This summer, we are focusing on ways we practice our faith. Each week, we will explore a different “faith practice.” Last week, we focused on testimony – a testimony is when we share a personal story of our own faith. We each have a unique story to tell about why we believe in God and choose to be part of this church.
Today we are turning to practicing sabbath – Sabbath is a time of rest. In Christianity and Judaism, sabbath is also a day set aside for rest and worship. God commanded us to make time for sabbath in the Ten Commandments. At the end of the first creation story in the book of Genesis, it says: “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 that he had done.” Taking a break, a sabbath rest, is woven into the creation of humanity. Taking a sabbath is important spiritually, emotionally and mentally.
The Old Testament Commandment for us to keep a sabbath is found in all three versions of the 10 commandments. In Exodus 20, it is written this way:
Scripture Reading Exodus 20:8-11
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns.
For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Here ends this reading of the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Message Keeping Sabbath
What is the deal? Why did God tell God’s people to keep a sabbath? Why was this so important that it is found in each version of the 10 commandments, mentioned in the first creation story, and then spelled out in several of the Jewish laws? Why would God mandate that we take a sabbath rest?
Maybe because it is incredibly difficult for us to do it….when I talk to friends, or family members, or church folks, one thing that almost everyone tells me is that they feel super busy all the time….they feel like they are jumping from one activity to the next. When you talk to parents of younger children and teenagers, they tell you about all of the sports practices and music lessons and school events and games they drive their children to and from ... .even during summer break, kids have camps and art lessons and swimming classes and soccer practice. When I saw my brother’s family a few weeks ago, each of their 5 kids had different activities every day of the week. They had baseball games and soccer practice and hockey practice and dance classes and dance performances and summer reading and math practice and swimming lessons. I was on edge just hearing the list. The activities were so complicated that the parents and grandparents were all running different kids to different places all of the time.
Even people who don’t have kids in their home are rushing from thing to thing ... their professional work and doctors appointments and book clubs and hair dressers and volunteer shifts at the food pantry. We are all overloaded and over-extended
And, yet, as part of our faith, we have a mandate to rest. We have a mandate to take time off for sabbath, to rest and worship and breathe in the Holy Spirit.
The first version of the 10 commandments says we should rest on the sabbath because God rested after the 6 days of creation. God spent 6 “days” making the heavens and the earth and the waters and the creatures and then took a break and marveled at all of creation. Taking time off for rest and introspection and observation is helpful for us too – sometimes when I am really puzzled by a problem, the answer comes to me after I step away from my desk and walk around and have a break – some of our most important learnings come when we have a rest and time to synthesize our thoughts.
Another version of the 10 commandments, the one found at Deuteronomy 5 verses 12 through 15 explains the need for sabbath a little differently – this version of the commandments emphasizes that when the people of Israel were slaves in Egypt they were never allowed to take a break – Deuteronomy 5 says:
“Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you.
Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do.
Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.
So, in this commandment to observe a sabbath, God says the people should stop and rest and worship because when they were slaves, they didn’t have the option of stopping and resting. The sabbath day is an opportunity to appreciate our freedom and their release from captivity. We no longer have to do as the slave masters command – we have the freedom to take a break.
We know rest is essential for our health. We must sleep – When we sleep, our immune systems are replenished, our emotional processing is strengthened, our moods improve, our stress decreases, our tissues and muscles are repaired, and our body and mind recharge. And, taking time out of our busy lives for sabbath is also restorative. We need time to relax, to regroup, to rest and breathe in the Holy Spirit.
When Christians adopted the Sabbath mandate, we changed some things. Jewish Sabbath is from Sundown on Friday night to Sundown on Saturday night. Christians changed our Sabbath day to Sunday, to celebrate Jesus’ day of resurrection. In the early days of the 20th century, when people became more urbanized, factory workers and school children typically were “off” on Sundays. Many people remember the days of Blue Laws, when stores and businesses were closed on Sunday. Many people also remember boredom on Sundays – church in the morning, then quiet afternoons at home, followed by church in the evening.
In the twenty-first century, we have more flexibility about how we follow the sabbath mandate – when Jesus was questioned about the Sabbath, he reminded his followers that following the letter of the law wasn’t as important as doing good. Jesus had been criticized for healing a crippled woman on the sabbath. We aren’t required to take our Sabbath’s on Sunday, and to sit around and be bored all day….that is not the point of Sabbath rest.
The Sabbath time is a time to turn off our phones, pause the running around and the activities and the busy things we are always doing, stop ourselves from checking our emails and our facebook feeds, and to rest. We may rest by taking a nap. We may rest by taking a walk and appreciating the beauty of the earth. We may rest by putting on music and listening and not trying to multitask at the same time. We may rest by sitting in a swimming pool and soaking up some sun. We may rest by playing with our grandkids or watching a movie or playing catch with our dogs. Worship can be part of our sabbath rest as well – we can praise God and pray and sing hymns and appreciate the good God creates in the world.
We are mandated to take time for sabbath rest. We are required to take a break. The rest we take looks different for each of us, but the point is to set aside a block of time to rest, to bask in the glory of creation, to pray, to praise God, and to do things that are uplifting and restorative. God understood that taking time off does not come naturally to us, but that it is good for our bodies, our minds, our spirits, and our souls. So, let us follow the commandment to take a sabbath rest.
Amen.