Practical Strategies For Honoring The Sabbath by Nancy Sleeth
August 15, 2008
This post originally appeared in Creation Care Magazine.
Sabbath observance invites us to stop. It invites us to rest. It asks us to notice that while we rest the world continues without our help. It invites us to delight in the world’s beauty and abundance. - Wendell Berry, Foreword to Living the Sabbath by Norman Wirzba
How can you be more intentional about your Sabbath rest? Jesus says that it’s the spirit of the law, not the letter, that matters. Your Sabbath traditions can be negative—no shopping,no Internet cruising or emailing, no eating out. Or, they can be positive—reading a family book out loud, playing board games, going on a prayer walk.
Adapt a few of the suggestions below to create your own Sabbath rituals. Our family cleans the house together the day before the Sabbath. We’ve been doing this for years; it takes about 40 minutes for us to clear up clutter, dust, vacuum, scrub bathrooms, wash floors, and deep clean the kitchen. The reward is a relaxed home, with (almost!) everything in its place To step fully into Sabbath time, take off your watch. Leave it in a drawer from sundown to sundown. Notice how many times you automatically look at your wrist to check the time; instead, use that glance as a prompt to thank God for the gift of rest, so necessary for the renewal of life.
We not only need to cease working; we need to cease worrying about not working. Try putting away anything that reminds you of work. Shut down the computer. Don’t answer email. Place your wallet, palm pilot, and unpaid bills in a drawer. Close the door to your home office. Reminders of chores left undone, calls that need to be returned, and long to-do lists will interfere with the full rest that God wants us to enjoy.
One of our favorite Sabbath rituals is to take a Sabbath walk. Observe and investigate. Enjoy watching the caterpillar nibble a leaf, marvel at the new buds that are forming, watch a gathering of birds peck for food in the ground. When you pass neighbors or acquaintances, stop and talk. Enjoy a special stroll with a child or grandchild. Because they are closer to the ground (and closer to God’s sense of time), you are guaranteed to see things through their eyes that you normally would pass right by. There is no lack of wonder in the world, only a lack of wonderment.
Demonstrate your love of Creation by bringing a trash bag on your walk. If you have kids, ask one to carry a bag for plastics, one for cans, and one for glass that you will later recycle. Is this “work?” In large part, that depends on the spirit behind the act. If you are healing the land, just as Jesus healed the withered hand, you’re probably walking on safe ground.
Another Sabbath discipline is to spend at least ten minutes completely surrounded by nature. Some of our most memorable times as a couple have been in silence: sitting on a sunny south facing slope in winter, leaning against a tree at the edge of a cool forest in summer, watching streams flow by any time of year. Make sure you can see nothing manmade—even if you have to restrict your vision to one square foot of grass. Study the “other book” referred to by Paul in Romans 1:20, the book of God’s creation, and see what it reveals to you about the nature of our Lord.
Our lives are filled with noise. Give at least one noisy appliance or device— the dishwasher, your washing machine or dryer, the TV, your telephone—a day of rest, and listen to the quiet.
Go one step farther: unplug EVERYTHING electronic except the refrigerator. Sound radical? Jesus didn’t use text messaging or PowerPoint—and his ministry was pretty successful.
Consider including an hour of silence in your Sabbath day. If you have young children, make each child a Sabbath box that is only brought out once a week, filled with watercolors, new books from the library, a journal, and other ageappropriate treats.
After church, we have a ritual of Bible study by osmosis. We get into comfortable clothes, open the Bible, read a few passages, then take a nap. In our busy lives, a nap feels like a luxurious indulgence, costs nothing, uses no energy, and charges us up for the week ahead.
Say a Sabbath prayer, such as Psalm 92 (called A Psalm for the Sabbath Day), or a meditation such as this:
Dear Heavenly Father, still my mind, my body, and my soul. Teach me to come to rest and behold the wonder of your creation. Remind me that the Sabbath way of life is not one of endless toil, but a holy cycle of work and rest, fellowship and solitude, laughter and silence. Teach me, glorious Creator, to pattern the rhythms of my life on yours, to remember my deliverance from bondage, and to accept the sacred gifts of peace and balance.
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Accidently found this website by goggling “how to grow a mango tree from a seed”. Oh, what a refreshing article this is! Most of all, I am so grateful to see our Lord honored. We love our Sabbath rests and sometimes have to work on “don’t worry about not working”. I too love Wendell Berry’s writing. Thank you.
p.s. Woke up this morning with family worries on my mind. The words to this old hymn came to me and gave great peace: “All to Jesus I surrender, all to Him I freely give. I will always love and trust Him, in His presence daily live…..I surrender all …..All to thee , my blessed Savior, I surrender ALL”