There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works, as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest… —Hebrews 4:9-11

“Sabbath: A palace in time” (Abraham Heschel)

As a congregation, we embrace Sabbath as a way of getting at the deepest essence of what it means to have faith in God. As in the Exodus story when God’s people, miraculously delivered from slavery, are utterly dependent on his provision of manna in the desert, we seek to live in absolute trust in God’s abundant and supernatural provision.This is not primarily about a Sabbath practice on a certain day of the week—though we do choose practices to help us remember who God is. Instead, we hold Sabbath as a way of understanding what it means to live “in Christ,” who is our Bread from heaven. We see Sabbath as an antidote to the idolatry, anxiety, materialism, hecticness, addiction to accomplishment, and scarcity mentality of the culture around us. We practice Sabbath to remind us that as Christians, there is a state of permanent restfulness, easy yoke, light burden that Jesus is calling us to, and that we enter that state when we give ourselves over to complete trusting dependence in God, which we can enter any moment, as long as it is called Today. We proclaim with Jesus that our work is to believe in him and trust in God’s active resurrection power in the world.

The Sabbath disciplines we practice can best be chosen as a response to the question: How can I spend my time in a way which will help me remember the Story I’m in?

As a congregation living in households, we practice a Sabbath discipline every Sunday morning, a time of silent reflection, meditation, scripture reading, and prayer until 11 a.m. This is an individual spiritual discipline which we practice corporately. Families adjust practices in accordance with children’s capacities.

We are also committing to specific practices which set apart Sabbath as a day for the Lord. These are not to be legislated but discerned and chosen by individuals, families, and households. There is no “law” involved in which practices people adopt, but everyone is asked to have some Sabbath practice.

The following are a few suggestions (not laws!) for these practices:

• Start and end Sabbath with candlelighting
• Refrain from using (for example): money, watches, computers, cellphones, tv, other electronics
• Allow the day to unfold without making plans in advance
• Do physical activity if you sit at a desk all week
• Allow your work rhythm to adjust to a 6-day work cycle—don’t count Sundays as a day of potential labor
• Make notes in the middle of the night if you wake up anxious: turn anxiety towards prayer
• Don’t do any “to-do list” stuff
• Physically put work out of sight if possible
• Be in nature/garden
• Create special traditions: Sabbath candle, special food, dishes
• Acknowledge a Sabbath mindset throughout the week: reading Psalm 95, Centering prayer, Liturgy of the Hours, etc.

Some corporate ways we practice a Sabbath mindset
• Sharing the labor of Sunday worship services
• Receiving communion
• Tithing
• Intentional encouragement (Hebrews 3:13)
• Church calendar celebrations
• Liturgy of the Hours
• Prayer
• Worship

For more thoughts on Sabbath, see Jack Bernard’s article “In Order to Listen.”