Cathedral in Time - Exploring the Pillars and Practices of Sabbath Rest
First of all, I have to give credit where credit is due. I adore the "cathedral in time" phrase to describe the Sabbath, as it highlights how the sabbath is to time what our tithing and giving is to space / material possessions etc. I wish I'd come up with it on my own, but it comes from Abraham Joshua Heschel, and also from The Bible Project Podcast.
A little housekeeping here, like most of my posts, this is a space for me to reflect on and explore my thoughts and experiences with various topics of spiritual and personal growth NOT to give an "official" or measured opinion or stance on a thing. I'm not nearly proud enough to think I'm qualified to give a cohesive / perfect understanding of an issue, much less one as complex as Sabbath. So, please don't get all up in arms when I say something "incorrect" or foolish. I fully expect to do so, and in so doing I'm learning and growing and hopefully becoming more like Christ.
Ok, here we go.
Lent is coming up this next week. I've been utilizing Lent as a time for re-focusing and re-orienting myself spiritually in anticipation of Easter for the last several years now, and I've gone back and forth on the practice of explicitly giving up things. Sometimes, I see it as infinitely helpful, and other times I see it as arbitrary. However, in all my experiences thus far I realize it can be an opportunity for me to seek the Lord in what He might have for me in the realm of heart-work and soul-searching. In other words, how might He be calling me to change, from the inside out, by using outside means (i.e., giving up things). This year, I've been convicted about my use of time, and feel that Lent will give me a good opportunity to re-orient and re-surrender my use of time to the Lord.
Mainly, I've noticed that I'm filling up my calendar with things. Not bad things, actually, a lot of good things! But, things, nonetheless. And it's burning me out. I am not a limitless being. I can't do all the things (as much as I like to think I can, and as hard as I like to push myself to prove how "hard working" I am). I was reading in Isaiah a couple months ago and ran across a verse that slapped me across the face (ya know, in the kindest of ways, as God does) -
"Woe to those who add house to house
and join field to field
until there is no more room
and you alone are left in the land."
(Is. 5:8)
It appears to me this verse comes in the middle of a sort of judgment poem, where God is talking about how the sins and iniquities of Israel are going to result in its destruction, but what's striking to me about this is how the people of Israel continue to work hard to do the things they think will bring joy and life, in full expectation of "good fruit" (see verse 2) even though the result of their labor is bad fruit. Anyway, I'm convicted that most of what I do with my time is often in the same heart: I think what I'm doing is good, and I think adding MORE of it would surely result in more good fruit, right? Wrong. Sometimes, adding more and more and more only leads to the terror of isolation, loneliness, and ruin (or at the least, burnout and self-rightesouness).
Anyway, so I was convicted to use Lent to reintroduce a practice of Sabbath rest into my life. I took a class on the Sabbath way back in my college days, but since then haven't really revisited the idea as it relates to my life and my commitment to follow Jesus. Not sure what I'll find, but I want to document the journey (because I'm forgetful and it helps me to write things out). Anyone who is interested is welcome to practice the journey with me, although I don't claim to know the "perfect" or even the "right" way of doing this.
I'll ideally be posting some of the pillars of Sabbath rest I'm practicing / learning, but I don't exactly have a "map" of what my actual practice will look like. Supposedly, though, that's the point. You're not really supposed to have a "do this but don't do that" list of regulations. Instead, it's supposed to be out of the overflow of your heart, and in a spirit of tithing the day to God in both reliance on Him and joy in Him. Or at least, that's my current understanding!
So, with the 6 Sundays in Lent this year, I'm looking at exploring the following pillars (of my own making / summary) along with some relevant Scriptures that talk about Sabbath (which I pulled from the syllabus of my college class on Sabbath perspectives).
Pillars:
1. Worship - God is worthy of honor and glory
2. Trust - God is worthy of dependence and devotion
3. Humility - God will help in our weakness
4. Joy - God's gifts are worth receiving and enjoying
5. Gratitude - God's providence is worth naming and celebrating
6. Rest - God's invitation to the hurting and labored
Scriptures:
1. The roots of Sabbath – Creation (Gen 2:1-3); Redemption (Exod 16:21-30); and Covenant (Ten Commandments: Exod 20:8-11; Deut 5:12-15)
2. Israel’s detailed legislaton – Exod 23:10-12; Lev 23:26-32; 25:1-7, 8-55; Deut 25:1-11
3. Israel’s life and worship - Isa 1:10-15; 58:13-14; Ezek 20:8-26; Psalm 92
4. Jesus – Matt 11:25-12:14; Mark 2:23-3:6; Luke 4:16; 13:10-17; John 5:1-17 (see 7:22-23)
5. Church – Rom 14:5-6; Gal 4:10; Col 2:16-17; Heb 3:7-4:11
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A little housekeeping here, like most of my posts, this is a space for me to reflect on and explore my thoughts and experiences with various topics of spiritual and personal growth NOT to give an "official" or measured opinion or stance on a thing. I'm not nearly proud enough to think I'm qualified to give a cohesive / perfect understanding of an issue, much less one as complex as Sabbath. So, please don't get all up in arms when I say something "incorrect" or foolish. I fully expect to do so, and in so doing I'm learning and growing and hopefully becoming more like Christ.
