“Sacred Sabbath” based on the United Methodist Social Principle on “Sabbath and Renewal Time” and Matthew 17:1-9

The final Sunday before Lent begins is Transfiguration Sunday, when we read one of the Gospel’s versions of the story of Jesus heading up the mountain with his favorite disciples and a transformation happening before their eyes. The story is blatantly placed on this Sunday to give us a foreshadowing of Easter right before we start Lent. It is a story when the truth of God’s work in Jesus shines through.

Most years when I preach on this I focus on the truth that shined through and the disciples’ hilarious responses to it. This year though, I found myself asking, “What was it that helped them gain clarity?”

It was understood in those days that mountaintops were holy places. This was even one of great debates of the time, as the people of God in Jerusalem said God was to be worshiped in the Temple and the people of God in Samaria said that God was to be worshiped in high places. I’ve been on a few mountaintops in my life, and I tend to understand why people find then holy. The views, the distances from normal life, the work involved to get there, the wonder of it all adds up!

Even more so though, I think there is intentionality in this. Jesus is always going off by himself to pray, but in this story he brings Peter, James, and John with him. I think this is a story of the ways that prayer can change us, and in particular of how prayer can free us. We’re bathed in the stories of the world, around here were are bathed in capitalism and competition, consumerism and hierarchy. But when we settle down to be with God, we make space for transformation to happen within us and for God’s stories to bathe us instead.

Prayer gives us time to soak in God’s grace and love, in the inherent value of all people, in the wonders of creation, in the abundance of resources on earth, in the validity of our emotions, in sacred interconnectedness.

We read together the UMC Social Principle on Sabbath and Renewal Time, and I’ll admit that one isn’t as strong as I’d like. I’d prefer if we urged people to engage in a weekly practice of Sabbath keeping, if we celebrated time away instead of just affirming it, and if we named spiritual practices as integral to excellent Sabbath. The good news is that I’m allowed to disagree 🙂

Of the many gifts of Sabbath keeping, I think the one we need the most right now are the space away from the narratives of the world, and with the narratives of God. This is particularly true because the powers of the world are quite factually trying to drain our life energies away from us and leave us overwhelmed and unable to respond. We need to step away- regularly and with great intention – and be restored.

Now, as a United Methodist in the 21st Century I don’t actually hear a whole lot about Sabbath keeping from others. Ideally, to keep Sabbath is to have whole day every week set aside for things OTHER than production and consumption. We’re not supposed to work! We’re also not supposed to be catching up on chores. (Oye.) We’re supposed to send the time connection – with God, with those we love, and even with ourselves. So Sabbath is practiced in worship and prayer time, taking walks or savoring nature, playing games with those we love, creating something for the fun of it, having a meal or hot drink with people we care about, … anything that feeds our souls, slows the pace, brings joy, re-centers us, builds relationships, and reminds us of the goodness of life itself.

Beloveds, our faith tradition says we should spend AT LEAST one day every week in this way. And, heavens, people choose to ignore this. It is one of the 10 commandments, and it is one of the keys to a full and abundant life and people just… don’t.

Now, if you currently can’t, that’s real. But perhaps like trying to move toward tithing over the long run, I’d invite you to ask what you can do to take steps towards a regular practice of Sabbath. I’ve been interested to note that I usually take Saturdays as Sabbath and I’ve been leading Family Faith Formation every other Saturday since fall of 2021. This is a potential Sabbath violation …. I’m working. But it is work that connects me to others, my family to others, gives me time with my family, and connects us to God. I’ve decided it is well worth it, since I’m not interested in playing Sabbath police but I am interested in things that are good for me and mine! (This example is used to give you freedom.)

Beloveds of God, I encourage you to move more deeply into Sabbath. And, if you have just no idea where to start, our Spiritual Formation Committee has a whole lot of ideas and would be delighted to engage you in it!

