Ahhh….Sabbath. The word itself has a calming sound. Unfortunately, in our frenzied culture, it’s become a teaching relic. Yet when you see the word, or read a post, or hear a sermon about Sabbath, don’t you feel that you’ve connected with a dear friend from the past? The idea of spiritual rest is written into our emotional and physical DNA. You might find it surprising that the Sabbath was not to have necessarily dropped off of our spiritual radar. Sabbath observance frequently gets lumped into the category of those old Law observances that we are no longer under. But here is a cool thought: the idea of Sabbath rest was initiated at creation and later given to God’s people as a gift, even before the Law and Ten Commandments were established. Plus, the writings of the New Testament even re-gifted the Sabbath as an invitation that is there for us to enjoy.
The purpose of this post is not to create a Sabbath rule, but to help you consider, and maybe restore, the invitation of the Sabbath in you daily life. I encourage you to experiment with dedicating a chunk of time—a day (which takes planning), a half day, an hour—to a Sabbath routine. But the point is to create an attitude of Sabbath, or “Sabbitude” if I may, into the flow of your week, to be a non-anxious presence in all of your circles of interaction. Here’s the thing: In keeping with the theme of invitation, I’d like for you to open the envelope and read the invitation for yourself. To help you do that, I’ve prepared a short (but invigorating) devotional exercise which you can find below. It’s a journey into Sabbath Scripture with an opportunity for the Sabbath Scripture to journey into you.
Teaching Sabbath to Teens
In the adult world, applying Sabbath principles of ceasing is a low hanging fruit. We’re quickly convicted and we can easily identify adjustments we need to make, almost on the fly. But what about teens? We don’t want to short-change their pursuits of opportunity as they explore their giftedness and talents. We don’t want to stifle their development as they purse their interests and curiosities. But we do want teens to enjoy the fruit of Sabbath in their spiritual life. So what does it look like to invite teens into the Sabbath principle of “cease striving”? If you are a youth pastor, youth worker, small-group leader, Sunday school teacher, think about that question as you consider the invitation yourself. You can use the devotional exercise below in several ways: your own personal devotional and teach out of that, a small-group exercise, or simply forward to your teens for personal use.
Sabbath photo courtesy Owen Brock, www.visualfluency.com