Practicing the Sabbath
Last week, we looked at a theology of Sabbath. Now that we have a bit of a Scriptural knowledge of Sabbath—by no means an extensive look at everything Sabbath—we can now dive into what it looks like to practice the Sabbath. This will have a mix between theology as well as practical tips of how we can implement the Sabbath into our week.
About a year ago, I was illumined by a member of our small group about the Sabbath command in the ten commandments. First off, the Sabbath commandment is the longest and this is what is said:
8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 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. 11 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.
Exodus 20:8-11 NIV
What my friend said he learned is that the first 3 commandments deal with loving God, and the last six commandments deal with loving others. But the Sabbath is this hinge point: it’s about loving God and remembering him, and it’s also about loving others, because you are meant to spend that time of Sabbath with those around you.
When we don’t take a true Sabbath rest, we are doing a disservice to our community and to God. Why? Because when we live exhausted and hurried, we’re less a people of love, and we’re missing out on experiencing the blessings of living rested, unhurried, and having a cup full from being with God and others in a foretaste of the coming Garden-city. God wants you to rest. And I love this quote, because as we make sabbath a rhythm, we notice something being built.
As Abraham Heschel wrote,
“The seventh day is a palace in time which we build. It is made of soul, of joy and reticence. In its atmosphere, a discipline is a reminder of adjacency to eternity.”
Heschel, The Sabbath Pgs 14-15
Sabbath is a day when we are reminded of this eternal palace in time that we will one day obtain in its full glory when Jesus returns to restore Eden and make all things new. For now, we get a foretaste of that beautiful rest each time we Sabbath. God knew the importance of that Sabbath, which is why He made it a command for the Israelites. Sabbath is not always easy unless it becomes a rhythm in our lives. That’s the point. Sabbath is meant to be something we naturally come to each week and remember Jesus. It’s not a day off. It’s not a day to do chores. We are given six days a week to do the ordinary, mundane tasks of the week, but the seventh day, the Sabbath day, is to be different. Eugene Peterson talks a bit about Sabbath in his book Working the Angles, noting that a Sabbath full of chores and tasks is just a typical day off. He talks about how we need to understand the Sabbath biblically and not culturally. This is what he writes,
A widespread misunderstanding of sabbath trivializes it by designating it “a day off.”
Eugene Peterson, Working the Angles Pg. 66
It takes trust to step away from work because, honestly, we all tend to overschedule and try to be part of too much. Which is why we push chores, laundry, and grocery shopping to Saturday or Sunday when it should be a Sabbath day. But what if we say, “You know what? I want to experience that seventh-day rest. I want to say yes to Jesus and give Him a day each week that is set aside as holy and purposeful.”
It doesn’t make sense to us from the standpoint of time, to our society, and to our flesh, but it makes perfect sense when we do it from a standpoint of honoring God. 6 days we are given to do work, but the seventh day is a day to delight and know life will go on while I stop. We learn to release control and let God be in control. And you’ll find out the work is still there on Monday.
What does the Sabbath look like for us in our day?
Traditionally, the Sabbath was observed from Friday evening to Saturday evening. If you can do that, then great. Some of us have to work and make money, and I get that. Maybe there’s another 24-hour period that you can Sabbath on. If there is absolutely no way that you can Sabbath for a 24-hour period because there are things that require you to be a part of, then maybe pick 4 days that have 6 hours of Sabbath time each, or 2 days of 12 hours. Your choice, but you need to Sabbath. God modeled that for us by resting on the seventh day and ceasing from His work. He dwelt with His beautiful creation. If God was good with taking time to cease from work and rest, then we need to as well. It will help you spiritually, physically, and mentally. We are a stressed, anxious, burned-out, and completely exhausted society because we’ve forgotten the beautiful gift that was meant to be given to us each week, the Sabbath.
What do you do on the Sabbath?
I’ve got a list of things that you can do on the Sabbath. This isn’t everything, but something to get the wheels turning when it comes to enjoying your day of rest with Jesus.
Turn off your electronics, computers, video games, etc.
Put your cell phone to sleep in a "cell phone sleeping bag."
Go to church or listen/watch a sermon.
Study Scripture with a friend.
Go to the farmer’s market.
Go into the woods and enjoy nature.
Read a good book that’s not for class.
Play games with your friends.
Work on a hobby.
Take a nap.
Work on recording your family tree.
Paint a picture.
