the sabbath

My current facebook status focuses on the Sabbath. One of my friends from my job in Alaska asked, in response, what the Sabbath means to me. I responded with this message. Because I feel so passionately about it, I decided to post it here.

Here's what I wrote her:

Hey kid. Thanks for asking me what the Sabbath means to me. To be honest with you, it means a lot to me.

I grew up in what I consider to be the most amazing family on the face of the planet. My parents are some of the most Christ-like and devoted people I know. We have always been a very religious family. My beliefs partially come from what the Church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) teaches, but also from what my parents, as well as what the Holy Ghost have taught me about this principle.

As I implied in my status, the Sabbath is so very sacred to me. It is one of the most special days I have in my life. And it happens EVERY WEEK! Oh, it’s WONDERFUL! Basically, my practice comes from the ever-so-simple commandment we find in Exodus, where the Lord says:

9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

So, basically, the Lord says here that we should do all our work in six days and on the seventh we should rest from those things. Now to be honest with you, Sundays are nearly always one of my busiest days (except when I was on Coppers, in which case I did very little all day long, which was GREAT!). However, I take the opportunity to rest from my worldly cares of work, homework, and media that is not conducive to feeling the Spirit of the Lord.

So, you may ask what I do on Sundays:
1. I go to church. It lasts 3 hours: one hour for a combined meeting with all members, an hour for Sunday school, and an hour for a men only/women only meeting. The combined meeting has talks given by the congregation and the other two hours have lessons. All three can be phenomenal. Sometimes they are; sometimes they aren’t. The primary purpose for going to church, however, is to renew our baptismal covenants through taking the Sacrament, as was instituted by Christ at the Last Supper. We take a small piece of bread and a sip of water, symbolizing (not transubstantiation) the body and blood of Christ. So, what are our baptismal covenants?
We testify:
1. That we are willing to take upon us the name of Christ
2. That we will always remember Him
3. And that we will keep His commandments

That:

We may always have His Spirit to be with us.

Just a little reflection on that phrase: Oh my gosh, we can have a member of the godhead with us in ALL we do. Oh. My. Gosh. THAT is incredible.

So that’s why we go to church.
Now for the rest of my Sabbath observance.

I try to do everything I can to make Sundays as holy and sacred as possible. I truly try to make it a different kind of day. To do this, I do a few things:
1. I forget about any kind of music or movies (media) that won’t draw me closer to Christ. Given, I should do that everyday, but there are some kinds of media that are good and promote a good lifestyle, but simply don’t have Christ as their main message. I want every bit of media I consume on Sunday to direct my thoughts and feelings toward Christ.
2. Visit friends and family. Sunday is very much a family day (since I live away from much of my family, I call them fairly often on Sunday.).
3. I try not to indulge in sporting activities, or watch them, for that matter.
4. Enjoy nature, but with the intent of appreciating God’s creations, not with that of “conquering” mountains, etc…
5. Deepen relationships with people (conversations, emails, etc.)
6. Other forms of Church service (visits, meetings, etc.)
7. I don’t work on Sundays.
8. Make beautiful music that will help me come unto Christ.


I don’t know if I’m communicating this effectively, but I try to make sure everything I do on the Sabbath is directly related to either bringing myself or bringing others unto Christ (and in bringing others unto Christ, I only bring myself unto Him.).

The Sabbath is truly a reprieve for me. It is when I can stop caring about life for a day and focus on the things that matter most to me, such as my own personal salvation, as well as my family and those people for whom I have been entrusted to care.

I can’t say I always keep exactly to what I’ve laid out above. And that list is not the minimum or maximum; it simply contains some examples of what I do. There have been a handful of times I have not done these things, or kept to that list, but those are the basic guidelines that govern my Sabbath observance.

Each person’s Sabbath observance is a bit different. The Holy Ghost teaches us all differently and tailors what the Lord has to say to us to our needs and situations. I sometimes forget this and that’s where statuses such as the one you asked about originate. Just because the Spirit has told me to observe the Sabbath as he has does not mean that he has told other people similarly. I need to be more cognizant of that and more tolerant as well.

Anyway, I DOUBT you knew you were asking such a complicated question. There’s my answer. Hope you like it! Want to know more about any of what I wrote above? I would LOVE to tell you all about it. Christ’s gospel is the most valuable thing I have in my life. I love Him and want to follow Him so badly. I fail constantly, but I don’t care—it’s our constant getting up that makes it possible for Him to save us.

See you later!