Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in Our Busy Lives [Paperback]

Wayne Muller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 5, 2000

In today's world, with its relentless emphasis on success and productivity, we have lost the necessary rhythm of life, the balance between work and rest. Constantly striving, we feel exhausted and deprived in the midst of great abundance. We long for time with friends and family, we long for a moment to ourselves.

Millennia ago, the tradition of Sabbath created an oasis of sacred time within a life of unceasing labor. Now, in a book that can heal our harried lives, Wayne Muller, author of the spiritual classic How, Then, Shall We Live?, shows us how to create a special time of rest, delight, and renewal--a refuge for our souls.

We need not even schedule an entire day each week. Sabbath time can be a Sabbath afternoon, a Sabbath hour, a Sabbath walk. With wonderful stories, poems, and suggestions for practice, Muller teaches us how we can use this time of sacred rest to refresh our bodies and minds, restore our creativity, and regain our birthright of inner happiness.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Muller's insights are applicable within a broad spectrum of faiths and will appeal to a wide range of readers."
-- Publishers Weekly

"One of the best spiritual books of the year."
-- Spirituality and Health

"Wayne Muller's call to remember the Sabbath is not only rich, wise and poetic, it may well be the only salvation for body and soul in a world gone crazy with busyness and stress."
-- Joan Borysenko, author of Minding the Body, Mending the Mind and A Woman's Book of Life

"This is a book that may save your life. Sabbath offers a surprising direction for healing to anyone who has ever glimpsed emptiness at the heart of a busy and productive life."
-- Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D., author of Kitchen Table Wisdom

Visit Bantam's website at www.bantamdell.com

From the Inside Flap

In today's world, with its relentless emphasis on success and productivity, we have lost the necessary rhythm of life, the balance between work and rest. Constantly striving, we feel exhausted and deprived in the midst of great abundance. We long for time with friends and family, we long for a moment to ourselves.

Millennia ago, the tradition of Sabbath created an oasis of sacred time within a life of unceasing labor. Now, in a book that can heal our harried lives, Wayne Muller, author of the spiritual classic How, Then, Shall We Live?, shows us how to create a special time of rest, delight, and renewal--a refuge for our souls.

We need not even schedule an entire day each week. Sabbath time can be a Sabbath afternoon, a Sabbath hour, a Sabbath walk. With wonderful stories, poems, and suggestions for practice, Muller teaches us how we can use this time of sacred rest to refresh our bodies and minds, restore our creativity, and regain our birthright of inner happiness.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Bantam; 1 edition (September 5, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553380117
• ISBN-13: 978-0553380118
• Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 0.7 x 9.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,453 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #46 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Holidays
  • #47 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Worship & Devotion > Devotionals

More About the Author

Wayne Muller has been a therapist, minister, community advocate, consultant, public speaker, and bestselling author of Legacy of the Heart and Sabbath, among others. A graduate of Harvard Divinity School, Wayne spent the last thirty-five years serving thee abused, bereft, sick, and oppressed. He founded Bread for the Journey, a network of ordinary people who volunteer in neighborhood philanthropy. Wayne listens primarily for what is beautiful, strong, and true within us, to learn to find nourishment as our lives unfold in new, unexpected directions. He was Senior Scholar at the Fetzer Institute, Extended Faculty at the Institute for Noetic Sciences, and has received several awards for his work with those in need.

He currently works with select individuals as a private spiritual director and mentor.

You can contact Wayne at www.waynemuller.com

"Wayne Muller gently moved me beyond the questions of Why? and Why me?, helped me step over the barriers of guilt and shame and encouraged me to look through my wounds as through a window that opens to a new view of who I am and where I am called to go." - Henri Nouwen, "The Wounded Healer"

"Wayne Muller gives us the license, the encouragement to take that single, mindful breath which puts our busy lives in perspective and helps restore our souls." - Fred Rogers, of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Slow Down, November 21, 2005

By 

Erika Mitchell (E. Calais, VT USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in Our Busy Lives (Paperback)

This book is a exploration into the concept of "Sabbath" and its importance in world religions. Muller describes Sabbath rituals in the Jewish faith and discusses scriptural references to the Sabbath (from Christian and Buddhist, as well as Jewish texts), especially those concerning why it is celebrated at all. He argues that we all need time set aside as a Sabbath for rest, happiness, and consecration. He embellishes the text with poems and stories about the Sabbath practices of friends. Many of the chapters close with a "Practice" section, in which Muller describes actions you can take to put the ideas from the chapter into practice.

In an early chapter, Muller declares that all religions have some form of Sabbath. This didn't quite sound correct to me-while Muslims often gather in a mosque together for Friday noon prayers, the day is otherwise unlike a Judeo-Christian Sabbath, since there is no feeling that worshipers should refrain from work or commerce on that day. And Buddhists and Hindus certainly don't have a regular day set aside each week for religious observance and rest. But Muller goes on to explain that he is taking the term "Sabbath" to mean a time set aside from ordinary worldly pursuits, and that in a more general sense "Sabbath" need not refer to an entire day, but could be just a few minutes in which the mind is engaged in meditation, prayer or devotion. By this measure, the five daily Muslim prayers, Buddhist meditation, and Hindu pujas would all qualify as Sabbath time. Muller argues that such time is necessary to appreciate fully our capabilities as caring people.

Reading this book has opened my eyes to new ways of celebrating the Sabbath. Muller argues that the most vital activity to engage in on the Sabbath is not necessarily attending church, but rather, pausing all ordinary activities to contemplate the Divine or Life itself. He notes that feeding, dressing, and escorting family members to a church service, then struggling to keep them quiet during the service is not necessarily in keeping with the intention of rest and meditation. And he describes ministers who, since they must work on Sundays, keep their own Sabbath on a different day of the week. He explains how important it is to have time alone, when one doesn't need to provide or others or even interact with them, so that one can better concentrate on devotional matters. Regardless of your faith, practicing the ideas described in this book can you help form a much stronger connection to the center of your being.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Finding peace in these troubled times . . ., September 27, 2001

By 

Dave Kinnear "Executive Leader Coach" (Lake Forest, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in Our Busy Lives (Paperback)

Finding rest renewal and delight in our busy lives. This is a wonderful little volume that now starts my day off in a very peaceful and contemplative way.

I took my time with this book. I savored each morning as I read only one of the "meditations" to start my day and then tried to remember and think about the meditation during the day some time. The Sabbath practices are doable in our every day lives and picking one or two will definitely add a new dimension to your day. And in light of the recent tragedies on our country, we could all use a little peace and Sabbath in our lives.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A helpful perspective on God's gift of rest, July 30, 2001

By 

Esther Hetrick (Lansing, MI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in Our Busy Lives (Paperback)

This easy-to-read book contains short chapters of a devotional nature, each ending with an "exercise" to help find or restore a sense of "Sabbath rest." Rather than a legalistic view to observing the Sabbath, he presents a convincing argument for applying the principles of rest into our daily lives. At times Muller seems a bit pluralistic, equating Buddhist teachings with Biblical teachings, but overall he writes in a clear, helpful style that inspires one to develop a "Sabbath sense" to one's daily week.