Or, more specifically, I’ve been slowly working my way through Tricia Hershey’s book “Rest is Resistance.” She’s working much more on rest than Sabbath but they’re deeply related and she’s brilliant. She asks, “How can we afford to rest when the colonizing Empire we live in daily continues to rage on and grow stronger?… Yes, the system continues raging and destroying but we will not be able to tap into spaces of freedom, joy, and rest by pushing our precious bodies and minds in abusive ways. … Treating each other and ourselves with care isn’t a luxury, but an absolute necessity if we are going to thrive.” (58, 58, 61) And she, the “Nap Bishop” would tell you that if you aren’t sure what to do to start a practice of rest or Sabbath, she’d recommend you take a nap.

Now, it is Black History Month, and while I’ve mentioned that, I haven’t really taken the time to savor it yet beyond our music. I was reminded that Sojourner Truth (1797-1883) was enslaved in Upstate NY, and was an early abolitionist, women’s rights activist, and preacher, one who is known to have preached in United Methodist Churches. (First UMC Kalamazoo, where at least one beloved of this congregation once moved their membership.) She is particularly famous for her speech “Ain’t I a Woman” and I think it is time we hear it in whole:

May I say a few words? I want to say a few words about this matter.

I am a woman’s rights.

I have as much muscle as any man, and can do as much work as any man.

I have plowed and reaped and husked and chopped and mowed, and can any man do more than that?

I have heard much about the sexes being equal; I can carry as much as any man, and can © eat as much too, if (d) I can get it.

I am as strong as any man that is now.

As for intellect, all I can say is, (e) if women have a pint and man a quart – why can’t she have her little pint full?

You need not be afraid to give us our rights for fear we will take too much, for we cant take more than our pint’ll hold.

The poor men seem to be all in confusion, and dont know what to do.

Why children, if you have woman’s rights, give it to her and you will feel better.

You will have your own rights, and they wont be so much trouble.

I cant read, but I can hear.

I have heard the bible and have learned that Eve caused man to sin.

Well if woman upset the world, do give her a chance to set it right side up again.

The Lady has spoken about Jesus, how he never spurned woman from him, and she was right.

When Lazarus died, Mary and Martha came to him with faith and love and besought him to raise their brother.

And Jesus wept – and Lazarus came forth.

And how came Jesus into the world?

Through God who created him and woman who bore him.

Man, where is your part?

But the women are coming up blessed be God and a few of the men are coming up with them.

But man is in a tight place, the poor slave is on him, woman is coming on him, and he is surely between-a hawk and a buzzard.

[I originally preached the version form https://www.nps.gov/articles/sojourner-truth.htm – but have corrected it based on this https://www.thesojournertruthproject.com/compare-the-speeches/]

I find myself back at the Transfiguration…. That is, I don’t’ think Sojourner Truth could have spoken so clearly the truths of God unless she had taken the time to savor the truths of God. That is, I think she rested, and practiced spiritual practices, and likely took Sabbath. I mean, she’d been enslaved! I can’t imagine she’d want to work more than 6 days a week when she gained her freedom. (Perhaps a thing to ponder in this culture.)

Also, I think the capacity to hear the truths she told, particularly in that time, depended on people being willing to slow down, engage in Sabbath, practice spiritual practices, and get good at listening to God. In a few words, she took down the hierarchies of the day and named God’s desires for the world. People might have gotten defensive of the world as they knew it – unless they’d been bathing in God’s dreams for the world as it could and should be.

In the delight of Sabbath, God plants seeds that change the world, and all we have to do to receive them is simply BE. God has given us gifts, many of them, including the gift of the practice of Sabbath. Beloveds, I urge you, receive the gifts from God for a full and abundant life. You are worth it AND the world needs you whole. Two true things, two reasons to move towards a fuller Sabbath practice. Amen

Rev. Sara E. Baron 
First United Methodist Church of Schenectady 
603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305 
Pronouns: she/her/hers 
http://fumcschenectady.org/ 
https://www.facebook.com/FUMCSchenectady

February 15, 2026