Shabbat

“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the Lord’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
then you will find your joy in the Lord,
and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”
Isaiah 58:13-14

I’m not a 7^th Day Adventist, but I think we can learn much from the proper celebration of the Sabbath day. I see the Sabbath day misunderstood regularly. Christians have tried to appropriate it by setting apart a day to meet together. Some also look down upon working. But really, we are missing the nature and intent of the Sabbath day. What follows is my understanding of the day.

The Sabbath is about remembering what God has done by doing away with the distractions, the ceremony, and the things that weigh us down. 6 days are used to prepare for this day so that you are not running around, but you can focus entirely on the celebration. Just as there are songs (of Ascents) for the trip to the temple, so the activities of our life should point us towards this celebration.

The intent for the Sabbath is to free. It is to liberate. It is not to bind people with rules. The Sabbath should be a day of liberation from the things of life that weigh us down. The Sabbath should be a day of refreshment—bodily and spiritually:

“Jesus wants to heal our souls, wants to give us the Shalom of God. And so we have to stop. We have to slow down. We have to sit still and stare out the window and let the engine come to an idle. We have to listen to what our inner voice is saying” (Parker Palmer Let Your Life Speak).

But it is not simply stopping that reenergizes us. There is the aspect of considering God’s grace and love for us. By remembering God’s grace in the past (Ps 145:4ff.), we should be energized to live for the future. A major aspect of celebrating is passing down what God has done in our lives to the next generations. By recalling His faithfulness we are strengthened and encouraged to continue the journey throughout the week.

Tomorrow I will discuss the appropriation of the Sabbath Day into our Christian setting as well as ways to make the Sabbath more meaningful.