Sabbath

Folks, I’ve been so invigorated and challenged by some of the reading I’ve been doing on the Sabbath. And I have two quotes to share… really just to get you thinking … pondering …. responding.

The first I shared on facebook, but in case you’re not on that, let me share again:

 "If you're concerned that by embracing regular Sabbath rest you're in danger of coming under harsh legalism, simply ask yourself how not observing Sabbath rest is going for you. It's not rest that threatens to oppress you, but your refusal to."(p48, The Art of Rest, Adam Mabry)

If you struggle with rest, have you ever thought that your refusal to rest might actually be crushing you…enslaving you, even.

And then the second quote is from Rabbi Joshua Heschel’s book, Sabbath. He writes: “If we want to enter the holiness of the Sabbath day, we must learn to understand that the world has already been created and will survive without the help of man. Six days a week we wrestle with the world, wringing profit from the earth; on the Sabbath we especially care for the seed of eternity planted in our soul.”

Now, I don’t want us to get hung up on the whole day thing….but more to focus on rest. We each need to work out what godly rest looks like for ourselves…how do we incorporate this kind of rest into our lives. And, and this is where Heschel’s quote is helpful, how do we include soul-care in that rest? 

How do you care for your soul? In the midst of scurrying around from one meeting to another; in the frenzy of thoughts that occupy your mind; in the onslaught of messages that we absorb from the world around us….how do you make time to care for your soul?

Worth thinking about.