Keeping the Lord's Day

 My walk with the two uneven socks has come two an end. I have wore the socks every day as a reminder of how well different people can blend and spread warmth in a rather cold climate. I love the multicolored patterns as well.

(His eye is on the sparrow. Can you spot the bird's nest and the open moth of the baby bird at the top my my Mom's rose tree?)

Exodus 20:

⁸ “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. ⁹ Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. ¹¹ For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."

 

 Hannah celebrating the Sabbath.

Today I thought I'd try to explain a bit of Norwegian traditions and attitude about keeping The Lord's Day holy. I feel we live and think differently from the Americans about this, culture-wise.

Since Norway was Christened in year 1030 by St. Olav, the country has been ruled according to the ten commandments and those of Jesus in N.T.. It has been easy, because the people shared the same faith. In my time, the last 30 years or so, things have changed radically and the laws of my beloved country with it.
A story about St. Olav. It was Sunday, but he sat carving with his knife on a piece of wood . A young servant saw this and said cautiously, "It's Monday tomorrow, Lord King." Whereupon the king took the wood shaves and burnt them in the palm of his hand.

The ancient St. Olav church just over at the island.The myth says that when the even older obelisk touches the wall, Domesday will come.

My mother was very accurate about keeping the Sunday holy. She would never even knit on a Sunday. If she and my Dad went for a hike in the mountains, she would never gather berries and carry them home on a Sunday. In the evening they would go to church, but my Mom would always go directly home afterwards. She used to say, if the sermon was good, she needed quiet to hold on to what she had gotten.
I used to go for walks with my friends after church. We discussed and had a great time. There are of course more than one way.

Now the laws and the spirit of our country have changed. Churches are closing down. Some gather for church coffee after worship, some even have opened restaurants. When I grew up neither radio or TV would send sports events till after worship time on Sunday.

There actually still are fines to be paid if one disturb the Holy Day peace. That is you aren't allowed to move your lawn, build a house or make disturbing noises to the neighborhood. Neither must the fishermen nor the farmers work outdoors for 24 hours.
Most shops are closed, so are banks, factories e.t.c.
Even hospitals run about half staffed on Sundays. So do buses, trains and ferries. No serving of alcohol till after church time on restaurants.( Church time being from11a.m. till 12.30 a.m.
There are signals that these laws too are about to be changed. That all the seven days of the week are to become regarded the same. That will be a great loss for our country. We are in deep of need the peace and inner tranquility of a "resting day," which is the Norwegian expression for Sunday. "Keep the Resting Day Holy", the commandment says. We need to seek the Lord.

Remembering the words of Jesus in Mark 2:
²⁷ Then he said to them
“The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. ²⁸ So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

I see this as, we need the Sabbath for our own good, and not only to  fulfill the law. The Lord's Day is holy, but it's also a day of recreation and meditation, free from hard work and labor. We so easily forget that until recently the population were forced to work from early morning till late night 6 days a week.
It was a blessing to the ordinary people to have one day off. It was a unique opportunity to go to church first and then rest with ones family, either out or indoors.
Saturday afternoon the church bells rung the Holy Day in. They still have that tradition in Sweden. People took off their working clothes and put on Holy Day outfits.
When I grew up I had not much clothes, but I had clothes for playing, clothes for school and Sunday clothes.
It had to do with paying respect. 

Naomi and Hannah watching the sun go down close to our home.
  About a year ago Gunnar and I were the lucky hosts of two young Canadian Jewish girls, Hannah and Naomi. They celebrated their conservative Sabbath with us. It was an awakening experience. 
Not only because the rules they did follow, but because of the devotion with which they celebrated the Sabbath.
I felt my kitchen was holy ground as the candles were lit and we shared the meals. Songs from the Book of Psalms and reading from the Scripture. I think the two girls song for one or two hours, while the candles were burning. The clean voices, the musicality, the adoration, the joy. I didn't get the impression there was any sacrifice in their Sabbath celebration, only holy joy. Everything was prepared on before hand, lots of tasty dishes. Including family gatherings with relaxed eating and conversations were a main part of the Sabbath in addition to the Holy sermons.

 Gunnar telling about the druids who worshiped the sun here between the mainland and the island long before Christ.
  Once more I thought, how much my generation has lost and failed to hand further to our up-growing descendants.
Like Serina just said, when I told what I was writing about, "but we don't live this way, Mama". 
I just need to make some changes.

The narrow path leading to the local light tower. Let's pray that Christ and his light must reign and remain shining among us. That no wayfarer must get astray.
Thanks for walking this stretch of the narrow road with me. It's time for the sock to move on.

Thy will be done

I was determined about two issues for this Traveling Sock round.
1. I wouldn't, couldn't spend too much time on the writing .
2. I wouldn't, shouldn't even try to preach. It's simply not my style.
What happened? I've spent the whole day making a single blog post and I've never done this much preaching in my entire life. No wonder nobody bothers to read my writing.
Nevertheless, I've prayed "Thy will be done", and what's coming out for sure wasn't my intention.

A year ago I wrote ten blog posts about The Lord's Prayer.
I had kind of a wakening up. My praying was so much about my wishes and my will. Jesus taught us to search for God's will on earth as in heaven.
I had wrestled with tough topics, like the painful endings of first my father's and then my mother's life.
I still don't know why it had to be this way, but I experienced that Jesus stood by our family's side all of the time.

Job 35: ¹⁴ "Although thou sayest thou shalt not see him, yet judgment is before him; therefore trust thou in him."

My brother's cancer, Gunnar's and Serina's chronic deceases.
The four of us are still works in progress and we are getting better in spite of all odds. My brother had five percent odds of survival after his Whipple surgery eleven years ago. He's still in his job.
Gunnar is fighting like a lion and is achieving physical wonders this year, that I would have thought impossible only half a year ago. Serina is also step by step, inch by inch retrieving strength and will power.

As my father woke up from brain surgery after two days in coma, we were gathered around his  bed. He smiled and pointed towards the wall between me and my mother. "Oh, there she is, " he said. "Do you mean me or Mom," I asked. "Neither", he answered, "It's her, she who has been there all the time."He pointed at the place where "She" was standing. A chill of awe went through all of us.
He hadn't been alone, not for a minute.

Some years later my Mom stood on the threshold to Heaven. We were given a spare room at the hospital where we could rest while the rest was waking, preparing for the end to come.
My mother has always said, "I'm not strong, but I am a stayer."
She was this time too. Little by little we started feeding her with protein drinks and slowly connected after ten days. She got up and stared out in the gray rain wet backyard. Her face lit up, and smilingly she said, "I've never seen such perfect beauty in my life. I didn't know it existed."
She saw into a world I've only read about, and her face was shining.

His will is for us to get saved.
That we may have the food and clothes we need, that our sins may be forgiven, "like we forgive those who sin against us."That we may be freed from temptations, we're bound to fall, over and over again. And that we must be saved from evil, and from doing evil, I usually add, knowing myself just too well. I am so glad that the power and the glory belongs to him, and not to a king, a president or a prime minister, dictator or any worldly or clergy power.
The Lord is the only one to be worshiped and to be knelt before. For ever and ever.

1 Chor. 13 :
⁹ For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
¹⁰ But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
¹¹ When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

¹² For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
¹³ And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.