Psalm 34:8

Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.

If Sabbath is such a beautiful gift, why does it feel so difficult? Why do so many of us struggle to rest?

Sabbath is not about asking, “What am I forbidden to do?”

It’s about asking, “What helps me notice God?”

As a beekeeper, one of my favorite things to do in the spring is stand near my hives and watch the activity.

My bees are remarkable and I feel such pride witnessing the constant flurry of movement.  Gathering, building, tending, working. Bees work continually, almost without pause. In fact, they quite literally work themselves to death.

That is how God designed them. But that is not how God designed us.

God never intended His Word to be something we rush through. He invites us to slow down enough to truly taste.

This is one of the reasons Sabbath matters so deeply.

A few weeks ago I had the privilege of sitting with a number of former students currently involved in congregational ministry, as well as a number of fellow ministers from the churches that are in close proximity to my own. The purpose of the gathering was just that – to gather, and to talk, and reflect together on the journey of ministry and the journey that is our respective lives.

The primary way in which Christians celebrate the Lord’s Day is by participating in the worship with their church community. Could we be missing out on the multiple benefits of the Lord's Day in ways beyond attending church? How can we keep holy the Sabbath Day more fully in our busy lives?

On the drive home from our Thanksgiving celebrations, I tuned in to some Christmas music on the radio. That quickly sparked a spirited discussion on everyone’s favorite Christmas song.

Advent is always a busy time in the life of the church. The good news is that I am a planner, so I do not have to worry about sermons, text, title, or liturgy this time of year because I usually take care of such details in the summer. It is the other stuff, the busy stuff, that worries me, afraid that I will forget something thus allowing it to fall through the cracks and ruin Christmas for everyone in the church.

What is your favorite time of year? For me, it is Autumn. We take a vacation every Fall to the Adirondacks to see the colors. The crispness of the air is invigorating after an oppressively hot summer.

“Remember the Sabbath” can sound old-fashioned and irrelevant today. But we forget, that “remember” means to bring back into reality as a correction and challenge to the present. Rob Muthiah (Professor at Azusa Pacific Seminary in Southern California) brings this point home in powerful ways.

A couple of weeks ago, I was working myself through the Gospel of Mark. I have always told my congregation that Mark is a man of few words. He tells the story of Jesus as he sees it, weeding out any fluff and sticking to the facts that he finds essential to proclaim the Good News.

Occasionally we go through periods of life when Sabbath looks differently than it did in the past. Recently, I’ve struggled to figure out how to spend my Sabbath time in a way that respects God’s and His gift of rest, as well as the realities of my life.

Norman Wirzba’s book is groundbreaking and substantive. Many such books focus on the Biblical roots of the Sabbath, Sunday practice, or spirituality. Wirzba incorporates a bit of all three into a strong ethical approach to Sabbath as a way of life—for individuals, families, and communities of faith.

A Biblical example of the importance of rest to ones’ mental health

His opponents thought he never slept. Dr. Wilbur Crafts, one of the founders and early field secretaries of the Lord’s Day Alliance, lectured six days a week, travelled to over 29 countries, wrote a book a year, and spoke before dozens of legislative bodies.

The global Pandemic has given many families a chance to slow down, take stock of what is important, recognize the fragility of life and to ask how they want life to look different going forward. By the grace of God, we have a ready-made way to extend this “pause”: Sunday, the Lord’s Day.

In a few days many of us will celebrate Independence Day through an ordered time of rest, parties, fireworks, and other festivities. It seems that our culture has remembered something that Christians have forgotten: the importance of celebration.