Remembering The Sabbath

Exodus 20:1-17 gives us the infamous Ten Commandments. Perhaps, like me, you had to memorize them in grade school or CCD. Not sure how many can recite them all, but certainly grilled into us growing up was # 3 (actually #4 in some Christian communities):  “Remember the Sabbath day – keep it holy.”  Interestingly all of the other nine Commandments are given only one verse – but there must have been a high degree of importance on this one as it takes four full verses to explain what it means to keep the Sabbath holy:

“Remember the sabbath day—keep it holy. Six days you may labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God. You shall not do any work, either you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your work animal, or the resident alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the LORD has blessed the sabbath day and made it holy”

Unfortunately, over the years, this has been taught to mean: You have to come to Church every Sunday…or else.  And while I am all for the importance of community prayer each week, Church attendance it is certainly not critical for salvation (but that is a blog for another day).  But “remembering the Sabbath”….well that could change your life.

And while I do not have any slaves or work animals or resident aliens living with me, I do have my cell phone, Ipad, laptop, Surface 3, 5 Facebook pages, 2 websites, 2 companies and this blog – all to keep me occupied…all to keep me away from finding sabbath time…all from keeping me quiet and still to hear God’s voice.

I actually blogged about this topic just about a year ago.  At that time I made some brief headway into holding Sabbath somewhat sacred, but it slipped away.  It is difficult for us who have to work weekends at Church, to find another day of the week that we can hold the sacred sabbath.

But that is what Teresa and I will begin doing again on Monday.  Nothing daring like a weekly sabbath (at least not yet), but by beginning a couple times a month to shut down the electronics and the outside world in order to honor the ‘seventh day’ to rest, to listen and to be still.

And that actually sounds….delightful.




Interested in more reflection on the Sabbath?  See this piece by our friend Mirabai Starr.

What is Sabbath?

So what does Sabbath look like to you?  No really.  What is it like to “keep holy” the Sabbath?

Perhaps it is the day that you ‘go to Church’ – then after that hour is over, it is back to having a day packed with things to do and places to go and people to see.  Is that what Sabbath is all about?

Last week I attended one of Rob Bell’s 2Days Conferences.  After a short amount of time, it was easy to see why in 2011 Time Magazine named him one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World.  During the conference Rob and his wife, Kristen, took some time to speak of the need for ‘rest.’  They reminded us, that by being called to be like Christ to others, (and we all are, in some way) our bodies are often broken open and our blood poured out.  No doubt, we all know what that feels like!

In addition, we have become a society where we feed our egos by leashing ourselves to multiple electronic devices where every ‘bing’ tells us of a tweet, a text, a message or a call.  Some people go as far as measuring ‘success’ by the number of times they are tapped by a device. 

So with this endless barrage 7 days a week – without a day of rest inserted in that endless pattern, how can renewal take place? Renewal in our person.  Renewal in our spousal/familial relationships?  Renewal in our spirituality?

So what to do?

It will vary with each person.  But earlier this week my wife and I realized that this Saturday our calendars are wide open (proof that there is a God who bestows grace).  So we are making it our Sabbath, but in a new and different way.  All electronic devices will be powered down (sans one phone for inbound family emergencies), so we can spend the day together, without outside interruptions, and focused on ‘renewal.’

Sounds biblical.  Sounds wonderful.  Sounds scary. 

Sounds like what God may have just had in mind when God asked for a day called Sabbath...