Last night I was on a zoom meeting with colleagues when the governor of CA issued a stay-at-home order. After a brief call to my senior pastor to process how this information affects our work, I decided not to upload my post for yesterday because the last thing I needed before trying to sleep was everyone’s misinformed panic over the order. That post will go up on Sunday.
I bring this up because the Sabbath begins at sundown tonight, and it matters more than ever. The Hebrew word for Sabbath, shabbat, literally means “to cease.” Just like I forced myself to cease exposing myself to the panic over the governor’s order, all of us need the ability to press pause for a day to give our minds, hearts, and bodies a break. One of the most frustrating things to read on Facebook when the SDA churches in my area decided to suspend face-to-face services was the statement that we were keeping people from honoring the Sabbath. This revealed to me that as pastors, we have done a very poor job of explaining the Sabbath in the past or even bent what the Bible says about it to suit our own traditions and purposes. Of course, I shouldn’t be too hard on my fellow pastors; people are good at not paying attention to the plain meaning of the Bible just looking at it on their own. So, here’s a quick review of what the Sabbath commandment, as written in stone on Mt. Sinai, actually says: “Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the LORD your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. For in six days the LORD made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.” (Exodus 20:8-11, NLT.) The actual commandment does not require face-to-face gatherings. They sprung up as a custom, first in Judaism and then in Christianity because a rest day from secular work is a convenient time to have them and because seeing the people we love does good for the soul. On the other hand, the commandment does require that we remember the Sabbath and set aside the things we work at the rest of the week. Intricate discussions in both Judaism and Sabbath-keeping Christianity revolve around what constitutes “work,” but the general principle is that the Sabbath should be different from the rest of the week. It should not pass by without notice. Remembering to observe the Sabbath is about more than going to church; it’s about shelving the persistent worries of the rest of the week to remember that there is a God in Heaven who is more powerful than those concerns. It’s about trusting that when the sun goes down on Saturday night, the world will still be there even if you are not personally trying to hold it together. It’s about taking a day to think about God’s goodness, to admire the intricacy of His creation, and to reconnect with Him after not having as much time to devote to doing so the rest of the week. Every Friday between now and the end of this stay-at-home order, I’ll be writing about ways to enjoy the Sabbath at home, but foundationally, it’s about rest and remembering God. We miss our comforting rituals, but I do believe that God intentionally left them out of the Sabbath commandment so that no matter what happens, we can take the Sabbath with us. May your family enjoy a blessing this Sabbath day, no matter what is happening outside.
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AuthorJillian Lutes is the youth pastor at West Covina Hills Seventh-day Adventist Church. Archives
May 2020
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