I have been pondering the idea of Sabbath-keeping quite a bit lately. Part of that is connected, I suppose, to the fact that I’m on sabbatical, which is a manifestation of Sabbath in its own right. And partly because it has come up in a variety of different venues – which makes it worth noticing. And partly because I had my last retreat at the Transforming Center this week, and one whole session was on Sabbath. I didn’t know that going in, but it was certainly timely in conjunction with the rest of my reflections.
I am compelled by the idea that we should be honoring the Sabbath. I know it is a concept of some controversy in the 21st century. I mean, we have come as far as we have through hard work and constant innovation, right? Countries that value siesta and short workdays and concepts of timeliness that are somewhat…um…loose, are among those we call “developing” countries. Once they figure out you are supposed to work 80-hour work-weeks, they will likely begin to come into alignment with the developed and industrialized world, and start to leave poverty behind. Admit it – you think that. I do.
But, what is poverty anyway? Well, that is a question for a different blog, or 3 or 25. But let’s return to Sabbath-keeping. There is a fair amount of controversy over whether or not we SHOULD keep a Sabbath. After all, Jesus Himself said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath,” right? And He “broke” the Sabbath repeatedly to prove a lot of points. Or did He? Did He break the Sabbath? Or did He just break someone’s manmade idea of Sabbath-keeping? I would posit the latter. And I think this might be a concept that is less controversial. Why do we balk at keeping the Sabbath? Why do we think it’s optional? It’s the 3rd (or 4th) commandment (depending on which doctrinal position and count you adhere to), isn’t it? Can you imagine any Christian saying, “I really don’t think ‘do not steal’ applies to me in my current situation.” or “I can sleep with my neighbor’s wife if I want – after all, it’s 2020.”? That’s not a thing. But for some reason, we feel quite alright with erasing the Sabbath commandment in lieu of productivity and good business practice. Weird.
So, as I have wrestled with the practice of Sabbath-keeping, I have been digging into some of the logistics of how to perform this holy task. It is SO completely counter-cultural, that we don’t really have a framework for it. I don’t want to discuss whether it should be Saturday or Sunday, because that is far above my theological paygrade, but I have settled upon the idea that it must be done, and that our only decision in this century as Gentile believers is not “if,” but “how.” I know that sounds extreme. I get that. It really does. But I can’t really ignore the PLETHORA of passages in the Scripture about keeping Sabbath, or the fact that it’s one of the 10 things God decided would sum up the way He wanted us to live in the world, or the fact that God Himself did it first. I do want to be clear that I don’t believe this should be done in the manner that the Pharisees of old determined that it be done. Pharisees are poor determiners of orthopraxy, as it turns out. And that doesn’t matter which century you live in! But I do believe there are principles that must be appropriated to our day.
This is too long of a subject to be reduced to one post, and I am still wrestling with how it plays out, but let me start with some principles, and maybe continue next time.
- Sabbath is all about trusting God. It is a physical acknowledgment that He is in control and we are not. It is being content to allow the work of our 6 days to be enough and to entrust whatever isn’t done to Him, in obedience to His command and example to rest.
- Sabbath is a weekly rhythm of remembrance of what is to come when all is fulfilled and shalom is restored. In the narrative of creation in Genesis, each day that God created something, it ends with “and there was evening, and there was morning – the _____ day.” Did you know that on the 7th day, when God rested from the work of creation and entered into it to indwell it, there is no “evening and morning?” It is a day that is reflective of the reality of Eden. A perpetuity of rest, where everything works as it should, and the land and the humans work together to bring forth abundance. We rest every 7th day to remember what was, what is in Christ’s finished work for us, and what will be when all is restored and made right.
- Sabbath is how we were designed. God didn’t make us machines. He made us finite humans. (Although even machines need rest…) He made us to not only TAKE a rest, but to ENJOY a rest. Consistently. We need it. It’s our reset button. The “restart” of our operating system that makes everything else work better.
- While there are many benefits of Sabbath to us, Sabbath is ultimately about HIM. It is for Him, and to Him, and with Him. It is a day when He enjoyed His creation – US. And His creation enjoys Him. It is holy, set apart, special. A gift to us from our Creator. When you’re given a special gift, it is not acceptable in any culture to throw it away in view of the giver!
- The Sabbath was established as a “sanctuary in time.” It’s a model, in time, of the tabernacle itself. The tabernacle would be the place in space where God would dwell and meet with His people. The Sabbath is a place in time where God meets with us. This is a deep subject, and I refer you to the Bible Project for more on the symbolism in the 7th Day Rest that God established.
There is much to convince us if we are willing to give up what we’ve known and lean into some hard Truth, that Sabbath is not only needful – but mandatory. But how? We are not agrarian, for the most part. We have 5-day work weeks, generally. We have stores open to us for provision 24/7/365. And we believe that we should be producing something – all. the. time.
Here are some questions that might get you considering your own need for Sabbath practice.
- How much of your identity is tied up in what you produce (documents, a clean house, lesson plans, strategy, analysis, spreadsheets, order – you name it…)?
- How separate is your “worship” from the rest of your life? Is it a 1.5-hour weekly commitment? Or maybe twice weekly, if you’re super-spiritual?
- How often do you do your paid work on the weekends?
- Conversely, how often do you spend 24 hours just doing things that delight you?
- What are the things that delight you? (cooking, flowers, creating art, getting lost in a good book, playing games with your children, driving to find something new for no reason at all, walking through a park or by a body of water, music, etc, etc…)
- Do you have time set aside regularly (read “weekly”) to refresh your soul and spirit?
- What do you think would happen to the things which you are responsible for if you just quit being responsible for 24 hours? What do you REALLY think?
- When you think of keeping Sabbath, what are the areas of resistance that you feel? What might happen if you present those resistances to the Lord?
Next time, I’ll share some of my own thoughts on Sabbath practice, but meanwhile, I want to point you to a couple of resources. If you aren’t already familiar with The Bible Project, you should definitely GET familiar! They are a nonprofit that produces podcasts, videos, graphics and other resources on Biblical themes and word studies, and they are phenomenal. They have a 14-episode podcast series on “7th Day Rest” that is worth all 18 hours of listening investment. But if you don’t have 18 hours to listen, I’ll put the summary video below. That will whet your appetite.
There are also lots of good books on Sabbath-keeping from modern-day authors and theologians that can deal with this topic in more depth than I can. Here are a few: (In full disclosure, I have not read all of these, but they come highly recommended. And I receive literally nothing if you buy them.)
- The Rest of God (Mark Buchanan)
- Sabbath (Wayne Muller)
- Subversive Sabbath (A. Swoboda)
- The Sabbath (Abraham Heschel)
May the Rest of God keep you wholly and holy.
Kim