God Squad: Balancing our lives by observing Sabbath
As a Christian, I've been having a hard time knowing what to believe about Sabbath observance. Some religious groups claim that for someone to inherit eternal life, it is essential. Is this true? I often read your column and believe that as a Jewish man, you're the most qualified and appropriate person to provide a definitive answer.
- S., via e-mail
I always tell people that if they're relying on a rabbi to answer their Christian questions, they should either change pews or change advisers, but I'll do my best.
As one of the Ten Commandments, Sabbath observance plays a big role in the Judeo-Christian tradition. The Catholic tradition still requires Mass on Sunday but has eased off its former restrictions regarding "servile work on the Sabbath." The law against servile work reflected the Jewish ancestry of the Church and was the reason for the "blue laws" that once kept businesses closed on Sundays. As the commercial world has intruded on our spiritual world, and as all our time has become secular time, many otherwise religious Christians and Jews no longer see the importance of Sabbath observance. I believe that the decline in religious belief can be traced to the decline in Sabbath observance.
The point of honoring the Sabbath is not to earn Brownie points in heaven. The point is to take time out of our busy lives to give thanks to God for our blessings. We do this with daily prayers, but there's an intensity and richness to Sabbath prayers and Sabbath rest that can't be reached during the workweek.
The Sabbath is a time for each of us to remember that we've all been given more than we deserve. Christians call this fact grace, and Jews call it loving kindness (Hebrew: hesed). We need time to remind ourselves that our blessings far exceed our burdens, and our virtues can never justify God's abundant goodness to us.
Sabbath is also a time to renew family love. Sabbath meals eaten together as a family are not just culinary events but also spiritual events. I'm saddened by the disappearance of Sabbath meals as families split up and pursue their own separate lives. Sabbath meals feed us with the knowledge that we are unconditionally loved and (in my family) unconditionally fed! Finally, Sabbath observance helps us put our work into some spiritually acceptable balance with our rest. Doing something that does not involve going and getting gives us a chance to recharge for the week ahead. Sabbath observance is good for our physical and spiritual health.
I want to add my special admiration for Mormons and Seventh Day Adventists (who are the Christians who observe the Sabbath like Jews from Friday evening to Saturday evening), as well as pious Christians and Jews of all denominations who take Sabbath observance seriously and willingly submit to the discipline of Sabbath rest and prayer.
I think God looks at what we do more than what we say we do, and at what we really believe more than what we simply say we believe.
Sabbath observance is the place where the authenticity of our religious lives is most accurately tested. Perhaps God considers this when managing the rope line for admittance at the pearly gates. God would not have put honoring the Sabbath into the Ten Commandments if it were not a big deal to rest one day out of seven. I think it's a very big deal.
Can a divorced Roman Catholic whose first marriage was not annulled be married again by a Catholic priest in a Catholic church? I recently attended a marriage out of state. The groom had not been married before. The bride had been married to a Roman Catholic and had seven children with him. They were divorced but never had the marriage annulled. The bride's second marriage took place in a Catholic church. A Catholic priest officiated at the ceremony, which was held outside of the altar. It's always been my understanding that a remarriage in the Catholic Church could not occur without an annulment of the first marriage. Are there different rules for different locations?
- M, via e-mail
All I can say is that you did not see what you thought you saw, or the priest officiating at the wedding was not doing what you thought he was doing. There's no way, my priest advisers assure me, that a divorced woman could be married in a Roman Catholic church near the altar - or away from the altar - without an annulment. Perhaps she did secure an annulment unbeknownst to you, or perhaps the priest did not really marry them but only offered a blessing. Something is fishy.
