Sabbath: A Quiet Rebellion

You’d be hard-pressed to find something more rebellious in today's age than sabbath.

I’ve been harping on about John Mark Comer for at least two years now, and every time I take a break from his content, it seems to find it’s way back into my life through a different channel. And the latest round has me looking at, among other tools of spiritual formation, sabbath.

My experience of sabbath as a young person growing up in church is probably familiar to most millennials who grew up in the faith. For us, Sunday was always a day where we were allowed, nay supposed to, sleep in a little. Then it was time for a relaxed breakfast, followed by getting dressed in our Sunday best for church. Then we were herded into some type of vehicle - ours was a van, and there were 9 of us: a literal herd. And off we went.

Once we arrived at church, there was always a game of four square going, which kept the kids from running wild in the 30 minutes or so before the service. Then it was church for the next 90-120 minutes.

Following this was lunch with the family, and maybe some friends if it wasn’t tuna casserole week. Dad would have a nap after lunch. Everyone knew to keep the noise away from the lounge where he was sprawled out on the couch with a hat over his eyes. I never can remember where Mum got to, but it was probably equally restful. Then Dad would take us out to some watering hole somewhere for an afternoon swim, followed by a quiet dinner and then it was time for bed.

As an adult looking back, it seems so idyllic. All I felt at the time was that we didn’t have quite the same freedom as other kids to do what we wanted.

But it’s funny how now I can look back and see what my parents were trying to do. They were in a state of quiet rebellion against the hustle culture. And this rebellion is even more important now, with today’s overwhelming supply of media entertainment, work demands, and subtle distractions.

For me and most of the people I’m talking to that are my age, the idea of sitting still and not filling every single moment with some form of entertainment, screen time, activity or work, well that’s just craziness, or laziness. Either way, it’s not easy to go against that way of being. It’s counter-cultural to carve out time and purposefully put away all media distractions, to just be with family and/or friends. It’s swimming upstream to quietly go about cutting out work and busyness from our lives for that 24 hours.

But if we truly believe in the call not to covet, and if we truly believe that there is still good in the commandment of not committing adultery, then we should give equal weight to the instructions given to “remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy”. What does that look like in today’s world?

Well, for me, it is becoming more and more about purposeful actions that turn down the volume on the world’s noise for 24 hours, and tune me into rest and worship. It looks like a walk to the ice cream shop with my daughter’s hand in mine. It looks like reading a good book on my couch while my husband tinkers on his latest toy. It looks like coming together to cook waffles in the morning, and then eating them lazily on the balcony overlooking the street. It’s a slowing down, and an honouring of our closest community by spending our precious time with them. It’s worshipping God through obedience, a very bodily obedience.

The rebellion of the sabbath reminds my soul that we are not ultimately responsible for life and how it turns out. We are not in complete control of the world, and we can rest in the arms of the one who is.

You can lie on the couch with a hat over your face, take a nap, and remind yourself through physical form that God is in control.

And you can rest.