Congregational Sabbath. Is it Biblical?

Congregational Sabbath. Is it Biblical?

It had better be!  If it is not, then we better stop right here and let this wild notion cross the road and vanish from our sight.  Here are some sources in Scripture where we can begin to build the foundations of our theology of congregational sabbath:

"By the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.  And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done." (Genesis 2:2)

Notice how the Creation isn't "finished" until the seventh day. The finished part is the "resting" which may also be translated as "delighting" in.

"The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent." (Exodus 14:14)

I believe that one of the reasons that the church is so invisible in this world is that the church operates like everything else in this world; by our own strength.  Often, all that is seen of the church is Christians trying to fight for their lives instead of God fighting for them.  

"You all remember the sabbath and keep it holy."
 (Exodus 20:6, emphasis mine)

We can keep a personal Sabbath, and we should. But the command is for "you all" to take the Sabbath together.

"You shall have the fiftieth year as a jubilee; you shall not sow, nor reap its aftergrowth, nor gather in from its untrimmed vines." (Leviticus 25:11)

The Sabbath dare is that God will provide for us when we leave the ground fallow. The question is, do we trust God enough to stop?

"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor...(Isaiah 61:1-2)

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me....to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord." (Luke 4:18a, 19)

Jesus picks up the jubilee/year of the Lord tradition at the beginning of His public ministry in Luke.

"'Come, follow me,' Jesus said, 'and I will make you fishers of men.' At once they left their nets and followed him." (Matthew 4:19-20)

In your church, right now, who's leading? The Good Shepherd or you?

"Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for you souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30)

Does your faith feel like an easy yoke?

"He called out to them, 'Friends, haven't you any fish?' 'No," they answered.  He said, 'Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.' When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish." (John 21:6)

Jesus sometimes asks us to fish a little differently

"The Lord added daily to those that were being saved." (Acts 2:47b)

Who, again, was adding to their number?

Congregational Sabbath: Less doing. More being.

Photo from www.sxc.hu 141929