Lenten Study on Sabbath: 2
Session 2: Finding Freedom Through Resistance
Ruth Haley Barton, Embracing Rhythms of Work and Rest: From Sabbath to Sabbatical and Back Again, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2022), chapter 3.
Begin with a meditation on Psalm 92 (BCP page 390-391). Read slowly and take the words as your own offering of prayer to the Lord.
In the ESV, the heading for this Psalm includes, “A Song for the Sabbath.” It is the only Psalm with this designation.
Consider:
How would you describe the general “tone” of this poem/song?
What is the Psalmist’s primary purpose in this Psalm?
Based on your current understanding of “Sabbath,” where do you see it reflected in this Psalm?
How might this Psalm lead you into a Sabbath rest? What would Sabbath look like in the light of it?
What elements or practices do you see in this Psalm that might be good to include in a Sabbath discipline?
Sabbath as a reminder of deliverance
Barton turns her examination of Sabbath toward the idea that, more than simply resting and being replenished (which Sabbath still is, she emphasizes), Sabbath was for God’s people “the sign, symbol, and lived reality of the resistance to, and liberation from oppression” (28). Here we see the outgrowth of God’s inclusion of His deliverance of Israel from Egyptian slavery as a reason for commanding their Sabbath-keeping. In Exodus 20, this reminder comes before the first commandment; in Deuteronomy 5, it comes within the command for Sabbath itself. Deuteronomy 5:15 states, “You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.” Sabbath was to be for them a way to actively push back against their enslavement in Egypt; and it was also to serve as a consistent reminder that they had been delivered from slavery and brought into the love and service of God. This is a redemptive work and was part of God’s first gift to Israel after leading them out of Egypt as He brought them to Mt. Sinai and invited them to be His people through the covenant of the Law.
As we search for a way to understand this concept in our own context, it is important to remember what slavery was like for God’s people. They “were always at the mercy of the demands and expectations of a relentlessly consumeristic and opportunistic ruler who cared nothing for their well-being” (29). There are any number of forces in our current cultural context that we could describe similarly. Through a letting go—even for one day a week—of the various oppressive demands and expectations that come against us, we allow our hearts and minds to be retrained and redefined according to a new pattern—the Truth of who we are in God’s eyes through Christ. Sabbath becomes an opportunity to declare that we are not simply the sum of whatever we produce, or expected to utterly ignore ourselves and our created needs in order to accomplish what we have been given to do. Our value is not determined by the labels we own or the size of our bank accounts. Our joy and delight is not inherent in the pleasures of our bodies but in embracing God’s creation as He has given it to us to enjoy.
The Goodness of Work
Notice here that work is not the problem; work is good and God has given it to us to embrace and enjoy as we give our best for it. However, work here is put in its proper context that sounds very different from the world around us: it is not who we are but simply what we do. In fact, work came after and flowed from the rest that God instituted in creation at the very beginning. After making man and woman as the pinnacle of His creation, God did give them the work He prepared for them (“‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion…’” Gen 1:28). But almost as soon as He finished this command, He instituted and hallowed the restfulness of the Sabbath before they could get started. Thus we see that our work is to flow from our resting with God as His creatures while enjoying our fellowship with Him and delighting in our relational connection with Him and the remainder of His creation.
In fact, Sabbath creates the space for us to enjoy and even delight in our work as God’s gift to us in partnership with His ongoing re-creation. Having begun with restfulness in relationship with Him, we enter into work renewed and with a proper perspective on our work. Again, our work is not who we are; we enjoyed that in our restfulness with God. Instead, our work is just that, work that is an expression of our love and appreciation of all that God has done in and for us. It becomes a part of our delighting that God has not simply made us to be spectators, but He invites us to join Him in His work according to how He has made each one of us and blessed us with the opportunity to serve Him through our labor.
