(Photo by Steve Knight, www.freeimages.com #1547724)
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 you male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your gates. 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)
Last weekend, I went to the wedding of a good friend. It was a beautiful and joyous occasion. He's a great guy and I am really happy for him and for his bride and for their dog. In addition, there were many old friends at the wedding, many I hadn't seen in years. It was great to get caught up and, in some cases, meet their children. After the wedding, there was supper and cake...no mowing of the lawn and no dishes. It was a beautiful Sabbath day.
It reminded me that in the command to Sabbath, stopping is just the beginning. In the original instructions, we see that it is not just a command to "not to". God's command to Sabbath is a subtle nudge for us to remember Creation. And when we look at the Creation account, we see that God created us for community:
Then God said, "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish
in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,
and over all the creatures that move along the ground." (Genesis 1:26, emphasis mine)
Sabbath involves the whole family...even animals, foreign exchange students, employees, and house staff if you have them. Anyone within your gates. For someone like me, prone to reclusion, this is sometimes a little bit difficult. I've been dealing with people all week! Someone always wants a piece of me. Sometimes, my perfect idea of Sabbath involves me getting away from everyone and definitely not reaching out and involving others.
However, the reality is that all of us have people in our lives that we have lost contact with, we have become sideways with, and those we just don't know as well as we should. Sabbath is time for us to put down the paper and pick up the phone and make contact once again. It's a time when we can bury the hatchet and spread the Balm of Gilead. It's time for us to load up the kids and drive three hours to the wedding of a good friend and let the dishes soak in the sink and the lawn soak up the sun. Maybe we go to church, come home, sign off from social media, and spend real, face-to-face time with those within our gates.
However, the reality is that all of us have people in our lives that we have lost contact with, we have become sideways with, and those we just don't know as well as we should. Sabbath is time for us to put down the paper and pick up the phone and make contact once again. It's a time when we can bury the hatchet and spread the Balm of Gilead. It's time for us to load up the kids and drive three hours to the wedding of a good friend and let the dishes soak in the sink and the lawn soak up the sun. Maybe we go to church, come home, sign off from social media, and spend real, face-to-face time with those within our gates.
The goal of Sabbath is not stopping, but stopping is where we begin. It is the launching pad that propels us forward and gives us space to reconnect with those we love, and those that loved us once.
Church stopping. Less doing. More being.
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