The Pace of our lives can be exhausting, often leaving us feeling like we’re stuck on a hamster wheel of striving and chasing the next thing. This doesn’t leave much space in our life for wonder, worship, or joy. As image bearers of God, we were created in love and for love, and too often we’re moving through life at such a fast pace that we experience great hurdles in receiving the love of God and reflecting the love of God to those around us. God in His grace and love for us provided for us Sabbath Rest. Sabbath is a physical reminder of our deepest rest in Christ! If practicing the Sabbath is so important, why is it so challenging? John Mark Comer, Author of The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry says this about the Sabbath and its importance, “ The Sabbath is a day blessed by God and set aside for rest and worship. One of the most important practices of Jesus was finding rest and making time for Sabbath. The human condition is prone to restlessness and our digital age and consumerist culture only exacerbate the problem. We must model the restfulness of Jesus, which is more than just a day, but is a spirit we live by all week long.” Sabbath is a counter-culture way of resistance and renewal in a world full of endless hustle and progress. God the Father Models this in creation as He rests on the seventh day and enjoys His creation. From this rest, God’s created humanity was given work not as a burden but as a blessing. In the curse, the joy of work is often lost and worse becomes our God as rest becomes the burden! Gunner Gunderson says it like this, “When work becomes an idol, rest will feel like a sin.” Sabbath is God’s way of restoring the blessing of rest and blessing of work, redeeming both from their brokenness.
In the New Testament, nearly every interaction that Jesus has with the religious elites about Sabbath is one in which Jesus is healing an ailment, disease, or sickness. I think this is a beautiful picture of the heart of the Sabbath. Our stopping, resting, delighting, and contemplating the presence of Christ restores and renews our souls. We are slowly but surely being recreated to enjoy God and His creation as he intended before progress, efficiency, and effectiveness became the idols of our lives. During this month select and set aside a 24 hr period of time each week with the entire goal to rest. Intentionally set out to not accomplish anything other than being with God, His people, and enjoying Him and His creation. The first step is to stop, to cease from our doings. Each week, incorporate one of the three additional elements of the Sabbath listed below to your stopping! As you gather with your community, share your successes and your failures.
Remember, this is a journey and this is a practice, perfection isn’t the end goal, being with Jesus is. When you fail, try again! Move towards yourself with compassion and grace as Jesus moves towards you and be curious about what is happening in your soul that makes it so difficult to stop, rest, delight, and contemplate!
Slowing down and Practicing the SABBATH
Each week add something that incorporates these elements into your practice of Sabbath. For example, in week one practice stopping. In week two practice stopping and resting. In week three practice stopping, resting, and delighting. In week four practice stopping, resting, delighting, and contemplating. The practice of the Sabbath is less about getting it “right” and more about learning to receive the invitation God makes us to rest and learn from Him in our rest! If Sabbath becomes just another thing we do, we’ve missed the point!
Four Elements of Sabbath (Pete Scazzero, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality)
Stopping · “To stop” is built into the literal meaning of the Hebrew word for Sabbath. We have limits. God is on the throne running and ruling the world and we do not have to. We are called to let go and trust God.
Resting · Once we stop, we are called to rest from our work and our “doings”. Resting is about being, we are human beings, not human doings.
Delighting · We are invited to slow down so we can truly enjoy what we have been given. So much about life is in service of the accumulation of more. Delight is about the enjoyment of what we already have.
Contemplating · We seek to see the invisible in the visible––to recognize the hidden ways the miracle of life is around us in His gifts to us.
MONTHLY SCRIPTURE READING PLAN
This Scripture reading Plan works alongside the Embodied Presence Practice. It includes passages selected to coincide with the Practices of each month and the discussions you’ll be having within your Community Group.
Each week we’ll look at scriptures that speak about Sabbath, the elements of the Sabbath, and rest generally.
October 3rd - October 9th
October 10th - October 16th
October 17th - October 23rd
October 24th - October 30th
WEEKLY DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
The hope is not that you answer every single question every single week. Some weeks you discuss some of the Scripture references from the week of the practice together and other weeks you may simply discuss the journey as a whole and the ways God is working within the participants of your Community Group through this Embodied Presence Practice. Some weeks you may use the discussion questions to help guide your conversations as you gather with your Community Group each week. You do not have to use the questions exactly how they are given or in the order, they are given. Select some for your discussions as you see fit and need. GROUPS EXAMPLE LITURGY
October 3rd - October 9th
What are the biggest hurdles keeping you from slowing down?
What feelings may be connected to your inability to slow down, cease from your work, and be with God through practicing the Sabbath?
What might God be inviting you into through these feelings?
How does the pressure to prove yourself and your worth influence your practice of the Sabbath or lack thereof?
Does stopping for 24 hrs a week for intentional rest seem unimaginable to you? Why so?
October 10th - October 16th
How are you currently practicing rest?
Do you feel rested? Why or why not?
In what ways have you experienced our culture pushing back against a life of rest? In what ways have you observed yourself pushing back against a life of rest?
How does preparation or lack thereof enable you to rest or hinder you from rest?
How are you currently receiving Christ’s invitation in Matthew 11:28-30 (The Message)?
October 17th - October 23rd
What challenges are you experiencing in enjoying life and delighting in God’s creation? Why do you think/feel this is such a challenge for you?
What do you delight in? How are you making space in your life to enjoy this/these things? How could you make space in your life to do so?
In what ways does your current pace of life expose more honestly how you understand God’s delight in you and His desire to be with you because He enjoys you?
October 24th - October 30th
What about your life of contemplation is lifegiving and should be replicated? What about your life of contemplation would you like to be lifegiving and replicable?
What spiritual disciplines/practices help you connect with God?
Where do you feel closest to God? How might you include this place/these things in your Sabbath rhythms?
Will you continue practicing the Sabbath as a spiritual discipline? Why or why not? If so, how will you do so?