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Keeping the Sabbath Wholly: Ceasing, Resting, Embracing, Feasting is unavailable, but you can change that!

“But I don’t wanna go to church!” Marva Dawn has often heard that cry—and not only from children. “What a sad commentary it is on North American spirituality,” she writes, “that the delight of ‘keeping the Sabbath day’ has degenerated into the routine and drudgery—even the downright oppressiveness—of ‘going to church.’ ” According to Dawn, the phrase “going to church” both reveals and promotes...

One of the main causes of modern stress is that we have too much to do. Consequently, Sabbath days—when we don’t have to do anything—can release us from the anxiety that accompanies our work (as long as we don’t add to our stress by taking on too many Sunday responsibilities). Furthermore, our false need to be productive (even in the church) builds stress, especially when we find ourselves unable to meet our exorbitant expectations. We scramble after the security of personal status and think that
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