In the last week, three things that gave me JOY:
1.
2.
3.
In the last week, three things that caused anxiety, fatigue or that I couldn’t approach wholeheartedly:
1.
2.
3.
Ways I join in some of the sustained practices of the church:
Hospitality – act of welcoming Christ into our lives
Advocacy for poor – share in the brokenness and God’s in-breaking kingdom
Generous giving – engaging in the work of the world
Intercessory prayer – acknowledging God is at work
*Corporate worship/fellowship
Last week we talked about some of the aspects of vocational integrity – pursuing our work with excellence, truth, diligence and generosity. This is a recipe for burn out unless we also approach our work with balance – including patterns and practices of Sabbath renewal. A lot of what we know about the Sabbath comes from the Old Testament and Judaism…the means by which the Israelites reminded themselves that it is God who ultimately provides and sustains. Sabbath, biblically “celebrated” is not just a day off, marked by the absence of productive work but a demonstration of trust and an opportunity for renewal.
SABBATH
God’s gift to us, provision for a sustained and integrated life….allows time and space for renewal and perspective. Intended for WORSHIP, rest, prayer, fellowship. Sabbath patterns in our day, week, and longer term “breaks” to re-connect more deeply with God and ourselves.
Mark 2:27 – The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
Marva Dawn – Keeping the Sabbath Wholly (and Holy)
“Not celebrating Sabbath effectively means that I don’t trust God enough to keep the world going even one day without me…”
CEASING:
Hebrews 4:9-10
“There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from His own work, just as God rested from His (referring back to Genesis 2:1-3 and Exodus 20:8-11).
Cease not only from work itself, but also from the need to accomplish from our efforts alone; to be in control of our lives and the world around us as if we were God. Cease from productivity, control, anxiety.
“Only he who obeys a rhythm superior to his own is free.” (Calvin Miller)
In many traditions, there is also a commitment of refraining from buying and selling, from acquiring new possessions which relates to God’s Old Testament commands to not provide for the future on the Sabbath, to trust. Stems from Nehemiah 10: 31 and similar OT verses.
RESTING:
Throughout the Bible, God promises rest to his people. Often the biblical word rest means “resting place” – a place for rest, trust, reliance.
Matthew 11:28-30. “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take up my yoke and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
The spiritual rest which God especially intends is that we not only cease from our labor and trade but much more – that we let God work in us; realizing that “in all our powers we do nothing of our own.” (Martin Luther).
The Jewish Sabbath begins with sleep (often the first thing I do when I go on retreat, even if I’m not feeling particularly tired, is take a long nap…there is freedom in this). It represents an experience of a fundamental understanding of grace and restoration. “Menuha” – Hebrew word for Sabbath translates best as harmony. Rest leads to harmony.
EMBRACING:
Third commandment – “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy”. We know Jesus kept the Sabbath – spoke in synagogues, healed, rested…but he also allowed freedom (story of the man with the withered hand he healed – though that was “work”)
Psalm 92: 1-3 – a song for the Sabbath!
Acts 20:7 – “On the first day of the week, we came together to break bread”
Acts 13:44 – “On the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.
Part of the Sabbath USUALLY is worship in community. We don’t keep Sabbath alone. Quality time spent with other believers inevitably strengthens our own notion of who we are and what we are to do with out lives. Take hold of our faith, in the company of those we share it with.
FEASTING:
“Celebration is the honoring of that which we hold most dear. Celebration is returning with open arms and thankful hearts to the maker.” (Sara Wenger Shenk). Sabbath keeping offers us hope for relationships because of its emphasis on one’s relationship with God, its rhythms of community and solitude, its gift of time, and its call to cease striving. The intentionality of Sabbath lends itself to a conscious enjoyment of our relationships with, and delight in, each other as the outgrowth of our delight in God. Marva Dawn calls it the “weekly eschatological party. Suggests shared meals, rejoicing, intimacy with those we care for….
Hebrews 10:1 “The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming – not the realities themselves……not rigidity, but out of trust that Sabbath is gift meant for our good.
Sabbath
Whatever is foreseen in joy
Must be lived out from day to day.
Vision held open in the dark
By our ten thousand days of work.
Harvest will fill the barn; for that
The hand must ache, the face must sweat.
And yet no leaf or grain is filled
By work of ours; the field is tilled
And left to grace. That we may reap,
Great work is done while we’re asleep.
When we work well, a Sabbath mood
Rests on our day, and finds it good.
Wendell Berry
Books:
Abraham Heschel – The Sabbath
Wayne Muller – Sabbath: Restoring the Sacred Rhythm of Rest
Marva Dawn – Keeping the Sabbath Wholly
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