The practice of Sabbath is one of the great gifts God gave us. A period of unhurried time to slow down for rest and renewal. It reminds us of our finiteness and our freedom. It helps us to slow down. It brings healing to the fatigue of body, mind, and soul.
Rich Villodas, in his book, The Deeply Formed Life, sets forth several reminders about keeping the Sabbath. They are:
- Sabbath is not a reward earned for hard work.
- Sabbath is a reminder that our work remains incomplete
- Sabbath is a day that moves us from production to presence.
- Sabbath points us to the deeper rest we need.
The second of those struck me. I love to make to do lists. The joy of sitting down at the beginning of the month and setting down on paper all of the meetings, appointments, chores, and assignments I need to complete is immense. It is only surpassed by the feeling of accomplishment to mark a task as done or complete. But the reality is that most months I don’t cross out every item and at the turn of the page to a new month, I find that I now have new items to do along with the carryover from the previous month.
Here is what Rich says about how Sabbath speaks to this. He writes,
One of the most painful realities of Sabbath keeping is that some of our work will remain incomplete. We often tell ourselves, When I finish everything, then I will rest. But when does it end? There’s always more work to be done. Consequently, the pressure and anxiety we feel about the incomplete work is one of the biggest obstacles to keeping Sabbath. I know this firsthand.
Often on Friday evenings as our family Sabbath is about to begin, I’ll remember something I forgot to do - maybe an email I forgot to send or a phone call I forgot to make - and I’ll be tempted to keep working until I get the task done, even though I know there’s always another thing to do. One of my favorite metaphors in this regard for Sabbath keeping is from the Food Network.
On the network’s cooking-competition shows, all chefs have a certain amount of time to prepare their meals. As the time comes to an end, no matter where they are in the process, once the buzzer sounds, the chefs have to put their hands in the air. They can’t add a twig of parsley, reposition the caramelized brussel sprouts, sprinkle a little powdered sugar - nothing. They must step away from the plate. In the same way, when Sabbath begins, we’d do well to raise our hands and step away from our devices, the office, or wherever and by whatever means we are working.
In the practice of Sabbath keeping, we live out the truth that one day we will leave all things unfinished as we rest in the arms of Jesus.
