Sabbath Rest
One of the ongoing conversations in our marriage is the proper use of a day off. Stephanie enjoys puttering around the house. She enters a day off with a plan and a list of items to accomplish. I enter a day off with the shortest list possible and no plan at all. I can happily enjoy my daily walk, read a book on our porch, bake a loaf of bread and take a nap.
This is not to say Stephanie never relaxes or that I am never productive. Over almost 37 years of marriage, we’ve found a good balance. What matters is that at the end of the day, we both feel satisfied. We simply take different approaches to sabbath rest.
During worship this coming Trinity Sunday we will hear the first creation story in the book of Genesis (1:1-2:4a). This account — which is not meant to describe exactly how creation happened — envisions God as incredibly productive. God creates “the heavens and the earth”: light, water, land, vegetation, living creatures and humanity. Everything on the list is checked off. Stephanie would be very pleased!
Then what happens? “And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.” (2:2-3)
Sabbath rest is not solely for God. It is also intended for us. “Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy,” we read in the Ten Commandments. “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.” (Exodus 20:8, 11)
Why is sabbath important? As Brother James Koester of the Society of St. John the Evangelist said in a sermon, “We are commanded to rest on the sabbath then, not because we are tired and overworked, although we may be, but because in keeping sabbath we discover again who God is, and what it might mean for us to participate in God’s very nature, who is a God of mercy, joy, and rest.”
As we move into summer, how will you remember the sabbath and keep it holy? Might you spend an afternoon reading? Could you take a few days off from work to complete a project at home? Might you create time to tend your garden, focus on a hobby or lounge on the beach?
More importantly, when will you rest? Sabbath can be a season or a day or an hour or a few minutes. Will you take a vacation? Or commit to giving yourself one day without checking your email? Or invest a few minutes each morning in prayer and meditation? Or turn off your devices in the evening to listen to the sounds of God’s creation?
As Stephanie and I have discovered, people rest in different ways and at different times. What matters is that we rest, because in rest we participate in God’s very nature.
Have a blessed summer!