The Spiritual Practice Of Sabbath

Judaism is an ancient religion which originated in the Middle East and has spread throughout the world. Today the followers of Judaism have many tradition s and rituals in which are celebrated all year round in thanks and in praise to God. Shabbat is one of the most important rituals and is celebrated by nearly every variant of the Jewish Religion.

Wisdom Distilled from the daily: Living the Rule of St. Benedict Today by Joan Chittister writes a chapter than includes the importance of taking time off. Chittister uses a candle to demonstrate the importance of taking time to regain your strength. She talks about how you need to take time for yourself so your inner flame can glow again and you can pass that onto others. This down time is important for self reflection and contemplation. This down time will allow me to reflect on what I have been through and further “let go” and be able to forgive God. Chittister says your candle has to be lit before you can light the candles of others. I really liked this concept and feel it is very present in my life. I feel called by God to help others

It is a day of rest (they do not work or have others work for them, emergencies are exceptions) and connection to God. Sabbath is kept from sundown on Friday until sundown on Saturday. The Seventh-day Sabbath originates from Creation, when God rested from His work on the seventh day. Keeping the Sabbath is a perpetual sign of the everlasting covenant between God and his people, a symbol of love. God gave each one of us life, and guarding the Sabbath and keeping it holy shows reverence and respect to God, our creator. The Sabbath is a golden opportunity to engage in activities that will help establish and enhance a long-lasting relationship with God, rest and fellowship in nature along with reading the Bible are common activities on the Sabbath as well as other days. On Sabbath, as well as every other day, constant contact with God is kept. Adventists talk to him like a friend, we serve a wonderful God who wants to be our friend, He is a loving, caring God who wants us to feel loved and protected by

1. The last step to ensure that I can balance my life is to take daily “time-outs.”

Christian beliefs of life are a sacred gift from God. For me personally, I do believe that life and all of its wonders is a gift given to us from God, and that all life should be respected. My belief as a Christian is that our lives are not our own, but God’s. He created us in His image and for a purpose, giving us a type of sacredness. As Christians, at least how I believe, we are suppose to want to give our lives up to God, and through His son Jesus Christ in us, to be a light to the world to show God’s love and grace to others. This action resembles a type of duty, or an obligation that is assigned to us by our Creator, making our very being sacred.

Fortunately, I decided two weeks ago, that on June 20, 2016 I was going embark on a deeper level of praying, meditating, and fasting. On Monday’s I participate in a group prayer at 5:15am, so after I finished I was able to go into silence and solitude mode. Whenever there is a call for stillness, I must partake in it as early as possible. The earlier the better, because if I try to do any activities after 7a.m., it is unlikely that it will get accomplished, because my kids are like raging bulls that have been let out of the stable, and they need my undivided attention to secure their safety. The only challenge I ran into was since I started the “Draw the Circle 40-Day Prayer Challenge” today, my phone was buzzing with inquiries with people that wanted to join. Therefore, that was a slight distraction.

I used to think that I needed to set aside thirty minutes everyday just for me. That’s easy to do, right? But life gets in the

In this week’s Communication 211 lesson, we discuss Jeffrey Child, Judy Pearson, and Paul Nelson’s chapter on “Interpersonal Communication,” and Saundra Hybels and Richard L. Weaver’s chapter titled “Communication & Technology.” We also address Alex Lambert’s views in “Discovering Intimacy on Facebook” and Dean Obeidallah’s piece asking, “Are we sharing too much online?” Finally, we compare and contrast our readings with the week’s lecture on CANVAS from Professor Julia Green, which addresses features of “The dark side of the internet.”

Ernest Hemingway after World War I moved to France where he joined a group of writers, journalist, and poets. He quickly befriended creative people like painters that helped inspire and develop as a writer as he worked for newspaper. The time he lived in post-war Paris helped inspire the novel The Sun Also Rises in which Ernest Hemingway depicts the lifestyles and emotions of a group of Americans living in post-war Paris with extremely vivid images since fundamentally because they’re from his actual experiences living in France with a group of Americans emigrants. The group depicted suffer from psychological trauma from the war and lead theirs uninspired life's doing simple activities such as eating, traveling, love, clubbing etc. The characters are unhonorable selfish cunts who don't worry about consequences or what their actions do to other people. The people depicted are the

Therefore, the holy day of Sabbath is it is known for Jews and Christians, is absent in Islam. God was not weary from the act of creation, and oversaw all that he had created, rather. This could be seen as part of the belief in Islam that the Koran is a "correction" to the previous religions of Judaism and Christianity, and that the holy scriptures were somehow corrupted in their present form.

Luke 5:16 states, “But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” Jesus set an example for all to follow in spending time with our Father. One cannot adequately function without time in word and prayer daily. “And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8). Serenity is extremely valuable to this one. While being bombarded with information every day and chaos on every corner, it’s necessary to unplug from life and spend a little time with God. Think about it, how can one hear Him above the noise? He has only spoken to this one while still and quiet. Many times, in spending my mornings with God, this writer has become overwhelmed by the intoxicating aroma of Frankincense. What comfort to receive the message that He is near. What joy to get lost in His companionship alone in the woods, sitting on the bank of a lake, or on the sandy beach. Just me and

Practice Monday threw Friday from three o’clock to seven, and then eleven until two on Saturdays! As the Lord did, we got to rest on Sundays. It was

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass are both widely thought to be books filled of nonsense by adults because adults search for meaning in the wrong places. People are taught from a young age to analyze books in a “traditional” way, which is identifying the five stages of plot (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution) and to look at the story one part at a time, slowly analyzing the whole book. This method becomes ingrained in their minds and they do it subconsciously. This frame of thought causes most adults to be unable to see the true meaning of Lewis Carroll’s two books, but at the same time helps adults obtain more than originally intended: “Although we can never hope to explain fully what these books mean or how they have secured their high place in the world’s literature, our efforts in this regard can yield many important insights about them and about their meanings for us,” (Rackin, 18). Adults are also taught there is always main plot that slowly builds towards the end, revealing a central theme. But in these books there is no main plot and Carroll uses the central theme to go back and give meaning to the rest of the events in the books. The themes of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass are conveyed through the structure of the book, rather than the theme. The theme must also be read with the perspective with that of a child rather than an adult to fully understand these books.

Within each church, spirituality is expressed in different traditions and is practiced in various ways. In identifying these traditions Richard Foster placed in six categories namely, contemplative, holiness, charismatic, social justice, evangelical and incarnation. Although these traditions are found to be central to our Christian faith each church has demonstrated a tendency to prefer the practice of one over another.

I entered into the worship service, unaware of what to expect. I was not familiar with this church, it was a non-denominational church, but the pastor had his roots in the A.M.E. Zion Church and branched out to establish his own church. I walked into the sanctuary prepared to participate in the Sunday School. I found a seat and readied myself to engage in some meaningful discussion. After sitting for several minutes, I asked one of the gentlemen who was standing at the front of the church if they had already started and where was the lesson coming from. He looked at his watch and indicated that he didn’t know if we had time for Sunday School. A puzzled look came over my face and I couldn’t help but express my confusion as I looked at