Enjoying the Sabbath

I return to Sabbath by Dan Allender today. This was a great read this summer. More than anything it gave me new ideas about how to make celebrating the sabbath fun and refreshing for the whole family. Here's some review of chapter 7.

Summary
Chapter 7 focuses on abundance (previous chapters can be found below). There are a couple things around us that keep us from entering abundance.

1. Emptiness of an uncertain future.
2. Emptiness of an unrealized present.

Allender sees these as problems because, he says, “we are a nation that lives beyond its means, doesn’t provide for its future, and banks on its past to live excessively in the present.” True statement and why we live with uncertainty. We also feel like we are not living out the American dream, maybe we think we don’t even have the freedom to dream anything other than the American dream, so all that leads to an unrealized present. Together these two breed the trinity of envy, striving, slavery. This trinity leads us to, “envy them (those who have what we want), strive after our version of success, and slavery to the system that debases us.” Is there hope? Yes, the Sabbath can help free us from these.

This chapter is about abundance and abundance is about gratitude. God is sovereign and the giver of good gifts. Our good fortune is from Him. Are we grateful? Do we see the things we have been given as gifts from Him? One way Allender suggests that we can bring gratitude into our Sabbath is by writing or calling those who we have gratitude for and thanking them. Another idea to celebrate gratitude is to hear what your spouse or children have been reading in scripture the previous week. Ask them and allow them to share it with you. You can also show gratitude by preparing a meal as a family the night before the Sabbath and using the leftovers for your meals on that special day. The key is to be grateful for the gifts of food, friendship, and conversation. This chapter closes with Jesus’ words in Mark 2:27, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”

Thoughts
I don’t know about you, but I have so much to be thankful for. I’m thankful for:
- the world around me
- the trees
- the air
- the stars
- the sun
- animals
- the variety of life around me.
- my family
- my wife
- daughters
- mom and dad
- my wife’s family.

All of this is such a gift! I need to enter the Sabbath with this kind of gratitude. I have been given so much by God. I really liked the idea of writing/calling someone you are grateful for. I was thinking I could rally the entire family together on the Sabbath and we could make a special card for a family member or friend we want to show gratitude to. A great time together and a great way to reach out as a family in gratitude.

Previous Chapters
- Chapter 1
- Chapter 2
- Chapter 3
- Chapter 4
- Chapter 5
- Chapter 6

Sabbath Purpose (ch. 6)

I'm back. I know many of you have been waiting all summer for this. Some of you have even put your vacation plans on hold just to make sure you could be here for this. Thank you, ha!

It's been a fun summer for me. I've had a chance to sit down and really read and evaluate some good books and some not so good books. I hope to share some of those findings with you over the next few months. I'm starting, or picking back up, with a book I started reading last spring; Sabbath by Dan Allender.

Previous Chapters (summary and thoughts if you are interested)
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5

Summary
Chapter 6 begins the second part of the book which is on Sabbath purpose. What is the purpose of the Sabbath? Allender sees the Sabbath as a day of peace and reconciliation. On the Sabbath we are to be reconciled to our brothers and sisters. If we are at war with them we stop. No fighting. Nothing. We pretend all is well even if it is not. We, “celebrate the newness of life, created, redeemed, restored, and set free.” Later Allender asks, “How would you live if there were no wars, enmity, battle lines, or need to defend, explain, interpret, or influence another to see anything differently?” This is how we try and live on the Sabbath. We don’t push our enemies to the back of our mind, but we pray for them. We wonder what it would be like to be at peace with them. Prayer for our enemies is encouraged. Doing this allows us to practice eternity when wars will cease and peace will reign. To help us get there Allender suggests we need curiosity, coziness, and care.

Curiosity is to be seen as a gift of the Spirit and a great aid to help us practice eternity. We imagine what life would be like if Jesus was here on Earth ruling. We imagine what it would be like to be at peace with oneself and one’s enemies. Be open to where your curiosity takes you on the Sabbath. Let it run wild.

Another purpose of Sabbath is to get “cozy”. This is more than just rest and relaxation. This is giving our mind over to curiosity and allowing our imaginations to run wild. When is the last time you did that? When is the last time you imagined what lies at the farthest end of the galaxy? What is the realm of angels and demons like? On the Sabbath allow your mind a chance to explore these things.

Another thing we need to help us practice eternity is care. We need to give and receive care on the Sabbath because there is a promise of peace. True care is really paying attention to your spouse or kids to see what their real needs are. We notice things about others and try our best to show them love.