Ok, here we go.
Lent is coming up this next week. I've been utilizing Lent as a time for re-focusing and re-orienting myself spiritually in anticipation of Easter for the last several years now, and I've gone back and forth on the practice of explicitly giving up things. Sometimes, I see it as infinitely helpful, and other times I see it as arbitrary. However, in all my experiences thus far I realize it can be an opportunity for me to seek the Lord in what He might have for me in the realm of heart-work and soul-searching. In other words, how might He be calling me to change, from the inside out, by using outside means (i.e., giving up things). This year, I've been convicted about my use of time, and feel that Lent will give me a good opportunity to re-orient and re-surrender my use of time to the Lord.
Mainly, I've noticed that I'm filling up my calendar with things. Not bad things, actually, a lot of good things! But, things, nonetheless. And it's burning me out. I am not a limitless being. I can't do all the things (as much as I like to think I can, and as hard as I like to push myself to prove how "hard working" I am). I was reading in Isaiah a couple months ago and ran across a verse that slapped me across the face (ya know, in the kindest of ways, as God does) -
"Woe to those who add house to house
and join field to field
until there is no more room
and you alone are left in the land."
(Is. 5:8)
It appears to me this verse comes in the middle of a sort of judgment poem, where God is talking about how the sins and iniquities of Israel are going to result in its destruction, but what's striking to me about this is how the people of Israel continue to work hard to do the things they think will bring joy and life, in full expectation of "good fruit" (see verse 2) even though the result of their labor is bad fruit. Anyway, I'm convicted that most of what I do with my time is often in the same heart: I think what I'm doing is good, and I think adding MORE of it would surely result in more good fruit, right? Wrong. Sometimes, adding more and more and more only leads to the terror of isolation, loneliness, and ruin (or at the least, burnout and self-rightesouness).
Anyway, so I was convicted to use Lent to reintroduce a practice of Sabbath rest into my life. I took a class on the Sabbath way back in my college days, but since then haven't really revisited the idea as it relates to my life and my commitment to follow Jesus. Not sure what I'll find, but I want to document the journey (because I'm forgetful and it helps me to write things out). Anyone who is interested is welcome to practice the journey with me, although I don't claim to know the "perfect" or even the "right" way of doing this.
I'll ideally be posting some of the pillars of Sabbath rest I'm practicing / learning, but I don't exactly have a "map" of what my actual practice will look like. Supposedly, though, that's the point. You're not really supposed to have a "do this but don't do that" list of regulations. Instead, it's supposed to be out of the overflow of your heart, and in a spirit of tithing the day to God in both reliance on Him and joy in Him. Or at least, that's my current understanding!
So, with the 6 Sundays in Lent this year, I'm looking at exploring the following pillars (of my own making / summary) along with some relevant Scriptures that talk about Sabbath (which I pulled from the syllabus of my college class on Sabbath perspectives).
Pillars:
1. Worship - God is worthy of honor and glory
2. Trust - God is worthy of dependence and devotion
3. Humility - God will help in our weakness
4. Joy - God's gifts are worth receiving and enjoying
5. Gratitude - God's providence is worth naming and celebrating
6. Rest - God's invitation to the hurting and labored
Scriptures:
1. The roots of Sabbath – Creation (Gen 2:1-3); Redemption (Exod 16:21-30); and Covenant (Ten Commandments: Exod 20:8-11; Deut 5:12-15)
2. Israel’s detailed legislaton – Exod 23:10-12; Lev 23:26-32; 25:1-7, 8-55; Deut 25:1-11
3. Israel’s life and worship - Isa 1:10-15; 58:13-14; Ezek 20:8-26; Psalm 92
4. Jesus – Matt 11:25-12:14; Mark 2:23-3:6; Luke 4:16; 13:10-17; John 5:1-17 (see 7:22-23)
5. Church – Rom 14:5-6; Gal 4:10; Col 2:16-17; Heb 3:7-4:11
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