source: esther ase
When my husband and I were Children’s Pastors, we did a series on the 10 Commandments. The fourth commandment is “Remember to keep the Sabbath day holy.” After a little research we discovered that “sabbath” means “to stop”. So, we played a game where we told the kids to act something out (playing basketball, doing the dishes, jumping up and down, etc.) and then when we yelled “Sabbath” everyone had to freeze. It was a quick activity that helped everyone understand the meaning of a seemingly archaic word.
At this same time, there was a really fabulous Seventh-Day Adventist church in our community who asked us to do a kids’ service for them. They were a small congregation and met at the local hospital’s meeting room. We had a great day with them but what I remembered (and enjoyed) the most was when everyone greeted each other they said, “Happy Sabbath!”. Their simple greeting showed honor to the Sabbath day–and reminded each other about the specialness of the day.
I remember when I was a girl that Sundays felt kind of like holidays. Stores were closed, we stayed at home after church and (even though I disliked it) we went to church on Sunday nights. You couldn’t do a lot of work because there were no computers, internet, cellphones, iPads or even open stores to interrupt your resting!
Today, Target closes one hour early on Sunday. Even Family Christian Store is open on Sunday. The idea of stopping on Sunday is rare.
I opened up Matthew Sleeth’s book 24/6 on Saturday night and finished it yesterday afternoon while Asa, Lydia and Les played t-ball at the park. Sleeth was an ER doctor who married into a Jewish family and then he and his wife became Christians about ten years ago. They have an interesting story and run a ministry that teaches people about taking care of God’s earth.
Anyway, with this whole quietness thing I’ve been pursuing and my screen-Sabbath on Sundays, I really enjoyed some of the insights from this book. I’m gonna just give a few quotes from the book streamofconciousness like.
“Rest shows us who God is. He has restraint. Restraint is refraining from doing everything that one has the power to do.”
You know, we don’t have to do every single thing just because we have the opportunity. Just because I have a couple of free hours on Sunday doesn’t mean I have to fill it with work…or even with productivity. Rest is ok. Actually, it’s a command.
“Sabbath keeping is nothing less than grabbing onto the robe of the Maker of the universe.”
Although he wrote a book dedicated to Sabbath, there were certainly no clear-cut “do this” and “don’t do this” lists. His whole point was to encourage us to devote a whole day to quality time with God. Not in a super-spiritual, on-your-knees or too-holy kinda way. It’s more of a, “Hey, God. I really do think you’re number one. This day is for you. Let’s hang.”
“Young people are leaving the church in droves–something like 70 percent during the college years…One reason is that most children do exactly what they are taught–and they see their parents worshipping many lesser gods.”
Worshipping many lesser gods. This was totally it about my iPhone. My kids saw me take my phone from room to room, to use it to check in about everything from the weather to a question. They saw me unable to live without it. What are they going to do when they reach iPhone age? Not only want one, the way I wanted a Nintendo in 6th grade, they will think they can’t live without it because their mama can’t. What other lesser gods have I unknowingly set up?
“The trick is to allow God to have the room, space, and quiet needed to make an impression on you.”
This is what it all boils down to. I do #hellomornings because I need a spot in my day to stop, to wake up, to focus and spend time with God. I recognize this hour window as necessary to a productive happy day. I’m just coming to terms with the same idea for a Sabbath day. A whole day that is more than just my-husband-is-off-of-work and we-don’t-have-any-appointments. It’s a day that is focused on stepping away from the everyday and focusing on God.
Just as my #hellomornings doesn’t consist of just praying and Bible reading, Sabbath doesn’t have to be only about worship. You can spend time in creation, playing games with your family or reading books. It’s about resting and reveling in the beauty of God’s gifts.
And one more quote that will make you feel restful just reading it…
“Rest is stopping ones work, whatever that work may be. Rest is freedom from harassment. It is the quiet after the storm. It is children fresh out of a bath with pruned fingers and the smell of baby shampoo, tucked under their blankets before bedtime.
