I’ve expanded my description of wealth to include the things that flourish only in time…in whole, dedicated blocks of time. This short list would include a prayer practice, a painting practice, a playful passionate middle marriage, and a Sabbath rhythm of life.

I will invariably light a candle tonight, preparing my soul for tomorrow’s discipline of delight. For over 30 years, my Sunday mornings begin on Saturday night. Tomorrow is Sunday, and for decades, Sunday sunrises bring my Monday-Saturday life to a full stop. Everything changes. God and the gathering get the weight of my full attention, and God is no (wo)man’s debtor: He pays me back in riches of relationship, creative capital…and the weight of His full attention, aka “the weight of His glory”.

With all the money in the world, I cannot purchase one moment of His glory. I can’t put utilitarian value on this long obedience in one direction - the depth and heft of sweetness that comes only with delighting in the same spiritual community for a long, long time…even a lifetime. Whenever I have found the practice of Sabbath gathering to be less than a joy, the fault has always ever been mine. And I can return my soul to its rest with a few simple choices:

1. Choose to love what is mine. Acts 17:26 says this: “And He made from one man every nation of men, to dwell upon all the face of the earth, having determined the appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation”. Wow. God chose me for such a time as this. He determined (chose) my spiritual community just for me, and He chose me for my spiritual community. I belong to them, they belong to me. This is the life I have been given. This is what is mine. I can bloom only where I am planted with my whole heart.
   

2. Choose to sanctify my Sabbath and keep it holy by laying burdens down. This choice often looks like embracing simplicity and better planning on my part. Many years ago, before ministry ever called us, my husband and I, with two small babies, chose to remove the burden of all the other options. We cleared the deck, so to speak. It is amazing the clarity that comes when you limit your options. Not attending the gathering of the saints was not an option. Not contributing to the gathering was also not an option. Believe it or not, that left us with the sense of having made more room in our lives. Even when our commute to our church was 35-40 minutes, one way, that one choice (to limit our options) left us with the one option of getting creative enough to make the process beautiful.

   And so we did.

3. Returning my soul to Sabbath rest also looks like doing the soul work it takes to choose to let go of offenses.

Creating space in my life for a gathering practice has brought great flourishing to my midlife. My Sabbath is this lifestyle where the day is “fenced off”, sanctified by the love I give it, as I withdraw from the endless choices I could be making with this small block of time.

What lavish luxury, that I can do that. What privilege. Every Sunday, I get to walk up the steps of Harvest Church, uncover what is most important, encounter God in my inheritance (my inheritance is His people), and treat the whole experience as sacred play.

post edit: Since March of 2020, until now, and for the foreseeable future, our gathering does include social distancing protocol. Masks are welcomed. Our rows are further apart, we have a color code system, we also have sections in the back for those who need more distance, and we have a dedicated space downstairs for immune compromised members, where no one is allowed to enter without a mask.