Thoughts
I like the idea of thinking about what life would be like if God’s peace reigned. What would life be like if I was at peace with my worst enemy? To me this chapter revealed the important role imagination plays on the Sabbath. How good of an imagination do you have? Logic takes a back seat to imagination when we think of Jesus’ return and what life will be like when He renews the Earth and makes all things new. Try thinking about that logically and you don’t get very far. Some practical ideas sprouted in my mind as I read this chapter for celebrating the Sabbath to really practice eternity:
- Going to the library before the Sabbath arrives and getting books or magazines on subjects I wouldn’t normally stop and read about (e.g., space, dinosaurs, scuba diving, and woodworking) and perusing the pages with my kids. We would see new things and visit new worlds in the coziness of our home.
- For care, we could go as a family to a nursing home and spend the day with someone. We could eat together, sing together, and just enjoy each other’s company. A simple way to put caring for others into practice.

How about you, any ideas on how you would practice eternity on the Sabbath?

Play Day

Chapter 5 (titled Play Day) was a fun chapter in the book Sabbath by Dan Allender. If you missed chapters 1-4 see links below. Here are some of the highlights straight from Dan:

- Sabbath is a play day. A day to celebrate the superabundance of God’s creative love and glory.

- Sabbath redefines how we work, why we work, and how we create freedom through our work.

- There should be more risk and danger on the Sabbath than any other day.

- To see the day as a day of play we must give ourselves to something or someone totally. This can be seen as both a pledge and a betrayal. We are pledging ourselves to God and rest while betraying our commitment to work.

- To get more out of the Sabbath we must learn to desire more. We get of God what we desire. How much of Him do you desire? The more we desire, the better the journey.

- Sabbath doesn’t deny death, it seeks to celebrate life.

Short and sweet. Good stuff here.

Previous Posts

- Chapter 1

- Chapter 2

- Chapter 3

- Chapter 4

Sabbath in beauty, sensuality, and feasting

A lot going on in life right now. It seems I've had a real taste of what it means to be a pastor these last few weeks. A wedding, several funerals and hospital runs have kept me moving. I now return to a book I'm slowly working my way through. Here are the previous posts from the previous chapters if you need to catch up.

Previous Posts
- Chapter 1
- Chapter 2
- Chapter 3

Chapter 4 looks at Sabbath as a day to enjoy communion with God, others, and creation. It’s a day where we live out Psalm 34:8. Dan wants the Sabbath to push us towards nature and the examining of God’s creation in such a way as to take our breath away. To really understand this Dan explores a theology of beauty, sensuality, and feasting.

Beauty – True beauty, according to Dan, reflects the unity and diversity of the Trinity. Three distinct persons, but one God. Something different, but something uniting in each. There is an ultimate form of beauty that helps us understand what true beauty is; Jesus Christ. The incarnation is a beautiful thing! Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and ascension are to be marveled at. To really appreciate the beauty of God becoming man, along with God’s creation, we must approach with awe. Awe as a sense that this is something very special. This is a gift I’ve been given. All this wonder and awe over something so beautiful should lead us to desire God more. Sabbath is a good place to seek beauty, which in turn could/should lead us to seeking God.

Sensuality – Dan contends the Sabbath should be the most sensual day of the week. What does he mean? All our senses should be aroused. The Sabbath should be a celebration of smell, touch, hearing, seeing, and tasting. We might be a little suspicious about such talk. After all if it feels good it’s gotta be sin, right? We can’t trust our bodies because they are sinful. If we suppress our senses by not letting them enjoy Sabbath, and consider them unspiritual, and pay no attention to them, we end up neglecting our whole self. If we do that we lose something of our true selves and what it means to be human. Didn’t Jesus tell us to love God with all heart, soul, mind, and strength (our physical bodies where our senses are)? The Spirit living in us is there to redeem our physical bodies too (which includes our senses), so why not open them up to the best and give them a Sabbath to enjoy?

Feasting – Our meal times during the Sabbath can remind us of the great wedding feast coming when Christ returns. We will sit at a table with Him and our fellow brothers and sisters and share a meal together. Our times around the table on the Sabbath can foreshadow this if we let them. This doesn’t necessarily mean we have to sit around and talk about Jesus’ return or communion, but that we sit around and enjoy each other’s company. We talk. We tell stories. We listen. We laugh. We cry. We take great joy in just being gathered together. This is feasting on the Sabbath.

Reflection
This book has me excited about finding ways to really enjoy and celebrate a Sabbath day. I have all kinds of ideas churning in my head. The hardest part is implementing them. It always is when you try and put anything in scripture into practice. This is why Sabbath is considered one of the spiritual disciplines. It takes work to make it work.

- Anything special your family does for your Sabbath day?
- Any special meals you eat?

Sabbath (pt 3)

Chapter 3 of Sabbath by Dan Allender investigates the issue of time and how it can be made holy. One important note brought out in this chapter is that Sabbath was given before the Fall and as a commandment to the Israelites. God takes Sabbath seriously. Why? One marvelous quote at the beginning of this chapter answers, “Sabbath is not merely an event that happens in time; it redefines the nature of time and how we are to live it.” To me that sums up why Sabbath is so important. It leads to a proper perspective on time.