Rest is the sound of the night breeze rattling the palms as it comes in off the Gulf. Rest is putting your head down on the pillow knowing that you can sleep in. Rest is the beast of burnden unhitched from the plow. Rest is walking around the edge of shorn cornfields in the fall. Rest is reading and setting the bok aside when your eyes get too heavey. Rest is the sound of the wind through the screen porch of the beach house. Rest is stopping. It is staring up through the thin Colorado night sky at the spine of our galaxy.
Rest is thinking about all the things that you could do on a Sunday afternoon and hearing a still, small voice tell you to just stop–and then taking a God-ordained nap.”
I want to up my Sabbath-ing. I want my kids to see and experience me showing restraint, tearing down lesser gods, reveling in God’s gifts and truly resting. I’m still not sure exactly what it will look like, but for now, my heart is ready for the weekly stop. It’s ready to grab the robe of God.
How do you Sabbath? Or do you?
I bought this book for $2.99 for Kindle and looks like it’s still available at that price! Oh, Amazon, how I love thee!!
Amanda, I loved this book. Kristin Schell sent it to me earlier this year. My collection of books on sabbath, slowing, and rest continues to grow … as does my willingness to live differently and choose stillness and less over busy-ness and more. I can’t wait to follow your journey of Sabbath-ing! (Also, you should check out Shelly Miller’s Sabbath Society. Such an encouragement!}
What’s interesting about this whole thing is that I would have never said I *didn’t* rest on the Sabbath. But it hasn’t been purposeful, you know? I want Sundays to have that thing I felt at the 7th Day Adventist Church–that it really is a holy day.
Love you, friend! Off to check off the Sabbath Society!
a
Encouraged by your journey to pursue this more! We always take a nap on Sunday afternoons (my husband is a pastor!) and the kids just know to expect it. And we always have some kind of family time in the evening, because we want our kids to know that they are a priority in our lives.
It is a challenge to know how to live out rest in a way that is glorifying to God and that is a blessing to my family. Thankful for your thoughts and I will check out this book!
Becky: at one level it’s easy to Sabbath when you’re a pastor–b/c you’re exhausted! But I also remember how un-sabbath-y it can feel on the weekends, too.
I love that you have family time in the evening–I think that makes the day seem special. And that’s what I want!
a
Wonderful post! I need to Sabbath more. I have stripped my phone of added apps…no facebook or twitter there anymore. I do #hellomornings too. I try to keep my social media limited to 30 min blocks of time. I limit my kids’ screen time so why don’t we adults do the same!? Setting a good example is a key point you made. Little eyes are upon us.
Yes, we forget to limit our own screen time! I watch way more TV than my kids do. *thinking, thinking…*
a
Me likes stream of consciousness sometimes. 🙂 This sounds like a beneficial read…I especially loved the last quote, it almost had me yawning. We have been Sabbath-ing for a long time now but I always love the reminder to be intentional about rest. Thank you!
Yes, that’s it! Intentional. That’s what I want to be.
🙂
a
That last quote made me want to cry…and visit Colorado. I’m in CA and it’s so busy every second of every day. It can be so overwhelming. I love the idea of just grabbing the robe of God, just hanging onto to Him and allowing His love to embrace me. Thanks for this post 🙂
I’m with you! Life is totally overwhelming–and I guess that’s why God COMMANDED us to rest. Praying you’ll get to do some sabbath-ing this week. 🙂
a
We do Sabbath in our home on Saturday. We’re Adventists and I’m glad you experienced Sabbath. I’d never thought of our greeting that way but we do all do it. It does help set the tone to our worship.
There’s something special about setting aside everything you usually do and having a very different focus on one day of the week for a whole 24 hours. That “remember” in the commandments …. God knew we’d need the reminder to fully rest, worship and praise. We prepare before and have the opportunity to spend time together free from shopping and the rest….and focus on Sabbath. Love to hear you’re exploring Sabbath.
