M I NI S T RY
Small Sabbaths
by Pastor Cheryl
Created for us humans that were made to rest and rejuvenate. Modeled by God on the 7th day of creation, God rested. Sabbath can be defined as the “Fullness and completion.” God is always imploring us to rest, but we are determined to go on working. We yearn for rest, talk about it but there is no time for rest; we forfeit that promise of fullness and completion. There is always more to do, to improve on yet we miss out on God’s blessing. The 7th year sabbath, according to Jewish history, was to be a time of liberating the land from raising crops and releasing the slaves who work the land. 7x7 sabbath was the “Year of Jubilee” when all were restored and forgiven. It was a new beginning. Jesus preached the “ultimate sabbath”. Jesus called himself the “Lord of the Sabbath”. Jesus claims he can provide to us “fullness and completion” Jesus died on the cross on Friday and on the Saturday Sabbath, he laid dead in a grave. Was his death timed to resurrect on a Sunday? Was he establishing a new order, a new sabbath and a new creation? “Come to me …” Sabbath is not easy and we are prone to busyness and weariness; “all who are weary and carrying heavy burdens…” Stop to watch the sunset, a bird flying, a squirrel chittering on the fence. A dog playing, a child singing, the old dancing in a park. A lizard sunning, someone laughing, a teen reading, a cyclist pedaling down the road. A surfer catching a wave, a child running to first base and the seniors playing card games in an assisted living community. “and I will give you rest…” Matthew 11:28-30 NRSV 28 “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Begin to take small steps of Sabbath Toward fullness and completion
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