I originally wrote this on my Mission Year blog on February 24th, 2009. Got a nice reminder about it last Sunday though.
We have a Sabbath built in to our week, and it’s great. I generally spend mine doing absolutely nothing but reading, web surfing, and blogging. I enjoy it…but that book that we’re reading that I told you about (Practicing Our Faith) made me rethink how I will probably be spending my Sabbath from here on out.
In the Jewish tradition, they are called to observe the Sabbath for two reasons. One reason is because God did. He worked for six days, and rested on one. If we are assuming that the world can not go on without our work for one day…how arrogant does that make us? What does that say about how we view God? The other reason is to remind them of their newly found freedom. He reminds them of their slavery in Egypt. Slaves can not take a day off, free people can. (Exodus 20:8-11; Deuteronomy 5:12-15)
In the Christian tradition, we kind of have this day built in to our weeks as well. Sunday. We get the family all together, go off to Sunday School, go to service, go out to eat, go catch a quick nap at home (if we’re lucky), then back to the church building for budget/personnel/ministry team meetings, and then there is always the possibility of the Children’s Choir performance or some banquet or other after that. We don’t honestly get that much rest, because we’re so involved. That totally used to be me.
The Sabbath is supposed to be a time of rest. A time that we use to thank God for giving us the time to rest, and for the work he has given us to do.
Sunday is no longer protected by legislation (Blue Laws), or custom. Because our lives are so busy on other days, we have to cram all those meetings and events in to one day. A lot of the time we don’t think about the fact that some people don’t ever get a day off, because they work multiple jobs, or have to put in insane hours at the one job they’re trying to keep. When we go out to lunch at a restaurant, we don’t wonder if our waitress has had a day of rest this week.
How great would it be if groups of three or four families got together to spend their Sabbaths together, and keep each other accountable to just…resting. Maybe they set up a rotating schedule of who provides food, or they all contribute every week. And they make a commitment not to be committed to anything that is work (or church work related). As far fetched as it sounds, if the body of believers decided to take back their Sunday as a day of rest, a Sabbath (this is most often the best bet because it is a relatively open day), then eventually the church governance would get the message and stop scheduling meetings on Sunday, and (and yes I really believe that if enough people did it this would happen) if people stopped going out to eat, restaurants wouldn’t open, and perhaps they’d learn something from S. Truett Cathy (founder of Chik-Fil-A and does not allow them to be open on Sundays).
We get scared of hearing something like this, or of considering making it a priority because ‘What about this project I have a work’, or ‘Yeah, but the garage isn’t going to clean itself’. Consider this though:
“People who know the Sabbath pattern of creation, liberation, and resurrection nurture a dissatisfaction with this system, however, and can work for change. Keeping Sabbath, we grow in our longing for a system where all people have work at a living wage, and time for rest and worship too.” – Dorthy C. Bass
People who decide to take a stand against what the culture decides to observe, and celebrate the Sabbath can change the culture.
Using your Sabbath as a day to rest, commune with God, and others, and respect the right of others to do the same will change your life. I promise
-Stippick
