What If Labor Day Was Every Week?
I remember lying on my bed, staring at my freshly painted green walls and talking to my aunt on the phone. I had recently moved back to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, to start my first year on 果冻视频 staff, and we were discussing my transition into post-college life. She reflected on her own experience. 鈥淭he first change I really enjoyed was Sundays,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 felt freedom without any papers or exams hanging over my head.鈥
I understood completely. My pattern for Sundays in college was to go to church, eat lunch with friends, and then throw myself into studying for the following week. Though I had grown up in the church and had heard of the Sabbath, I thought maybe it was one of those Jewish laws that was no longer required of Christians. Didn鈥檛 Jesus fight with Pharisees about easing up on the Sabbath restrictions?
The Truth About the Sabbath
The truth is, the Sabbath is in the , and we haven鈥檛 decided that any of the other nine are now obsolete. What is unique about this command, however, is that it鈥檚 the only one in the list that doesn鈥檛 start with a 鈥渟hall not.鈥 Instead, it says, 鈥Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy鈥 (emphasis mine).
What does it look like for the day to be 鈥渉oly,鈥 or set apart? In Judaism the Sabbath is equally about what you can鈥檛 do (work) and about what you can do. It鈥檚 essentially a holiday that happens every week, with traditions and meals you only do on that day. For example, Jews eat challah on the Sabbath, which is a special bread that helps them remember in the wilderness.
I鈥檓 not saying that we need to follow all the Jewish traditions to obey God鈥檚 commandment about the Sabbath. But their practices help us see that the Sabbath is about feasting, not fasting, and remembering, not distracting.
Getting Serious About Celebrating the Sabbath
I started taking the Sabbath seriously a couple years into my staff life. It came less out of a joyous revelation about the gift of Sabbath and more out of a recognition that I was burning out, and Sabbath was the cure. The law of inertia ruled my life at that time. I was in motion and it was easier to keep saying yes to things than choose to stop. Maybe there was a fear that if I stopped, I wouldn鈥檛 start again.
In addition, being a perfectionist was a huge barrier for me to truly practice the Sabbath. I couldn鈥檛 let go of what wasn鈥檛 done at any given time: The house isn鈥檛 clean, the paper I鈥檓 writing could use some more work, I should catch up on a missed training run . . . I鈥檒l stop working when things are finished; I just need to do one more thing . . .
In contrast, (on the seventh day, after God鈥檚 work of creating the world), God rested because he looked at all he had made and declared it good. I wasn鈥檛 resting because I was constantly looking around and thinking, Not good enough.
What Sabbath Is Really About
Thankfully, I鈥檝e come to view the 鈥渟hall not work鈥 of the Sabbath as a blessing rather than a curse. Deciding that I鈥檓 going to quit working Saturday night means there is not guilt about what I 鈥渟hould鈥 be doing with that time.
Freed from focusing on the incomplete, I can focus on what God has created and declared good. So, I can take my time eating a meal with a friend and really listening to what is going on in her life, for example. I can go on a leisurely walk, not for exercise but to enjoy the nature around me. Sabbath for me can even mean going out dancing and not comparing my moves to those around me, but just enjoying dancing鈥攅ven off-beat鈥攖o my favorite song.
Don鈥檛 misunderstand me: This isn鈥檛 about feasting because 鈥淚 deserve it.鈥 Rather, celebrating Sabbath is feasting because God created relationships, nature, my body鈥攁nd these things are good. Having this attitude is part of what helps us set the Sabbath day apart. We鈥檙e reminded that it鈥檚 not about entertainment. It isn鈥檛 about distracting ourselves from things in our life that we would rather not do or contemplate. Rather, the day is about being thankful and remembering God鈥檚 role in our life.
And we are not meant to celebrate Sabbath alone. When I lived in Jerusalem, I rarely saw my roommate on Saturday until the Sabbath was almost over. She usually had plans for Friday dinner with friends, then Saturday lunch with others. Lunch would often extend for hours as people sat around and talked or played games with children. The Sabbath was meant to make a community holy.
Start Now
If you want to start celebrating the Sabbath, invite some friends to join you. Meet on Saturday night for a ritual of turning off your phone鈥檚 email and Facebook alerts and go to dinner. Instead of blessing the food, pray blessings over the people at the table or take turns remembering places during the week where God provided.
Feast! Celebrate! Remember! Rest! These can be difficult to do in a culture that tells us to keep moving and to keep ourselves entertained. But they are commands from God for our good, so we should obey. And you don鈥檛 have to wait until after college鈥攐r till Labor Day next year鈥攆or the freedom of Sabbath. You can start this very week.
Jennifer Hagin is the Blue Ridge Regional Evangelism Coordinator for 果冻视频.
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