If you grew up in a religious environment, you are probably aware to some extent about the concept of Sabbath. The popular concept is that for one day a week, you refrain from ‘work’ in order to focus on worshiping God. Most Christian churches consider Sunday as ‘the day’ to do this – Sunday representing the 1st day of the week, the day Jesus raised from the dead, a day to celebrate and give thanks. The Jewish faith and some Christian sects consider Saturday as the ‘real’ Sabbath, citing the Jewish Scriptures and Jesus own observance of the last day of creation, during which God rested from his work of creation.
This is good as far as it goes. Unfortunately in most circles where Sabbath is practiced, Sabbath has become a ‘work’ in itself. It’s a rule you must follow if you don’t want to disappoint God (or the church you belong to). I recall living in Lancaster PA where our pastor had bought land from an Amish family and built a house on the land…on the condition that they would not do work outside and around the home on Sunday…including things like mowing lawn, washing cars etc. Since those are activities that I actually enjoy doing, I didn’t consider them ‘work’ and felt like rules like this were bondage and defied Jesus’ proclamation that Sabbath was made for humanity rather than humanity being made for the Sabbath.
Years ago I was asked to speak to some college kids about the importance of Sabbath. I think those who invited me were hoping I would talk about taking one day off a week. As I researched the meaning of Sabbath though, I came to understand that the deeper meaning of Sabbath is not about taking a day off of work, be that work that we do to make a living or in this case doing homework for class.
Sabbath is meant to be a reminder of the truth about God and our relationship to God, but it’s not meant to be something we just do once a week. It’s meant to be a practice that teaches us how to live every day. It is about ceasing from our labors and trusting God to take care of things
And what are our labors from which we must cease? I believe my labors include all those things that I do to maintain my pride, my self-esteem, to always look good to others, to cover up my shadow self, to put my best foot forward. They also include those things that I do to ensure my personal kingdom, to stay in control, to defend my actions, to plan my path in such a way that I get what I want, along with all the accompanying worry and anxiety about what will happen if things don’t go my way. These are the kind of labors that usually don’t show on the outside but I carry with me even on my ‘day off’. They are also much harder to lay down than just not going to work for a day.
How can we learn to lay down these labors and trust that God is our defender, that God is the one who prepares the path before us and guides us, that God is the one who has plans for good, that God is the one who provides for our needs. Personally this is very difficult, and taking one day ‘off’ a week isn’t going to do it!
I believe one of the best ways to practice Sabbath is quiet meditation. What if for 20 minutes every day, you would lay down your labors and simply sit in trust before God? To be totally still and know that God is and that God is there for you. No planning, no defending, no worry, no anxiety, no list making. Now THAT would be Sabbath!!
Frankly, I have a hard time doing this for 5 minutes let alone a whole day. But I’m taking steps. I’m setting 20 minutes aside each day and sometimes for a few minutes of that 20, I really can trust and let go. In time I hope I can learn to do this for 20 minutes, then for a whole day, and then in time, I could learn to walk in this kind of trust every day of my life.
