Sabbath

I am resting; it is sabbath, but I haven't been in a good habit of sabbath-ing lately. Caleb and I will plan stuff for the day and call it sabbath, but it really is not. Today is a real rest.

It is hard to stop the mind from working. Problems still exist on sabbath; yet mind-work is the worst kind. Anything that is urgent, that is accomplished on sabbath is a failure to keep it. We must remember that our purpose is not to work or play, but only to be. To be is the hardest thing of all. Silence in action is uncomfortable for the person who is not grounded in a belief that God is really the one who creates, redeems and brings to completion. When we do not work, we testify that we can not do it; that God is saving the world while we do not; that we were created for something different than God.

We are metaphysically different. We find our true life in the sabbath. It is not a break from life, but a participation in the hope we claim we have for the world the rest of the week. In a sabbath we remember the future. The stress, sickness, pain, long-suffering have been fulfilled by grace, freedom, peace, rest, relationship, holiday and everlasting life. It is the sabbath-rest we reach for. It is what we hope happens in our actions for the world the rest of the week. We work for the rest. Then we rest to show our belief in our work.

Rest is the point. It is the Kingdom breaking in. It is a sacrament in a way. It is participation in God's action in the world. Without rest we can only be hypocrites; pointing the world to freedom that does not exist. Testifying to a peace we have never known.

May you find sabbath; a freedom to point to a rest that is both real and the hope of the world.