Visit friends.
Go camping.
Enjoy a community meal with friends or family.
Reflect on the week.
Write a poem that expresses your thankfulness to Jesus and what He’s done for you.
Sing your favorite songs.
Do whatever relaxes you most.
Here are some questions to filter through:
What things give you joy? How can you delight and behold God and others during this day? What gives you rest and fills your cup?
As a young family, our Sabbath never looks the same. But our goal is to rest well and enjoy being in each other’s presence, with no distractions and no tasks that have to be done. We’ve prepared for it ahead of time, or we are okay with it not being done, and we’ll get to it later (Monday is coming). We seek fun and good family experiences like going to a park or heading over to Wife’s parents' house. I read LOTR while she and my son are napping. And it’s just a good day of life coming back to us because we are focused on Jesus and each other. Our work and house chores will be there on Monday.
Jesus didn’t want Sabbath to become formulaic. The Practices are unforced rhythms of grace meant to lead us to embrace the love of Jesus and learn to live like Him. You will get it right, and you will get it wrong. So give yourself grace.
Sabbath is about living as the whole beings we were created to be. Jesus healed on the Sabbath (Mark 3:1-6) and allowed His disciples to gather grain on the Sabbath (Matthew 12:1-8) because they were experiencing salvation. They were being renewed. For the disciples, it was about getting sustenance. For the other healings, it was about them experiencing new life. A healed life. Jesus could have healed them on Monday that week, but He typically did it in front of the Pharisees to show what the Sabbath is actually about and not all of the rules they came up with. Jesus still made Sabbath an active practice in His life, but the times we read about Jesus healing on the Sabbath are when He’s fulfilling the year of the Lord’s favor, which is a prophecy He claimed to be fulfilling in Luke, which is the Year of Jubilee or the seven sabbaths sabbath on the 50th year.
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Luke 4:18-19 NIV
Typically, what’s happening in Acts on the Sabbath is similar to here. Paul would have been proclaiming the Good News of Jesus, so that people would experience new life that is embraced by the Spirit of the Lord being in them.
So, is Sabbath worth it? Absolutely! You will find so much life. The hope of the Sabbath is that it’s not a day we are desperately waiting to get to. The hope is that the Sabbath would be a day we live from. It’s a day we learn to live in joy, peace, and giving up control.
Every seven years, we are on staff at our campus ministry, we are given a Sabbatical, and mine landed in the Spring of this past year. I did a lot of prepping for the time I was away by handing over parts of my responsibilities, and you know what I realized during that process? There’s a lot of control I loved to hang onto, and I didn’t know it. God has worked on me and is continuing to chisel my heart, making it softer and helping me learn to let go of my own control. And you know what’s been a blessing? It’s been way more beautiful to see others running with leadership opportunities and thriving at them, and doing way better than I have in the past, and cheering them on. It’s reframed the way I want to be as a follower of Jesus, but also as a campus minister. I’m not technically needed. If I’m gone, life is still going to go on and thrive, but getting to be at Christian Student Fellowship because of Christ’s calling, not because of my talent, is joyful and a blessing that has softened my heart and has led me to a place to love God more and love others more.
In her book The Unplugged Hours: Cultivating a Life of Presence in a Digitally Connected World, Hannah Brencher talks about trying to make Sabbath the perfect day and how the search for perfection was actually revealing her grip on perfectionism and how it slithers its way all over her rhythms.
And, slowly, I came to the realization that Sabbath is not about control. It’s the opposite. It’s about learning to release all that control you’ve been white-knuckling for so long. It’s about learning to let go of the narrative you’ve told yourself so many times–the one in which it’s always on you to hold it all together.
Hannah Brencher, The Unplugged Hours Pg. 159
That’s the power of what a Sabbath will do for you.
I want to end this journal entry with this quote from the BibleProject study notes on the Sabbath. The BibleProject team writes,
“In the diverse history of Sabbath practice, it has always been about one thing: inconveniencing ourselves one day a week to remind us that our time is not our own. Observance of the Sabbath should reflect the core ideal that the ultimate reign and rule of God has already been launched. If God is at work renewing creation, what does that mean for us to participate with our entire lives? Marking out weekly rhythms—whatever those may be—is an important way of reminding us of the story of which we are a part. Because honestly, it is easy to forget. Sabbath is about creating a space for community and hope.”
BibleProject, Study Notes on the Sabbath
