Remember

Hazy Rose - #1 of Russet Rose Series

Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work,

but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.

In it thou shalt not do any work:

Thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter,

nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant,

nor thy cattle, nor they stranger that is within thy gates.

For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth,

and the sea, and all that in them is,

and rested the seventh day: wherefore

the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

Exodus 20:8-11

When I opened the discussion on this commandment, the children took the bait and went fishing on their own.  One child proclaimed that the commandment meant that we go to church on Sunday, the Sabbath.  Two other children immediately chimed in that the Sabbath used to be Saturday, the seventh day, but that it had been changed to Sunday, and this premise was argued back and forth for a short time.  As a hired employee from a different belief system, I knew better than to chase that rabbit, so I asked exactly how they could keep the Sabbath holy.

The children had a variety of answers:  go to church, visit the poor, and feed the homeless – all of which are wonderful ways to worship God on His day.  I asked the children when God first gave the Sabbath, and they knew the answer:  at creation.  God worked on His creation for the first six days of the week, then rested on the seventh day – blessing that day as something special to Him and to us.

I will love the Sabbath day

 and go to church to worship.

That’s what God wants me to do,

That’s what God wants me to do,

That’s what God wants me to do

and I am His child.

[Sung to the tune Bingo]