Resisting the world, the flesh and, the devil
Seen in this light, Sabbath presents us with the opportunity to live according to our faith in God and who He is rather than the deceptive and evil forces around us. Certainly we can see how God intends for us, through our Sabbath-keeping, to declare our non-allegiance to the things of the world. “A culture that brainwashes us into thinking that good things come only through unceasing determination, tireless human effort, and always being plugged in” (31). This description is one way to define “the empty promises and deadly deceits of the world that corrupt and destroy the creatures of God” (BCP 164). That is the second renunciation we all made at our baptism. Barton also speaks about how Sabbath “deepens as we recognize and resist the internal drivenness, self-determination, and individualism” that we all battle against (31). Here let us notice the falsehood of human autonomy that is the flesh. This, too, we renounced at our baptism when we turned our backs from “the sinful desires of the flesh that draw [us] from the love of God” (BCP 164). Finally, Sabbath not only teaches us that the values of the world and the lie that happiness comes through living for ourselves, it also leads us to put our trust in God for all that we need. We turn our backs here to the rebellion that the devil would tempt us into and declare again that we “renounce the devil and all the spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God” (BCP 164).
Striving to rest
The letter to the Hebrews places Sabbath rest into the context of our invitation to set aside our disobedience toward God. “So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God… Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience” (Heb 4:9, 11). In this way, God is calling us, through our practice of Sabbath, to rest from the sins that we have been delivered from when we were perfected in Christ by our faith. Indeed, Barton speaks of Sabbath as “an opportunity to find ourselves in God again” and to remember who we are: His precious creations invited to delight in Him and His creation for His love and glory. This truly does sound like something worthy of striving toward in resistance against the forces of evil all around and within us that tempt us to live by a different story.
SIDE NOTE: Sabbath as the great equalizer
Some might be concerned that Sabbath reeks of privilege for the wealthy. Instead, God commanded that all should Sabbath. Thus we see God inviting everyone into this great opportunity of liberation. In the 10 commandments again, He requires that “you shall not do any work—you, or your son or daughter, or your male or female slave, or your ox or your donkey, or any of your livestock, or the resident alien in your towns, so that your male and female slave may rest as well as you” (Deut 5:14). In this sense, you could describe Sabbath as a privilege, but it is one freely offered to everyone who embraces the true God as theirs and follows His ways into the joy and delight He has prepared for all of us.
Discussion
What oppressions and oppressors do you experience in your life? How do you typically deal with these forces?
What things in particular has God freed you from in Christ? What lies did you believe that He is asking you to let go of as you enter into His rest?
Which do you find stronger: the internal pressures to live for and achieve by yourself? Or the external enticements to be defined by your production and how well you live up to expectations? Or something else?
When was a time you really enjoyed your work? What were the circumstances surrounding that? How would you characterize that moment?
Conversely, when was a time that work was really a struggle for you? What might you have needed in that moment to find enjoyment in your activity?
How does the Letter to the Hebrews’ placing of Sabbath in the context of resting from sin impact how you think of Sabbath? What about how it impacts how you might practice Sabbath?
How much weight does the objection to Sabbath as for the privileged carry with you? What other objections do you struggle with against the Sabbath? How might we address those concerns?
Closing Prayer: A Collect for Sabbath Rest
Almighty God, who after the creation of the world rested from all your works and sanctified a day of rest for all your creatures: Grant that we, putting away all earthly anxieties, may be duly prepared for the service of your sanctuary, and that our rest here upon earth may be a preparation for the eternal rest promised to your people in heaven; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Sabbath is a practice. Try it!
Choose a day this week to simply stop. Notice how easy or difficult it is to do this. What gets in the way? In what ways do you feel liberated even just thinking about it? What oppressions do you notice trying to steal your rest from you?
Invite your community. Whether your family or close friends, invite others to join you as you practice this rest. Decide together what you might do or not do. Share the challenges that come up: especially those things you’re finding a hard time letting go of.
Begin with prayer together. Light a candle as you do. Be specific in your prayerful sharing about what you feel God is asking you to set down for your day of rest. Let your candle burn for the whole day as a reminder that you’ve entered into God’s rest that day.
Take note of the blessings and struggles, the delights and despairs that come up during this day: big or small. Share them prayerfully with the Lord and with your community. Above all, allow this practice to help you draw near to God.