Keeping the Sabbath is really a gift to us <3
Oh boy…I have been wordy this week.
You all need a break from so many words.
So today is short and sweet…I hope.
As I have pondered “Sabbath rest” I keep coming back to two passages.
Heaven and Earth were finished, down to the last detail. By the seventh day God had finished his work. On the seventh day he rested from all his work. God blessed the seventh day. He made it a Holy Day because on that day he rested from his work, all the creating God had done.
Genesis 2: 1-4 The Message
God spoke to Moses: “Tell the Israelites, ‘Above all, keep my Sabbaths, the sign between me and you, generation after generation, to keep the knowledge alive that I am the God who makes you holy. Keep the Sabbath; it’s holy to you.’
Exodus 31: 12-13 The Message
One of the ways I have kept the Sabbath holy my whole life, thanks to my parents making sure I was taken from birth and my adult family with Russ following suit, is to attend church on Sunday morning just about every week.
We have missed on vacations or due to illness, but because it is instilled deep within us, we still mark it as the Sabbath in some tangible way.
And it is indeed in the passages above that I find why it has been a life rhythm that I keep, not by law but because of grace.
He is the God who is Holy and I find connecting with the flawed body of Christ in a place of corporate worship where we can agree together that we need Him to make us holy to be as necessary to my life as the meals I eat and the sleep I get and all the other parts that make living possible.
If we learned anything from Covid, I know for me it was how important it is to gather together with a community of believers to worship, fellowship and receive sound teaching.
We watched for many weeks online services, and while I am thankful we had the technology to gather and while I know God meets us when we are all alone…it was impacting to me to never again take for granted sitting and standing and singing and learning with others.
Whether we were masked and sitting in taped off sections or now as we sit at our tables in the annex sanctuary…we are together and each week it means more to me than words can express.
I know that not having “church” for so many months helped me truly appreciate what a gift God gave us when He called us to keep the Sabbath holy.
He did it for us.
He knew we needed it.
I cannot help but echo the words of the Israelites when they were able to return to their place of worship…
It seemed like a dream, too good to be true, when GOD returned Zion’s exiles. We laughed, we sang, we couldn’t believe our good fortune.
Psalm 126: 1-2 The Message