Greetings in Christ!


In September, Pastor Schatt and I were in attendance at the Synod Theological Conference held in Green Lake. The featured speaker was Marva Dawn, a brilliant woman and prolific writer. We both found her to be a very engaging and challenging speaker. She spoke about keeping the Sabbath in a way that really broadened my thinking and feeling about it. Keeping the Sabbath is a much more fundamental aspect of a life of faith than I had realized, more than just taking a day off from work and going to church. I am going to try relate to you some of what she said, with the hopes that you will find it enlightening and challenging. I also hope you will come and talk with me about it, and talk to each other. I certainly don't claim to present the final word on the Sabbath. I'm interested in hearing your responses. I also think this is certainly worthy of ongoing conversation in the church.


Sabbath Keeping

There are four basic movements of Sabbath keeping which all occur together, but are distinct from each other. They are: Ceasing, Resting, Embracing, and Feasting.


Ceasing. This is what the word Sabbath (Hebrew: Shabbat) actually means. The basic concept of the Sabbath is to cease our working. In Leviticus it is called a ceasing "to the Lord." That means we don't just stop our work, we give it up to God, recognizing that he is the one God, the great I AM. It's not just our regular make-a-living kind of work we're talking about here either. It's also giving up our anxieties, our need to work, whatever is pushing us. In our culture, we base our personal value on what we can accomplish. Success is measured in materialistic terms. The Sabbath is a reminder that our true value comes from God's love for us apart from our accomplishments. Isaiah 43:4 "Because you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you; I give people in return for you, nations in exchange for your life." So the question we ask is, what do I need most to cease? Anxieties? A need to prove myself? What is driving me away from God?


Resting: Very close to Ceasing is Resting. This is not just resting physically either, but also resting intellectually, emotionally, socially, and finally spiritually. It means doing everything we can to avoid the world's way of thinking. It's removing ourselves from the performance principle under which the world works for the other six days, and letting ourselves simply 'be.' What is work on the Sabbath? That's actually a tough question. One person's labor is another person's therapy. Cooking is play for me. For others it's work. Look at it this way: if you use the words "have to," "ought to," "should," or "must," it's work. Rest instead. It means resting in God.

Embracing: Simply choosing to remember the Sabbath is not deep enough. We need to embrace it, to be deliberate in our observance. It also means embracing the One who gives us the Sabbath. The commandment is "remember the Sabbath and keep it holy." The Sabbath is not just for rest, but for nurturing our relationship with God. Some sort of worship or devotional prayer is needed (not "have to," "need to"). Christian churches celebrate Sunday as the Sabbath because it was on a Sunday that Christ was raised from the dead. So we have our worship services then. Jews observe Saturday as the Sabbath. Some of us have to work on Sunday. What then? What is more important than which day we observe is that we do observe the Sabbath and observe it regularly.


Feasting: One of the difficulties most of us experience in our culture is that we don't know how to feast because we don't know how to fast. We have so much all the time, that times of feasting lose their joy. Consider the fact the Christmas decorations are already in the stores as I write this (not even Halloween yet!). The joy of the coming of the Christ child is watered down and trivialized by this "dragging-out" of the feast! That said, consider what ways you might feast, and save them for the Sabbath. I don't just mean eating either, although that's important (save your favorite meal for the Sabbath, imagine the whole family together!). Feasting visually: a walk in the woods, an art display, architecture, paint, etc. Feasting Aurally: hear a concert of your favorite music, listen to your favorite recordings at home, make music, belt out the hymns at church even if you don't sing well (remember, the verse is "Make a joyful noise to the Lord!"). Feasting Physically: Eat great food, play your favorite games, socialize with friends, do your best imitation of a lump on the couch. Most of all, feast with a sense of time. Be deliberate and decisive about your Sabbath and protect it. Remember, this day is God's gift to you.


Shabbat Shalom!
Pastor Eric


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