Sabbath Keeping [Paperback]

Donna Schaper (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 25, 1999

The third in Cowley’s Cloister Book series, Sabbath Keeping is a collection of ten meditations, each exploring a different aspect of keeping the sabbath and ending with a prayer. Since it is a difficult art in a society that does not value rest, Schaper encourages small acts of sabbath keeping that initially focus on physical and mental renewal but soon broaden to questions of justice and power. She begins with a chapter called “What is Sabbath?” and goes to the Bible for definitions, from the ordinances surrounding sabbath in the Hebrew Bible to the gospel stories about the Sabbath. Other meditations concern sabbath and music, sabbath and the body, prayer, focusing and decluttering, sabbath and memory, sabbath as the relinquishing of power, and sabbath as an act of resistance.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'We are desperate for rest in a culture that seems to reward only effort. We understand ourselves as overworked, but in a way we are proud of our exhaustion and our failure to honor the Sabbath.’ “These words by Donna Schaper in her new book Sabbath Keeping make a good beginning, for we are indeed deeply confused about time, bound as we are by a misguided allegiance to schedules and work that drives us beyond even fatigue to something worse, the loss of our very souls. “Schaper’s volume focuses on the Sabbath’s unique role in sanctifying time. . . . Schaper also reminds us that the third commandment is an invitation to joy. Indeed, . . . there is always an expectation of joy lurking behind time—time seen as a gift from God, as a part of God’s mysterious grace (Mark Harshman Christianity and The Arts )

About the Author

DONNA SCHAPER is an area minister for the United Church of Christ and a popular retreat leader. A writer for Weavings, The Other Side, and Homiletic, she has also published several books.

DONNA SCHAPER is an area minister for the United Church of Christ and a popular retreat leader. A writer for Weavings, The Other Side, and Homiletic, she has also published several books.

Product Details

• Paperback: 94 pages
• Publisher: Cowley Publications (January 25, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1561011630
• ISBN-13: 978-1561011636
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #163,526 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #49 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Protestantism > Anglican
  • #62 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Protestantism > Episcopalian

More About the Author

Donna Schaper is currently Senior Minister of the historic Judson Memorial Church in New York City. Dr. Schaper describes the church as "a gathering place for people who seek spiritual nurture to build public capacity for social change." Among her current projects at Judson are developing an "underground economy" (a safe place for real people in hard times) and building a public ministry training program for future church leaders.

Schaper is the author of numerous books, including When a Parent Dies, Sacred Chow: Some Holy Ways to Eat, and The Art of Spiritual Rock Gardening. Her articles, opinions, blog posts, and essays appear regularly in a diverse mix of media, such as The Huffington Post and The New York Times.

To learn more, visit www.judson.org or www.donnaschaper.org.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Learning how to take the pause that refreshes, May 30, 2000

By 

Charlotte DeVries (Northfield, Minnesota) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sabbath Keeping (Paperback)

Sabbath Keeping, a little jewel of a book by Donna Schaper, is one woman's account of her on-going journey of sabbath celebration.

Sabbath, a word with Hebrew origins, has to do with the important work of rest in our lives. In today's fast-paced way of doing life, we've lost the ability to step away from our work to rest, focus and play without a script or a list. There's a mystery waiting for those of us who learn the joy of "sabbath-ing."

Schaper helps us consider how we might more actively learn to do less, to enter into the playfulness and celebration of our lives through observing a sabbath, or time of rest, as a weekly ritual. Issues of decluttering our demanding agendas, prayer, border-making, daily life rhythm and pacing, weave into a model of what it means to pay attention to our lives in the most positive way.

Although written from a Christian perspective, her advice is embraceable by most of us:

"Sabbath keeping is so easy that it is terribly hard. We are all doing too much, and we know it is not enough; we cannot do more, but we know we must. Our gaze is unfocused, our expressions weary and worn..." In a world where many of us work on Saturdays and Sundays, traditional rest days of the past, how we can find other ways to keep sabbath with and for each other?

Schaper's little book helps us look inside to give ourselves permission to live with fewer plans, decreased expectations, a freer agenda so that we may take notice of the single elegant mystery of being alive.

5.0 out of 5 stars Sabbath Keeping, June 15, 2009

By 

John P. Wilkinson (VA, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sabbath Keeping (Paperback)

I must say that this little book is really well written and full of ideas to help you do what God has asked us to do. I thought I had trouble with keeping this day, which ever one you choose, but have come to realize that there are several ways of doing it. Great book for book clubs to discuss.

John P.