Sacred Time
Have I said enough times how much I'm enjoying seminary? Case in point: today's subject in the Christian Worship class, which was how the church has looked at time over history. There are some fascinating things to think about in terms of our theology of time, and what we want in the rythm of life.
Having been just recently introduced to the liturgical year (I'm learning most about it on my own, since I seem to have the tendency to ape the medieval mystics as much as possible), I hadn't really understood a lot of what it was all about. But the liturgical year is centered around Easter (the english word, by the way, probably has root in the Anglo Saxon spring goddess, Eastr.) For a long time, the only holidays there were were days set aside for events in Jesus' life, and saint's days. In the 19th century onward in the US, varied civic holidays got fed into the calendar. Protestants, of course, dispensed with the saint's days altogether.
An interesting point was made about our 24/7 culture - it has the effect of eliminating the rythm of life. There aren't defined rest days, or rest times, anything can happen at any time. And, really, is this a good thing? I think about an old friend of mine who is an orthodox Jew, and she arranges her life around the Sabbath - she walks to synagogue, doesn't answer the phone, go shopping, etc.
One of the things that's true of every religion I've ever encountered is that there are times set aside for reflection, spiritual deepening and growth, and community gathering. Maybe this is just a human need, and what makes time some times sacred is that we have listened to the voice we all have, to stop, reflect, play, worship (in our own different ways) gather, and love. I think that's something we could re-discover. I think a 16/6 world wouldn't be such a bad thing, after all. I'd absolutely give up the ability to go shopping one day a week if in return I got a 16/6 world. Doesn't even have to be Sunday. Why not Saturday? Wednesday?
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