The Sabbath

So I chose to not go to church this morning.
*GASP*

But you know what? It was kind of refreshing.

I love Sundays, and all they afford me in terms of time, relaxation and few demands. I like them that way. And when I am tired and it feels like a chore to go to church, it is nice to sleep in.

Now, I'm not saying that you should just not go every time you can't be bothered, because sometimes it is important to get out and just go. And God honours that.

But we need to remember Mark 2:27 "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath."
The Sabbath is a rest day. God gave it to us as a gift. Not as a law that we must follow.

We need to remember that even though to keep the Sabbath holy is one of the Ten Commandments, those commandments were given to a bunch of people who were slaves - they had to work seven days, no breaks. And then God said "Hey! I'm going to give you a day off!" They weren't thinking that it was going to be a hard thing. The Israelites would have been excited!

But we have twisted it into something that it is not.
Let's take it as what it is. A gift. A day where we are allowed to take a break, but also do what is necessary.

God of the Uncomplicated

The other night I was out at the Robert Burns pub with my local swing club crew for a bit of a dance.
The cool thing is is that once a week they have a live jazz band, which is so different to dancing to a cd, so definitely worth it!
I danced with a number of the gentlemen who were there - Lindy Hop, Blues Swing, Ceroc.
But when I came home, I noticed something - I didn't entirely smell like me anymore; I had a sort of guy smell about me. Obviously this was because I was dancing with guys, but still, I tried to figure out the significance of this:
You become like the people you hang around.
Do I really want to become like these people?
Do I really want to smell like them, to become as they are?

But the more I thought about this, I didn't like it. I like dancing. God knows this. Why would this one simple observation lead me to think that I shouldn't hang out with them?

Perhaps we just like to complicate things. To notice things and then attach BIG, DEEP meaning to them, and blow them out of proportion.
But if we take it back to the simple things - maybe God is in it, but in a more subtle way.

I love to dance - especially swing.
And I'm sure that God loves to see me dance - He gave me this talent and the Joy that comes with it.

Why do we like to complicate things? Why do we like to think that God doesn't want us to have fun and to do things we enjoy?

I don't know, but I think we need to take a step back and uncomplicate things.
God is the God of the complicated, but I know God is also the God of the uncomplicated