When I was little and didn’t quite understand the nuances of my family’s financial situation, I would listen to friends’ tales of exotic holidays in North Wales and Blackpool and be moved to ask my mother, ‘where are we going on holiday?’ Without fail, she would answer ‘Argate’. In my imagination, Argate became a mythical land of funfairs, donkey rides, candyfloss and Mr Whippy. It was a place where adventures happened and everyone was happy all the time. It took a while to realise that Argate was actually ‘our gate’, as in, ‘that’s as far as we’ll be going!’
It appears that Argate will be as far as any of us are going this Easter holiday. I’m sure many are mourning cancelled plans – holidays, family occasions, birthday parties, or even just the prospect of a peaceful walk in the hills. Many of us will be wondering how we will survive suddenly being a teacher, as well as a parent and an employee. Never mind the lost holiday – will our relationships survive the pressure cooker of lockdown?!
The notion of Sabbath has been around for a long time and is still practiced in various ways by different religious traditions. Whether or not you believe that we should rest and worship on the seventh day because that was when we are told God rested in the Genesis creation story, I think we can all agree that there is wisdom in taking rest if only to keep mind, body and soul together! To observe Sabbath is to step away from the demands of our restless world and focus on what is important in our lives; what makes for wholeness.
Social media, email, Skype and Zoom have brought great benefits but, in days when many of us are working from home, technology can make it hard to draw a line between work and rest, let alone between work time and holiday. But then where is the time to reflect? Where is the time to draw hope and inspiration from friends, loved ones, and the deep wells of our spiritual traditions?
This week, as we move toward the days that the university would normally be closed, I challenge you to think about what Sabbath might look like for you in your current context. Will you turn off social media? Play a new game with your kids? Read that book you’ve been meaning to get to? Take time to be still, to be thankful for blessings and to grieve all that our earthly family faces?
Argate may not be the mythical land of fairground rides and candyfloss, but it’s my hope that we can all find a little bit of Sabbath there, even if it does take a bit more thought than usual.
God bless!
Sharon
Rev'd Dr Sharon Jones - Anglican Chaplain, 30 March 2020