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And on the seventh day...

Figure 1http://www.montreat.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Mountains-2-400x250-300x187.jpg

We think of “Sabbath” as a time to NOT DO something.  We stop.  We wait.  We rest.  We sit.  However, that is a lot of work!  I think of Sabbath as “making a space.”  It is an active choosing, remembering, and prioritizing a holy space for God.  It is less about “letting go” and more about “leaning in” to the Breath of the Holy Spirit.  In this context Sabbath is a return to our making.  You see, in the beginning “the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7). It is the breath of the Lord God that stirs dust into human.  It is the breath of the Lord God that makes us living and gives us a life.  Therefore, “Sabbath” – a time for rest and renewal, is an opportunity to reach for that breath of God which gives us life and through which we have our being. 

Jesus tells us that the Sabbath is a gift, “Sabbath is made for man not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27).  Exodus reminds us that the commandment was given, and all were asked to “celebrate the Sabbath throughout their generations” as “a perpetual covenant (Exodus 31:6). Covenants are Holy Promises that tell us who and whose we are; so it follows that a Sabbath is a celebration of whose and who we are. We are filled with the breath of God and the ones who celebrate that gift. As a covenant, Sabbath is not just a 24 hour period during which we must refrain from action; it is a touchstone of identity and refreshment.  “…2By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it God rested from all God’s work which was created and made” (Genesis 2:2-3). 

As I write this, I am doing the hard work of preparing for Sabbath time.  I am sending emails, writing articles, confirming arrangements, and cleaning behind the refrigerator.  My children say that I do more housework in the day before going out of town than I do in a month of just living. You see, for me, Sabbath time is preceded by days of chaos and creation of the Sunday School/everyday sort.  When there is finally a moment to listen and to “lean in” to the breath of the Holy Spirit, whether in the mountains or at the beach, I may be fully present.  This listening is sometimes VERY active. This year I am heading to Montreat, NC for the Arts, Recreation and Worship Conference where we like to say, “On the 7th day, God played.”

Peace, friends! 


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