When the editor and her husband moved to a new parsonage three years ago, she inherited a large garden covered mostly with mulch. A few spring bulbs turned to an absorption in gardening and her family watched her become an avid gardener.

Editor Dana Jones elaborates on her feelings about gardening and the connection with holy time:

"When I began gardening, I did more than plant flowers and vegetables. I planted seeds of change in my life. I found a place where time is measured in seasons, not minutes and hours, where beautiful flowers emerge when you are patient, where people have time to stop and talk."

Where do you find sabbath? This issue is meant to inspire us to honor the sabbath with articles about listening, retreating, and finding sacred space.

Keeping and Telling Time
by Heather Murray Elkins

How do Christians tell time? By the Son. This author takes a look at holy time and the basic rhythm of creation and redemption that is built into our religious commitments and community. Then, she explores how to put sabbath into our contemporary lives.

Several women, from a variety of racial and cultural backgrounds, share their experiences as children and adults in keeping the Sabbath holy. For these women, Sabbath was not always on Sunday. It was many times a week. They all have special memories of their traditions and have carried them into adulthood in some way.

Rabbi Hara E. Person says, "It has been said that it is not the Jews who keep the Sabbath, but the Sabbath that keeps the Jews." Rabbi Person then introduces readers to Shabbat– or Sabbath– and the day of holiness and joy. There are challenges and blessing to keeping the day holy, but traditions help. Each family has found their own way to leave the modern day and reconnect with God, creation, themselves, and loved ones.

In the fourth of the 10 biblical commandments, God instructs us to set one day in seven aside for rest. This rest not only includes people, but also animals. The author says that this is a time to liberate the land and give it a rest: "The keeping of the Sabbath is a call to the community to glorify and honor the Creator."

At the Women’s Division-owned Scarritt-Bennett Center in Nashville, Rebecca Waldrop, the center’s program director, believes that the arts can help people focus on their faith journey. "We believe the arts are a means of worship, communication and reconciliation. It’s a place where people can become immersed in creative process. It’s like holy clay– a kind of sabbath," she says. This article is accompanied by a sidebar article: "Producing TV Show Exhilarating."

Renewal and relationships is part of "A Day Apart" for United Methodist Women across the United States. A. Victoria Hunter explores the soul searching that goes on in one such retreat.

Retreat Brings Women Together
by A. Victoria Hunter

When United Methodist Women in Northwest Texas and Rio Grande Conferences received a grant from the Women’s Division to hold a retreat, no one imagined that it would become an annual event. This article looks at the friendships, closeness and uniqueness of this event.

Women’s Division Directors 2001-2004

The Women’s Division is the official, national policy-making body for United Methodist Women. It is made up of 50 directors, all of whom are elected through the processes of the organization. Directors provide oversight and guidance for the organization. This pictorial directory of the new officers gives names, hometowns, and conferences of the directors.

Response Index 2000

This is an index of all the articles, subjects, and authors published in the year 2000 of Response magazine.