Thank you, Melitsa! I love what you said: “God knew we’d need the reminder to fully rest, worship and praise”. Yes! It’s not that I’ve always been working or doing crazy stuff on the Sabbath, I just haven’t remembered to FULLY rest/worship/praise.
🙂
a
Hi Amanda,
I’m very intrigued by your Sabbath thoughts, and just want to ask a little bit more. I raised 4 kids (the youngest is 17 now), and now I’m a Christian Ed director for our church. The problem that the young moms in our community face is sports and other activities for their kids scheduled on Sundays. Do your kids play sports yet? What will you do about attending Sunday School and having Sabbath time when one has a soccer game Sunday morning and the other has a track meet in the afternoon?
It sounds like I’m trying to be argumentative, but I assure you I’m not–really! I just feel for these young moms–it’s hard to say no to team sports that they love and all their friends are doing them. If they don’t come on Sundays, the coach benches them.
Patty: it’s a great question! My kids are not in weekend sports. But I know from when I was a kid (and my husband says the same) that if there were ball games/practices on Sunday, we just didn’t participate. We told the coaches/teams going in and if it didn’t work, then it didn’t work. But we never had a problem (of course, that was 30 years ago!).
I’ll do the same with my kids (honestly, I don’t even want to do an insane amount of team sports! I’m already tired of taking my kids to ballet and gymnastics once a week!).
In the book I mentioned above, 24/6 the author says those are great opportunities to show your kids “who the boss” is—God. Sports aren’t the boss. Teachers, homework, etc. are not the boss. God is the boss and we want to obey Him first. This is not the same thing, but I remember a girl in my youth group who could never come to our church activities b/c she was in the band (which is fine!! and good!!) but their family put band first. And guess what she’s doing today? Playing music. But not going to church.
There has to be a way to do both–maybe join a different league? take another day to Sabbath?
(ps–I knew you weren’t being argumentative! I’m not either. Promise. *grin*)
a
Any thoughts on having a restful Sabbath when you “work” on Sunday as a children’s ministry leader, pastor, etc when we come early and stay late on a Sunday morning? I find myself more harried and stressed the Sundays I am “working”, but a Sunday morning cannot function without the body of believers working together to create a space of worship, can it?
You are so right. I remember being 8 months pregnant, getting up at 5:30 in the morning, unloading a giant tractor trailer to make our mobile Children’s Church work when we were on staff at our last church. Sundays are anything but restful!
I think in ministry, you have to take a different day of rest. Yeah, you don’t get the corporate worship on that day, but you can still commune with God and rest in Him. When we were Children’s Pastors, most of the staff took Monday off (b/c they were exhausted) but we couldn’t b/c we had to prepare for our Wednesday night service, too. So, we took Thursdays as our off day/Sabbath.
And thank you, THANK YOU, for working to make a place for others to do some Sabbath-ing!
a
I definitely need a weekly stop. this was a great reminder.
There are some really important, and challenging, thoughts here thanks. My husband & I have done something a bit unusual for Sabbaths for about 7 yrs now – it has made a HUGE difference to the sustainability of our lives & ministry in a Christian training community. We have 3 under 9, so most Sundays one of us takes the kids out – generally we ask God to lead us in where, often to church, &/or to visit with some friends. We leave the other one to wake up in a quiet, empty house, and have uninterrupted headspace until around 1pm. It’s a win for both of us, because the intentional time with the kids has also proved really worthwhile. I don’t have space to explain all our reasons, but you could easily do the same on a Saturday if that’s more appropriate to your situation.
I totally get that and love that idea—it’s hard as parents to ever have complete alone time!
Thanks for sharing!
a
I came over from Pinterest when I noticed you pinned my blog post about the Sabbath Society. I love this, haven’t heard of that book, but those quotes resonate. Would love to have you join us if you haven’t already. We’ve grown into a lovely community who is being transformed by observing Sabbath. Amazing how that one 24 hour period to take our hands off and allow God his proper place makes all the difference. Nice to “meet” you Amanda.