A disciple is a person who follows certain teachings and practices. A discipline, from the root word disciple, is one of the teachings, practices or patterns of life that a disciple follows. The earliest Christians adopted a discipline of life, which included particular practices. The Book of Acts states, "They devoted themselves to the apostle's teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and the prayers." (Acts 2: 42) Those disciplines of life have been embodied in our Baptismal Covenant (Book of Common Prayer, page 304). They’re part and parcel of the life we choose as Christians. They constitute four of the underpinnings of our shared spirituality - the study of scripture, the mutual support of those who share a common faith in Christ, participation in the sacraments and prayer.

   There are other spiritual disciplines that Christian people have practiced as well. One of the earliest was the observance of Sabbath. Traced to as early as 3500 years ago during the time of Moses - keeping a day of Sabbath - separate - was basic to Jewish spirituality. Though not as commonly practiced in our culture, either by Jews or by Christians, both traditions set aside one day each week as special. They refrained from work in order to rest, pray, worship and play. It was a sign of reliance upon God - that their lives were not dependent upon their own work, but upon God. It was a practice of devotion to God – one that followed God’s own example. "On the seventh day the Lord rested from all that He had done and made it holy." It was fallow time - to refresh the mind, body and spirit.

   Historically, different religions set aside different days of the week for Sabbath rest, prayer and worship – to spend time with God and with family or friends. Christians adopted the first day of the Jewish week, Sunday – the day we celebrate our Lord’s resurrection. Jews stuck with the seventh day – Saturday. And Muslims observe Friday as their Sabbath. As Paul wrote, loosely translated, "It doesn’t matter which day you observe so much as you honor the Lord." All three monotheistic religions observe a different Sabbath, but all follow the same discipline – keeping the Sabbath separate.

   My custom, for about 20 years, has been to take one Sabbath day each week. Since I obviously work on Sunday, I adopted the Jewish Sabbath - Saturday. I confess that I've all too often violated it for conventions, retreats, weddings and funerals. When I have, I've paid the price of diminished capacity, especially diminished spiritual capacity.

   When I was a kid everything was closed, except for some drugstores, restaurants and gas stations. Why, we didn’t even have kids’ sports until mid afternoon. We attended church and stayed home with the family – often feeling bored. But boredom is part of the discipline. It’s the threshold of rest and imagination, which God uses to recreate us. Indeed, before that, communities like Wickford devoted the better part of four hours every Sunday for worship and congregational fellowship.

   Alas, for the better part of 40 years or so, American culture has abandoned Sabbath. I think it’s safe, if not controversial, to say that we’ve sacrificed Sabbath in order to serve the real gods of our culture – the idols we’ve made for ourselves – money, its handmaiden materialism, and competition in the form of sports. And so, rather than following the discipline of Sabbath to honor God, to show our reliance upon Him, and to recreate, instead, most Americans work, shop or worship sports on the Sabbath day. We can devote three or four hours on a Sunday to shopping or sports without missing a beat, but become restless after an hour of worship. That’s because we tend to be over-stimulated – inwardly driven to do something or to watch others do something instead of just being. And that’s one of the main reasons that most Americans constantly feel overextended and drained – addicted to rushing from one activity to another – always hustling, always working or enabling our children to learn to do the same.

   One of the more difficult disciplines of Christian discipleship in our time, then, is Sabbath. It’s difficult because there are so many other, compelling, ways to spend our time – serving other objects of devotion. Those other objects offer the reward of immediate gratification, especially the stimulation of adrenalin rush, which accompany buying and sports. But the subtle and profound price we pay is impaired spirituality, imagination, concentration, judgment, and relationships – especially with God and family.

   Therefore, I heartily recommend that everyone try to adopt the ancient spiritual discipline of Sabbath rest. It may be a Saturday, Sunday, or any day as long as it’s set apart for God. Read your Bible, pray, worship your Creator, dawdle with your loved ones, nap, relax, read, think, ponder the world and pray for it, eat, relax, chat with others, laugh, listen to music with others, sing, enjoy yourself, play games, take a walk, smell the flowers and be recreated. It will enhance your relationship with God, your relationship with others, your balance as a person, your imagination, your capacity to think and to imagine; it will increase your energy and the quality of your life. The summertime, with its lessened demands, is a perfect time to try it out, with fewer temptations to rush around. Then, when the busy times return, you might just be better able to continue the discipline because you’ll have conditioned yourself to it.