Rachel Sanders - October 17, 2021
Sabbath
STREAM IN THE DESERT Sabbath 10.17.21 Weekly Liturgy: Good Father, We confess we are burdened, weary, and dry. We have searched for life in the systems of death. We carry weights we were not created to carry. We run further into the desert. We are thirsty. Today, we step into your invitation to rest. We join the flowers and birds who do not worry or toil. We choose to live from your overflowing well of grace. We seek first your kingdom. As we draw near to you, would you draw near to us? As we step out of what is comfortable, will you meet us? Would you meet us in our community? Would you meet us in the spaces created for you? Jesus, wellspring of life, Overflow into our dry and weary souls. Saturate us with your peace and presence, As we plant ourselves by the streams of living water. As we seek to be formed into the image of Jesus, we commit to obedience in these two areas: Finding a discipling relationship and/or community Implementing an intentional plan for spiritual formation "Hurry is not just a disordered schedule. Hurry is a disordered heart." Jon Ortberg The word Sabbath comes to us from the Hebrew Shabbat. The word literally means “to stop” or "to cease" Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. Genesis 2:1-3 2 things we can note from the creation story when it comes to the seventh day or Sabbath... God blessed the seventh day and made it holy. "One of the most distinguished words in the Bible is the word qadosh, holy; a word which more than any other is representative of the mystery and majesty of the divine. Now what was the first holy object in the history of the world? Was it a mountain? Was it an altar? It is, indeed a unique occasion at which the distinguished word qadosh is used for the first time. How extremely significant is the fact that it is applied to time. God blessed the seventh day and made it holy. The mythical mind would expect that, after heaven and earth have been established, God would create a holy place - a holy mountain or holy spring- whereupon a sanctuary is to be established. Yet it seems as if to the Bible it is holiness in time, the Sabbath, which comes first. “ Abraham Joshua Heschel "The Sabbath has largely been forgotten by the church which has uncritically mimicked the rhythms of the industrial and success-obsessed West. The result? Our road-weary, exhausted churches have largely failed to integrate Sabbath into their lives as vital elements of Christian discipleship. It is not as though we do not love God - we love God deeply. We just do not know how to sit with God anymore. We have become perhaps the most emotionally exhausted, psychologically overworked, spiritually malnourished people in history." AJ Swoboda Command One: Sabbath as rest "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. " Exodus 20:8-10 "For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. " Exodus 20:11 Command Two: Sabbath as resistance "Yahweh is a Sabbath-keeping God, which ensures that restfulness and not restlessness is at the center of life. Yahweh is a Sabbath-giving God and a Sabbath-commanding God. Israel, for this reason, is always again to re-choose between life and death, between Yahweh and the gods of your ancestors, between Yahweh and Baal, between the way of the Torah and the way of sinners. Sabbath becomes a decisive, concrete, visible way of opting for and aligning with the God of rest." Walter Brueggermann "The sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. " Mark 2:27 “People who keep sabbath live all seven days differently” Walter Brueggermann 1. Plan 2. Prepare 3. Prioritize