sabbath, yes i preached on that.

i thought it was funny i got assigned "sabbath" as a preaching topic in mbcc's last series of faith words.

we always preach to ourselves first.

i finally get it. as i feel overwhelmed and overworked on my birthday, less excited that usual about what is ahead, i realize i need a sabbath. not just a day of rest, but a structure to live in that includes faithful rest. this will be what i try to take on for lent.

til then, here is the sorta transcript of the second version of my sabbath sermon that i preach at fruitvale presbyterian this past weekend.
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"hallowed time"

- Talk about M. and how she taught me how to spend time with God.
* Taking time anywhere to focus on God
* Building particular moments for God makes even the ordinary moments in her life directed by faith. It’s all about the structure you build.
* Islam has no Sabbath, no day of rest of worship, and dspite these differences, she taught me about Sabbath, about the importance of spending time with God.

- Let’s look at Jewish structure. Jewish tradition:
* Sabbath liberates. Deut. 5:12-15 connects Sabbath to Jewish history and remembering God’s freeing power.
* Sabbath is woven into the very history and identity of the Jewish people. Heschel says: “The seventh say is the exodus from tension, the liberation of man from his own muddiness, the installation of man as sovereign in the world of time.”
* Sabbath here is defined most thoroughly by what not to do. We are to remember the work of God in our rest. Heschel encourages the shift from focusing on the results of creation in our work lives to focusing on the mystery of creation in rest, from the world of creation to the creation of the world.
* The constructive instruction we are given regarding the Sabbath is to keep it holy. The Hebrew word for holy means literally “set apart.” We are to dedicate this time to God, to remember God in this time, but we are also to set this time apart. Contemporary Jewish practice sets apart Shabbat time in particular ways—prep for Sabbath, prayer and worship, lighting candles at the beginning and the end.
* Setting apart this time builds a structure for the week. Part of the week is spent preparing for Shabbat. We all know it takes a lot of work to take a vacation, or to catch up after returning home. Shabbat is like that... requires preparation.
* So, if in our own practice, Sabbath time is oriented toward God, and the rest of our time is oriented toward Sabbath, then our structure has made our entire lives oriented toward God.
* This changes our faith. This makes time holy. This opens us up to the movement of God.
* So now what do we do with this tradition?

- We turn to Jesus. Jesus transformed the tradition.
- Retell the story a little. Lessons:
1. Jesus followed the spirit of the tradition. The disciples would not have been able to focus on God if they were focused on their hunger. Despite their plucking grains appearing to be work, Jesus knew that “work” would accomplish the goal of the Sabbath.
2. Sabbath is not about us. It is not just a day given to pamper ourselves, to take a day off, to indulge. Sabbath is about God, it is about seeing God and being God in the world. Sabbath is not an excuse to ignore suffering, rather it is an opportunity to perhaps see it more deeply and respond more compassionately.
3. God doesn’t stop moving on the Sabbath. We are told to rest, and to remember when God rested, but we are not told that God rests every seventh day. Jesus reminds us that God is still moving and working even when we are not.

Sabbath is not out salvation. Nothing we “do” saves us. Rather, Sabbath is a gift from God, a tool that Jesus taught us to use, that frees us from some of the tyrannies of this world and allows us to build our lives around God.

Calvin noted that when life is good, we forget God. When life is bad, we cling to God, suddenly remembering God’s presence when recently we lived as if God didn’t exist.

Through Sabbath practice, we never live in ignorance of God. We never forget.

Sabbath time is the frame and foundation of a house or a building, around which everything else is oriented. It holds up the roof, it stays strong in an earthquake, and all the details—from doors, to windows, to where it is best to hang pictures on the walls, depend on this structure. When we truly practice Sabbath, we fit the details of our lives into a structure built to honor, remember and worship God, and in doing so, we make not just our Sabbath time sacred, but all of our time sacred, directing our whole lives toward God.

Sabbath is not about a particular time or place. There is no right way to spend holy time with God. Jesus transformed the Sabbath tradition and calls us to do so as well. Find the clues, find the lessons, find the tools you need to build the architecture of your Sabbath. Do what you need to do to make time that turns you most to God, so that you might see God, not just in Sabbath time, but in all time. Like Jesus said in Mark… “Man was not made for Sabbath, Sabbath was made for man.”

amen.