“How are you?”
“Pretty good. Just tired.”
If we only had a nickel for every time we responded this way or heard this from our loved ones. A few years back, Ryan (my husband) and I had gotten to a point where we were complaining of being tired constantly. We were both working full time jobs, leading a small group, trying to stay connected to our people, starting grad school, etc. These good things that God had given us had become a chore. Exhausted, we looked at each other and knew something HAD to change.
We crawled to the aide of one of our college mentors for help.
“How are you resting? Are you practicing Sabbath?”
I’m sorry, what? Didn’t you just hear how busy we are? We can’t add rest into that. Give up a whole day?! I thought that was an Old Testament thing. Aren’t we free from the law?
Our mentor urged us to investigate a few different resources on the Sabbath. We dove headfirst (and dragged our small group along) into the practice of Sabbath. We have been forever changed by what the Lord has done in our lives through this practice. Since that weary season, we have accumulated quite a few resources on Sabbath/Joy/Rest.
We have had many life changes since starting our Sabbath practice. Our young kids tend to throw a wrench in having a “quiet and peaceful” Sabbath. Moving to the other side of the world no longer allows us to practice Sabbath with our beloved CRBC friends. We are constantly dropping the ball and having to restructure our day of rest. When we start to feel the chaos of our world taking over our hearts and minds, we remember the Sabbath. We remember the gift that God has given us in rest. We go back to the basics and we take baby steps back into His rest. We repeat our Sabbath mantra that we picked up from a BEMA podcast:
“We rest. We play. No work. God loves us.”
The most life-changing Sabbath resource for us was from Practicing the Way, a collection of resources that is headed up by John Mark Comer and is filled with great information as well as practical guidelines that will guide you step by step on how to practice the Sabbath within community. It is free to sign up and is a perfect 4-part series to go through with your small group, connection class, or a few close friends.
The rest of this blog post is a brief overview of this 4 session series from the Practicing the Way, Sabbath Companion Guide:
Sabbath (The Lord’s Day) is a 24-hour period in which we stop all work and set aside the day to rest, delight, and worship. The Sabbath is not simply a day-off. It’s a God-ward day of joy, not a self-centered day of pleasure. The end goal is to spend as much of the Sabbath as you possibly can in conscious communion with God. Just receiving His love for you and giving back your love for Him.
Stop: The word sabbath is derived from the Hebrew verb “shabbat”, which means to stop, or cease, or be done. In the Genesis story, the Creator God himself rested on the seventh day, and in doing so he built a rhythm into the fabric of creation. We work for six days but on the seventh day, we stop.
Rest: The idea of rest seems wonderful, but it is a radical, countercultural act of resistance to the powers and principalities of a world at war with God and his kingdom of peace.
In Deuteronomy 5:12-14, God was urging Israel to remember the Sabbath to recall they are no longer slaves to Pharaoh but have God’s provision. He also urged them to keep the Sabbath to not become little pharaohs to those who work for them. You will feel resistance – external resistance from the culture and internal resistance from your own restlessness (greed, envy, discontentment, etc.). Sabbath is the war against both resistive forces. It is a time to receive the gift of rest from the Lord and gift rest to those for whom we are responsible.
Delight: The Sabbath is designed by God as a day to give yourself fully to delight in God’s world, your life in it, and ultimately in God himself. Sorrow is inevitable in this life, but joy is not. Joy is a gift that is given by Jesus that we must cultivate. Sabbath is a discipline of celebration and a delivery mechanism of joy.
Worship: The final and most important movement in Sabbath. In Genesis 2: 2-3, God doesn’t make a holy place, he makes a holy day. Sabbath is so much more than a day to go to church, take a nap, and relax (it is those things, but it’s more). It’s a day to worship – to reorient your entire life back to its center in God. We all worship something. We will become more and more like what/who we worship. Let us draw near to the Creator and worship the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. By keeping the Sabbath, you give yourself time and space to worship the one, true God creatively and holistically.
“May the God of rest fill you with his peace and presence as you rest in him.”
Resources:
The Sabbath Practice — Practicing the Way
Sabbath (The Ancient Practices Series) by Dan B. Allender | Goodreads
1: Trust the Story | BEMA Podcast Notes (bema-podcast-notes.github.io)
The BEMA Podcast 355: Sabbath Practice — Discipline (bemadiscipleship.com)
The Other Half of Church | Christian Books (moodypublishers.com)
No 6: The Examen (full liturgy) by A New Liturgy (soundcloud.com)
I Will Give You Rest: An Invitation to Sabbath by She Reads Truth | Goodreads
Meet the Author!
Hailey Melton is a mom of twin girls and wife to Ryan. Hailey loves open conversations over coffee, quality time with her people, and international travel.