Sabbath Day
Here are some word about sabbath, written for pastors, but useful for all from Eugene Peterson, prolific author (translator of The Message), pastor, and professor. (I copied and posted this article before today, because today is a sabbath day for me.)
[Sabbath] is possible for pastors. Because there is a biblical provision for it… The single act of keeping a sabbath does more than anything else to train pastors in the rhythm of action and response so that the two sets of demands are experienced synchronically instead of violently.
An accurate understanding of sabbath is prerequisite to its practice: it must be understood biblically, not culturally. A widespread misunderstanding of sabbath trivializes it by designating it “a day off.”… However beneficial, this is not a true sabbath but a secularized sabbath. The motivation is utilitarian: the day off is at the service of the six working days. The purpose is to restore strength, increase motivation, reward effort, and keep performance incentives high… The side effects of shored-up family harmony and improved mental health are also attractive. The nearly wholesale substitution of a day off for a sabbath is one more sign of an abandoned vocational identity…
Sabbath means quit. Stop. Take a break. Cool it. The word itself has nothing devout or holy in it it. It is a word about time, denoting our nonuse of it, what we usually call wasting time.
The technology of sabbath-keeping is not complex. We simply select a day of the week (Paul seemed to think any day would do as well as any other; Rom. 14:5-6) and quit our work.
Having selected the day we need also to protect it, for our workday instincts and habits will not serve us well. It is not a day when we do anything useful. It is not a day that proves its worth, justifies itself. Entering into empty, nonfunctional time is difficult and needs protection, for we have been taught that time is money.