellowship around the coffee “pot,” followed by a time of education/discussion… an application of the Christian gospel to the “world” in which you live. Sometimes that Christian “element” seems to get lost in the discussion, so hear this interpretation: keeping the Sabbath holy includes the responsibility of maintain the Gospel as the main factor in whatever you are discussing. Let’s see if you can remember this on this Sabbath day.

Today you will be a small part of the graduation ceremony, putting an academic hood on a somewhat young Buddhist doctor. The challenge here is to feel My presence in this ceremony, a ritual of the university, in which I am acknowledged ever so slightly. The ceremony is not against Me, and therefore must be for Me.

Then you are home, not to a day of rest but of varied activities. Technically, this violates the original Commandment, so you want to be sure that what you do is in My spirit. On this day it would be better to plant than to kill. You have a choice, and both are necessary, so plant, with prayer and song, leaving the killing for a non-Sabbath. (I am not against the killing, with the style you have developed. Planting is just a better choice for the Sabbath.)

You have papers you want to finish today. If you do this task, do it with love for the class, and particularly feel joy in the testimonies about Me that are part of the answer to the last question. That one certainly should be read on the Sabbath.

Take time to write several cards or letters. There still are people who would appreciate hearing from you. Your capacity to write to people is one of My gifts… one of My blessings. And write at least one that is a surprise rather than a duty. I would be most pleased if a card or letter went forth from you each day. That would be keeping the Sabbath in a real good fashion!

The original Sabbath was for rest, and even the Christian Sabbath should include a bit of this. So take a few minutes in several of your “special places” on this Farm and just reflect on your blessings – your wife, your family, your Farm, your professorship, and your church. You have much for which to be thankful, and, while thanks is appropriate each and every day, gratitude is particularly appropriate on this Christian Sabbath.