Keeping the Sabbath - Part 3

DAILY BYTE

What exactly does ‘keeping the Sabbath’ involve?
What is OK and what is not OK on the Sabbath?
Can I play sport or watch a movie on the Sabbath?
What if I’ve got an urgent deadline at work and I have to go in to the office on Sunday – is this a sin?

These are some of the sorts of questions that people commonly ask when they start thinking about the actual practice of ‘keeping the Sabbath’.

It is essential to stress at the outset that it is easy to slip into a kind of rigid legalism when it comes to Sabbath observance, which will end up robbing the Sabbath of its power. This is the error that the Pharisees fell into, which we need to guard against. For them, ‘keeping the Sabbath’ became all about following a whole lot of external requirements, and they ended up missing the whole point of what it is about.

The gift and power of the Sabbath lies in the way in which it can remind us of who and what is most important, and can help to re-align our lives to those things that make for abundant living. So long as our Sabbath practices function in this way, they will be life-giving to us and others, and will be honouring of the Lord of life.

A few days ago I was relaxing at home on my Sabbath. My young daughter was wanting to play a game of snakes-and-ladders, but I was pretty absorbed watching some T20 cricket on TV. She then asked me, with all the innocence and truthfulness of childhood, “Daddy, what’s more important, sport or children?” Ouch! (And then she proceeded to whip my butt at snakes-and-ladders.)

That question, ‘What’s more important?’ is a great one to guide us in our Sabbath observance. It calls us to cease certain things, and actively embrace others. Here are some examples:

We cease our usual work and embrace time for physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual rest.

We cease our obsession with productivity & accomplishment, and embrace the opportunity to “waste” time in the “unproductive” activities of corporate worship and fellowship.

We cease our anxiety & worry, and embrace an attitude of radical trust in God.

We cease our self-centredness & possessiveness, and embrace the opportunities to give of ourselves to family & friends and our money to the work of God’s kingdom.

We cease our enculturation, and embrace the alternative values of God’s kingdom – such as generosity, hospitality, compassion, patience, forgiveness.

We cease the meaninglessness of living without purpose, and embrace God’s call for us to become partners with God in God’s healing, transforming and liberating work in the world.
What does this mean for you? How can the planning and shaping of your Sabbath be a creative exercise in allowing you to connect with what is most important?

PRAY AS YOU GO

Lord God, I sense that keeping the Sabbath need not be a dull, onerous, religious chore, but can be an exciting, thrilling, and soulful discipline that can become the highlight and focal point of my week. Help me to move towards that place where my Sabbath observance becomes a joyous and life-giving celebration of who you are and who I can be in you. Amen.

FOCUS READING

Mark 3:1-5

Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, "Stand up in front of everyone."

Then Jesus asked them, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" But they remained silent.

He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored.