Weekly Curling League

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God.  Exodus 20:8

Several years ago, a buddy and I began curling as an activity to do with our teenage sons. We formed a team and even joined a league. Our sons grew busy and went off to college, but, for a couple of years, my buddy and I kept it up. Every week, we’d get together, competing with others who also curled. It was a break from the work week. It was time to spend with others who also enjoyed curling. It was an opportunity to make ourselves better. And we did get better, learning and growing as curlers. The more consistently we went, the better we got. Over the summer, when we didn’t curl weekly, our skills deteriorated. Weekly in the winter though, for a couple of years, we got together with other curlers, and we curled.

I once learned a similar behavior in AA, where we’d gather weekly for a recovery meeting. While my weekly recovery meeting now isn’t exactly AA, it’s based on the same principle – that we must meet weekly to work on our recovery. Why weekly? Once a day is too often and once a month isn’t enough. Once a week though, we get together, taking time out of our busy lives, to slow down and discuss that which is truly important. As we gather, we focus on our faith and recovery, sharing our struggles and successes. We do this as a reminder of where we truly want our lives to go. We require regular recalibration because we naturally drift off course and so, once a week, we meet to redirect our lives.

Today’s passage emphasizes the importance of this concept. As Christians, we don’t technically observe the Sabbath – Saturday – but we do practice the concept, going to church on Sunday, the day of Christ’s resurrection. Weekly we meet to rest from our work, reminding ourselves of the importance of our faith. Weekly we gather with others who also desire to follow Christ. Weekly, we recalibrate, pointing our lives at God. Left to ourselves, we naturally drift off course. God knows this, so he prescribed a weekly time during which we get together to recenter our lives on him.

It’s so easy to find reasons to sleep in, doing nothing on Sunday morning. God though, asks that I set aside some time each week to redirect my life towards him. If my faith truly is the most important thing in my life, then I must take time to do as he asks. If I could once find time for weekly curling, then I can now weekly find time for God.