So, in our introductory series, we began to unpack the rhythm of Sabbath. Today, I want to dig a bit deeper and begin to consider what it might look like in practice to live a Sabbath rhythm. But before we get into some practical ideas for what our first steps might be, I think it would be helpful, first to have a closer look at what Sabbath actually is.

There are 3 key words that I keep in mind and have used to shape my understanding of Sabbath and help me consider what it looks like to celebrate it – Holy, Rest, Delight.

When we read the creation story in Genesis, we can see how the rhythm of Sabbath was built into the very fabric of creation – it is the crescendo of God’s beautiful master piece – the final thing He does and the first thing we, as people, enjoy! The first thing that humans did was to celebrate the Sabbath – people were created on day 6 and the very next day, the Sabbath was celebrated.

‘ By the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all His work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work of creating that He had done.’ Gen 2:2-3

So the very first things we learn about the Sabbath is that it is a Holy day of rest.

And that is echoed when the Commandment to remember the Sabbath is given in the 10 commandments:

‘Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all your work but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work … For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth … but He rested on the seventh day.’ Exodus 20 8-11

But, for me, Sabbath is more than simply a commandment that can so easily become a duty or a rule to follow. In Isaiah 58 we find a beautiful promise about this life-giving, soul nourishing rhythm of life. The chapter starts with a call to move away from dry, legalistic rule following.

In verse 1 God tells Isaiah to declare to His people their ‘rebellion’. And what is it they have done?

‘For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways.’

Errr – what??????? I thought that seeking God out was what we were supposed to be doing? How is that rebellion? Clearly there is something else going on here! Well – yes, of course there is! If we continue reading, we discover that, while the people of God are going through the motions– fasting, observing the sabbath – their heart is not in it – it’s empty actions not worship of the heart.

‘Yet on the day of your fasting you do as you please and exploit all your workers.’ Isaiah 58:3

God is calling His people to more and in verses 6-7 we read of the passionate call to live differently – a fast of the heart that seeks justice and loves fiercely.

And it is here that we get to the promise:

‘The Lord will guide you always; He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.

Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations;

You will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.’ Isaiah 58:11-12

You will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings

Errm – YES PLEASE!!!!!!! Everything within me cries out an ‘Amen!’ and ‘Yes Please!’ to that!

But here’s the crunch – that beautiful promise of God is immediately followed with an IF – and it’s a big IF!!!

‘If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord’s day honourable, and if you honour it by not going your own way and not doing as your please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the Lord,’ Isaiah 59: 13-14a

Wow!! We are not messing about here when it talks about how important Sabbath is! This is not an optional nice idea if you can manage it!!! That beautiful promise is conditional on us celebrating and honouring the Sabbath.

It’s a Holy day … a day to stop … but it’s also a day of delight!!!

I love Eugene Peterson’s interpretation of that passage:

‘If you treat the Sabbath as a day of joy, God’s holy day as a celebration.’ Is 59:13 MSG

And so – those 3 words are my basic pattern for a Sabbath

1. A Holy day – making space to encounter God and spend time in His presence
2. A day of Rest – not business as usual!
3. A day of Delight – to celebrate and make space for the Joy of the Lord.

We are still experimenting and exploring week to week what it looks like for us. We have found that celebrating Sabbath from Saturday evening – Sunday evening works well for us at this time but I know that for others that would be tricky. And in the midst of all the exploring we remember that we are celebrating Sabbath while we live in the Grace of Jesus. We don’t get it right all the time – sometimes life happens and our Sabbath looks a bit different or doesn’t happen at all– that’s OK! But we keep pressing in!

So – here are a few things we have found so far that work for us:

Holy

We start with a Sabbath feast and a short time of prayer!

1. We want to celebrate this Holy time – mark it out as special – and for us, any celebration involves food! On a practical note – we have found that we engage with our prayer time more readily when:

a) we get food quickly

b) we aren’t panicking that food is spoiling or burning while we are reading the bible and praying.

We often enjoy a curry and have found it helps to have poppadoms first while the curry is still in the oven – that way we enjoy that time without worrying the food will go cold – it also keeps the hungry hoards satisfied!!

2. We light a candle to help us recognise that we are beginning a special time.

3. We start with scripture

Often one of us will bring a short bible verse that has come to our attention during the week – again, we are human and the key here is short – everyone is ready for dinner!!

4. We pray a blessing on each other – there is a beautiful jewish tradition of parents praying a Sabbath blessing on their children that we heard about and wanted to include as part of our own celebration. We do it a little differently and each pray a very simple blessing on one other person – changing up who that person is each week.

And then we enjoy a lovely meal together!

Rest

1. We keep phones to one side rather than having them on our person at all times and we very much limit their use – no work emails etc.

2. We make sure all chores are done and the girls get most of their homework done on a Saturday where possible.

3. We enjoy a slower pace of life – we go to bed early and enjoy a lovely Sabbath Sleep – we read a book for pleasure – it feels completely luxurious!! Like having a holiday day every day!!!

Delight

1. We try and keep the TV off unless we are choosing to watch a movie together – no boredom watching!

2. We take a lovely walk – we play family games … ‘Do something you love’ is a bit of a Sabbath mantra for us!

Celebrating Sabbath definitely felt a little clunky for us to begin with – it was something different and we were all trying to work it out and get our heads around it! I’d been considering it and exploring it for a while and I needed to remember that our teenagers hadn’t been on that same journey – this was just one more weird thing I was suggesting we do …. Eye roll!!!

But we stuck with it and I can honestly say that it is now a real highlight for all of us in the week. Our Sabbath dinner time, particularly, is something we look forward to and plan throughout the week and it has massively enriched our family prayer life.

What has resonated with you as you have read this article today?