To really get at what it means to practice this Sabbath keeping in a God-honoring way we must first look at what we believe about time. What are our preconceived notions about time? What does America think about time? Allender shares some stats here that aren’t too surprising when you consider how prideful we are about work in this country.
§ 1 out of 3 is chronically overworked.
§ More than half of white collar workers log more than 40 hours a week.
§ 75% of these white collar workers work on the weekends.
§ 37% of Americans take fewer than 7 days off per year.
§ Only 14% take vacation of two week or longer.
§ Americans take shortest paid vacations in the world.
§ 20% of those who do take vacations report to stay in touch with the office.

Are these stats due to faulty thinking of time? Most people think they need more time, can make more time, can steal time, and spend and use time. This chapter points out that time is actually beyond our reach and control. Sure we have watches and alarm clocks, but they don’t really control time, they just control us. Time is, “to be breathed like air.” A proper way to think of time is to look at it as a gift and to honor it. Then we can enter the Sabbath and see it as, “the day that bridges two great events in time; creation by God and the re-creation of the new heavens and earth by God.” Sabbath is a day to play. To have fun. To see something beautiful happening around you and just sit back in your recliner and watch it.

Entering into Sabbath requires three things: receiving the day, intending the day, and protecting the day. When we receive the day we prepare and anticipate her arrival. We are excited about what is to come. Intending the day means we do all the necessary preparations for our activities so we don’t have to work on the Sabbath. If we are going to eat stew we buy the ingredients the day before and put it in the crock pot to cook so we don’t have to do anything. Protecting the day means we do whatever we can to keep the day set apart as special. If we have to turn off our cell phones we turn them off. If we avoid TV we avoid TV. The point is to have a plan to make this day truly unique and different from the other six days of the week.

Any thoughts?

Sabbath (pt 2)

Chapter 2, titled Sensual Glory, explores the connections between this holy day and sensuality. Delighting in God’s creation involves all our senses and it must be preceded by awe and gratitude. Allender points out that God’s creation is truly the work of an artist. Good art requires us to sit back and take it in. To appreciate what is before us.

I was just in the Smoky Mountains staying in a cabin with a beautiful view of the mountains. It was delightful and inspiring to look out from the back porch of our cabin each day and give thanks for the masterpiece that was before me. It was fun to just stand and stare. We are encouraged at the end of this chapter to surround ourselves on the Sabbath (whichever day that is for us) with beauty. We are to plunge our senses into magnificent colors, fine textures, great smelling fragrances, soothing sounds, and good tastes. This is enjoying and delighting on the Sabbath.

So, what do you think?

Sabbath

One of the books on my Shelfari I’ve been working my way through is Sabbath by Dan Allender (part of the Ancient Practices Series by Thomas Nelson Publishers). I picked this book up for next to nothing on vacation last week in TN. I'm glad I found it. This series focuses on learning and applying seven spiritual disciplines. This particular book is on the discipline of Sabbath.

Chapter 1 (Highlights)
Here are some thoughts and reflection from the first chapter.

Chapter 1 examines why we don’t Sabbath. So, why don’t we? For one, we live in a culture that takes great pride in work. Those who work hardest are most respected. We are proud to work 14-16 hours a day. Pride is actually what leads to this unhealthy work ethic. Even more dangerous is that this newly-developed pride can lead us to start thinking we can control time and do what others cannot or have failed to do. This thinking keeps us going and going and going. Dan Allender’s main reason for why people don’t practice Sabbath is that they struggle to believe that God wants them to have a day where they just sit around and bask in the pure delight, wonder, and joy that is all around them. This seems like a waste of time to most people.

Another aspect touched upon in chapter 1 is defining what Sabbath is. Sabbath is more than rest because we are tired because God rested on the seventh day and He doesn’t get tired. Good point. Something I never really took into consideration when reading that passage in Genesis. So, if it’s not just rest because we are tire, what is it? Allender believes on the seventh day, “God celebrated and delighted in his creation.” A good illustration of what this rest is like is given in the paragraph that follows. Allender uses pregnancy and the time after the birth to describe what God’s rest on the seventh day was like. First mom and dad wait patiently while the baby is being formed in mom. Then, one day the baby is born and becomes a separate and distinct thing. It’s a new life. We can see her. We can touch her. Now mom and dad begin bonding with this new life they have created and a fellowship begins among them that could last for eternity. Maybe God’s rest on the seventh day is like this. It’s the point in time where He begins building the relationship with His creation and enjoying His work. It had to be beautiful (still is, but sin has tainted things from what they used to be). He sees what has only been an idea in His head take shape and form and become reality.

Reflection
Some questions I’m thinking about are:
- How hard is it for me to break and Sabbath from work?
- How do I define Sabbath?
- How do you define Sabbath?
- How do I celebrate Sabbath?
- Is there anything I can improve upon with this discipline?

- How do you celebrate Sabbath? Do you?