The Sabbath
- Mike Flynn (Vicar)
The Sabbath rest is what God creates on the seventh day. It is the end point of creation. A counter point to the rest of God in eternity before creation.
In the modern workplace we only rest so we can work but for the Biblical mind, Sabbath is the end-point of humanity, the climax of the creative week. Our work can be our dignity, the gift we share with others but in our fallen world work is also our toil and anxiety. For six days we wring profit from the earth and live with noise and dissonance. For one day we are asked to rest our tattered lives, to stop trying to dominate and name the world and learn to calm ourselves again in the timeless company of the God who is Father, Son and Spirit.
The Sabbath is not the pursuit of recreation as if distraction will solve us. It is in worship that we were created to rest. It is that Sabbath rest that has been made available for us to experience now through Jesus Christ (Hebrews 4).
Sometimes we say that no particular day needs to be observed as a Sabbath (Romans 14:5,6. Colossians 2:16,17) but avoiding legalism is different to saying we need no Sabbath at all or that there is not a gift of grace awaiting us in rest and worship. In the creation story of Genesis 2, eternity is mirrored in the Sabbath. This time of rest and worship and mirrored again at the end in Revelation 22:1-5.
We should not be so married to the demanding voices of our work or distractions that we miss one day a week where we can stop and learn again to trust that God will hold us - even after we have put down all our striving.
- Mike Flynn (Vicar)
The Sabbath rest is what God creates on the seventh day. It is the end point of creation. A counter point to the rest of God in eternity before creation.
In the modern workplace we only rest so we can work but for the Biblical mind, Sabbath is the end-point of humanity, the climax of the creative week. Our work can be our dignity, the gift we share with others but in our fallen world work is also our toil and anxiety. For six days we wring profit from the earth and live with noise and dissonance. For one day we are asked to rest our tattered lives, to stop trying to dominate and name the world and learn to calm ourselves again in the timeless company of the God who is Father, Son and Spirit.
The Sabbath is not the pursuit of recreation as if distraction will solve us. It is in worship that we were created to rest. It is that Sabbath rest that has been made available for us to experience now through Jesus Christ (Hebrews 4).
Sometimes we say that no particular day needs to be observed as a Sabbath (Romans 14:5,6. Colossians 2:16,17) but avoiding legalism is different to saying we need no Sabbath at all or that there is not a gift of grace awaiting us in rest and worship. In the creation story of Genesis 2, eternity is mirrored in the Sabbath. This time of rest and worship and mirrored again at the end in Revelation 22:1-5.
We should not be so married to the demanding voices of our work or distractions that we miss one day a week where we can stop and learn again to trust that God will hold us - even after we have put down all our striving.
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