Learning to Sabbath

Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy. I learned about the Ten Commandments before I learned to read and could recite them as long as I can remember. The funny thing is, I have heard thousands of sermons over the course of my life, but I don’t remember a single sermon about learning to Sabbath

We learned that hard work was blessed by God, that Christians should be honest and ethical. And I learned that there were certain things we weren’t to do on Sunday, like mow the lawn or clean the attic. But we didn’t learn that God valued rest. I didn’t learn to Sabbath.

God teaches us to Sabbath

But God took the first rest. “By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating he had done.” Genesis 2:2-3 NIV This is the first time we see the word Shabbat which means “to cease”, “to end” or “to rest”.

The work of creation was complete and good. And the Creator rested. And since Adam and Eve were created at the end of the sixth day, their lives began with Sabbath. Humanity’s first day coincided with divine rest. Their first lesson was learning to Sabbath 

They learned to Sabbath in the wilderness

And a few hundred years later when God rescued his people from Egypt, he ordered them to Sabbath as well. Can you imagine the impact it must have had on the former slaves that their God loved them so much that he not only allowed them to rest but commanded them to do so? He commanded them to Sabbath just like he commanded them to only worship him.  He led them from Egypt into the desert so they could learn to Sabbath. 

 

Learning to Sabbath celebrates restoration

In her book Feasting on God’s Word, Krista McClellan emphasizes Shabbat – the Hebrew pronunciation of Sabbath – as a “celebration of restoration”. (McClellan, 49)  The story of creation imagines God creating  order from chaos, then resting when he restored order.

And after the fall of humanity, God began the work of restoration again, promising Adam and Eve restoration even as he required them to face the consequences of their disobedience. They were banished from Eden, but they carried with them the promise that a redeemer would come who would destroy the destroyer.  Learning to Sabbath reminds us that the enemy will not reign forever and chaos will be conquered. 

The hours of Shabbat turn our eyes toward a God who restores and will one day make all things new. We live in a troubled society, and I am tempted to focus only on the problems in the world like injustice, food insecurity, war and violence and not remember God’s promises. The practice of Sabbath allows us to change our focus, even if for only a few hours. The practice reminds us that God is in control and he will set it right in his time.

25 hours of rest.

In Hebrew culture, Sabbath is a 25 hour period encompassing the time between about eighteen minutes before sundown on Friday evening and one hour after sunset on Saturday evening. This coincides with the seventh day of the week and recalls the time that God rested after creation. 

Many western Christians set aside Sunday as a day of worship as affirmation that Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday, the first day of the week.  We attend church, maybe even a Bible study and fellowship with other believers. But Sunday is often anything but peaceful for me. Too often, I allow the issues of the week to invade my Sunday morning. If I’m not careful, I can treat Sunday morning worship as just another task on my to-do list.

• Mow the grass
• Bathe the dog
• Rotate the tires
• Go to church

I’m much too pious to write this list in my weekly notebook. But if I were honest, many times, I should.  Sometimes I anticipate Sunday because of a special service or a baptism, but too often I treat it as ordinary.

Sabbath is anything but ordinary

Sunday often becomes nothing more than another stressful day, filled with committee meetings and serve teams. Perhaps there is something in us that resists rest. We struggle to cease all activity. and just be still. 

Learning to Sabbath is holy

But God came to a complete stop and rested. He ceased all activity. And he declared that it was holy. McCelland reminds us that holy in scripture indicates that something is set apart. (McClelland 48) The vessels made for the tabernacle, and later the Temple, couldn’t be used for anything else. They were holy. And so is Sabbath.

A holy rhythm

Lauren Winner, a Jewish convert to Christianity realized that she missed the rhythm that Shabbat created in her life. She often found herself in a coffee house called Mudhouse on Sunday afternoons. She wasn’t laboring. She was working on her computer or reading for pleasure. But she realized that she missed the rhythm of Sabbath. 

“What really was wrong with my Mudhouse Sabbath? After all, I did spend Sunday morning in church. And I wasn’t working that afternoon, not exactly.
“A few fine hours except that my Sunday was more an afternoon off than a Sabbath. It was an add-on to a busy week, not the fundamental unit around which I organized my life. The Hebrew word for holy, means literally ‘set apart’. In failing to live a Sabbath truly distinct from weekly time, I had violated a most basic command: to keep the Sabbath holy.” (Winner, 43) 

A different approach to Learning to Sabbath

So, am I advocating that we twenty-first century believers in Jesus return to the Jewish version of Sabbath? Should we adopt the 39 categories of “work” the rabbinic literature forbids and settle into a 25-hour time where we do little more than read scripture and discuss it? Unless God gives the condition, absolutely not. 

The New Testament tells us clearly that we are free from the prohibitions of the law. Paul instructed the Roman church that “one person esteems one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind.” Romans 14:5 NIV

He writes this to the Colossian church. “Don’t let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration, or a Sabbath day. These were a shadow of things to come; the reality however is found in Christ.”  Colossians 2:16 NIV

Ask yourself “Do I know how to cease striving?”

 I am encouraging us all to take inventory of our lives and ask honest questions. God set Shabbat apart as holy before man sinned, and long before he gave the law to Moses. He gave us  an example and a reminder that he restores all things. He will put everything right.

Already New. 

We have already been made new creations if we have accepted Jesus’ provision on the cross. And in the last book of the Bible, God promises that he will make all things new. He restores it all in the end.

 
A few practical suggestions for learning to Sabbath

1. Look at your calendar and find a block of time to unplug. For me Mondays or Wednesdays work better than Sunday. And you may  start with 4 hours instead of a full day.

2. Unplug from electronics. Turn off the TV. Silence your phone. Turn off the internet. Live in the moment right where you are.

3. Spend time reconnecting with family and friends.

4. Get outside. Take the dog for a walk or take a hike somewhere.

5. Most of all, focus on how God is speaking to you.

McClelland references the Jewish connection of Sabbath and fire by lighting candles before the beginning of Sabbath (since kindling a fire is forbidden). And she sometimes ends her Sabbath by gathering friends around her fire pit and taking about what God is restoring in their lives.

I “stole” this practice from her recently. I invited friends to come and gather around the fire. We shared light refreshments and testimonies about God’s restoration in our lives. We found it meaningful and I plan to repeat the practice regularly as I continue learning to Sabbath. 

Quit striving and Sabbath

David told us to “Be still and know that God is God.” I looked up the Hebrew word for “be still” in this verse. I expected it to be the same as Sabbath. It isn’t. Instead, it is a word that means “relax. Let go” or “abandon” or “quit striving”.  I find it easy to “strive”. I am learning to replace striving with Sabbathing. It will take time. 

God plans to restore all of creation,  He will bring order and harmony to the chaos that sin  brought to our world. So he calls us to Sabbath to prepare our hearts for that day. 

 

Sources:

McLelland, Kristi, Feasting on God’s Word. Harvest House 2024

Winner, Lauren, Mudhouse Sabbath: An Invitation to a Life os Spiritual Discipline, Paraclete Press, 2003

Photo credits:

Kevin the chiweenie is used courtesy of Nann Anderson.

Feature photo taken by the author

Other photos created with Canva.