I’m on a Sabbath Retreat with my youth. A retreat with the theme of Sabbath because our church’s lenten theme this year is Sabbath.

I challenged the youth to do without or to severely limit their use of technology over the weekend, and except for emergencies, I’m limiting mine as well. So I’m posting this on Friday before I leave, to be published on Saturday while we’re gone.

It’ll be about connecting with God and with each other, about increasing our awareness of God around us, and being transformed by those God-encounters.

Really, it all comes down to this: Sabbath is essential to our fulfilling God’s command to love God and love our neighbor. When we take time to observe Sabbath, to communion with God and properly rest and restore our soul, the Spirit fills and empowers us for embodying love as God intended.

Have you ever observed yourself or led your youth in a technology challenge – to be free from technology with the purpose of being more fully present with God and neighbor? How did it go?

How do you keep the Sabbath holy?