In Thursday’s post for paying subscribers, I talked a little about this new season. Yes, autumn, but I really meant this new season of internship and Hebrew and shifting work. As I mature, I’m learning more about how God wired me and I need privacy and quiet, rest and delight to live well in this world. I’m bracing myself for a full schedule and I’m determined to fight to honor sabbath. I expect it to be hard.
Sabbath and rest is something I’ve played with for a while. I’ve retrained some of my thoughts about work. I’ve practiced going to bed earlier. I still feel this yearning for a little more. A few weeks ago, I started rereading Eugene Peterson’s Working the Angles and he intertwines his discussion of prayer and sabbath. It has encouraged me to go a little further. In my own ways of walking, it’s a new step.
We live in the Information Age. That means we can drown ourselves in information about anything anytime we would like. We could go to the internet, google “sabbath,” and believe we have to read and learn all of that information before we can practice sabbath. In an attempt to quiet my mind, I am taking a different approach. I am shaping a sabbath using only one resource.
I don’t normally do this. I like a diversity of resources and teachers because no one person has all the answers. But sometimes, we drown in all the options. Sometimes we just need to start and we need to learn more as we go along.
I’m going to share with you my plan because it will help me be more consistent. Knowing that I’ve told you will challenge me to do it or have enough integrity to come tell you that I’m not. It is not here for you to copy, but hopefully it will spark some ideas for your own life.
Why Sabbath?
Peterson reminds his readers that there are two commands in Scripture for sabbath, one in Exodus and one in Deuteronomy, and different reasons are given for the two commands. He writes, “The two biblical reasons for sabbath-keeping develop into parallel sabbath actives of praying and playing. The Exodus reason directs us to the contemplation of God, which becomes prayer. The Deuteronomy reasons directs us to social leisure, which becomes play. Praying and playing are deeply congruent with each other and have extensive inner connections.”1
Praying and playing I can grab onto. It’s sticky. It’s easy to evaluate. Peterson says sabbath accomplishes four things.
1. “Uncluttered time and space to distance ourselves from the frenzy of our own activities so we can see what God has been and is doing. If we do not regularly quit work for one day a week we take ourselves far too seriously.”
2. “Quieting the internal noise so we hear the still small voice of our Lord.”
3. “Uncluttered time and space to detach ourselves from the people around us so that they have a chance to deal with God without our poking around and kibitzing.”2
4. “Separating ourselves from the people who are clinging to us, from the routines to which we are clinging for our identities, and offering them all up to God in praise.”3
How will I sabbath?
When: Friday at noon to Saturday at noon.
What: No work. That means no studying Hebrew, no answering emails (unless it’s the kids’ schools), no writing for this newsletter, no working for The Order of Junia. My aim is to have low-prep dinners, to swap the laundry before then if I can.
Instead: I want to spend time with my family. I want to go to bed early. I want to lay in bed for a few minutes in the mornings because my boys are old enough to watch a show while I do that. I want to practice gratitude. I want to sit alone and listen. I want to leave my phone in another room. I want to spend time with friends and enjoy the gift that those people are. I want to pick something that I love to do that isn’t productive at all and relish that. I want to prayerfully read a small portion of Scripture, dig in the garden, watch the sun set. I want to leave the podcasts off and instead sing loudly to fun music or enjoy the quiet.
Sure I’ll still go to soccer games until soccer ends. But I don’t coach. It’s not work. I get to cheer on my boys and sit with my family and sometimes friends too. Movement is a great part of sabbath. So is being outside.
One of the thing I’ve learned in seminary is that spiritual disciples aren’t practiced to gain God’s approval or be extra holy. Spiritual disciplines, such as sabbath, are practices where we learn to make room for God in our lives. I want to lay down my work and remember that it doesn’t depend on me. God’s got this.
You make a plan.
My plan may not make sense at all for your circumstances. If you live alone, you might want to schedule intentional times with other people. Maybe you want to start your morning running. Maybe you work through a collection of favorite movies, spend an hour in silence in the woods, memorize Scripture. This might look very different if you have small children. Be creative. Listen to the Spirit. Try something and then tweak it. Maybe make a set of categories that you fill in each week, something like: nature, people, food, and rest. Do it all while contemplating these gifts of God and how they reflect His character.
Let’s lay down our work and simply exist. Let’s remember what it means to be human and who made us. May we delight in the fellowship and love that we share with the Trinity.
Working the Angles, 75.
He continues “They need to be free from depending on us. They need to be free from our guidance that always tends toward manipulation.”
Working the Angles, 73.