{sabbath find: a sleeping, dew-covered bee}
It’s a morning that could look like this:
4:30 AM… alarm goes off
4:45 AM… hubby gets in the shower
4:45 AM… wife lays in bed half awake/half aware
5:00 AM… wife showers and starts to get ready
[hopefully everything has been gathered, ironed and prepared for the morning or - there will be added chaos to this routine]
5:00-5:30 AM … begin to wake up the kids this can be difficult depending upon the age of the children involved.
5:45 AM… sleepy eyes are eating breakfast or fussing in their pjs.
{It doesn’t matter how early you put them to bed this is early.]
6:00 AM… Mom forgot to eat. Brush many sets of teeth, make sure diaper bag is packed, glad she set out the binder for worship, Bible and other bag filled with churchy things ready, with Hubby’s help start dressing all those little people. This may be the morning you make it on time with everyone’s hair brushed, curled and looking good. Cause heaven forbid you go to church with your shirt untucked, your hair still wet, or missing a belt. [INSERT HIGH PITCHED PLEADING] “Please don’t pick your nose.” “Where did you wipe that?” “Mr. Hubby, where the he** did you put the baby’s socks? (muffled response here) I don’t see them. Ahhh. Why can’t people just leave things where I put them? Don’t you get that I had this all organized? I put this together for a reason.” [insert silent sigh of guilt here - the socks are beneath the underpants, to the right of her leg]
6:30 AM… crap we’re late. Where did I put my lipstick? Did you find your tie?
Get in the car. Everyone is strapped. Someone kicks the back of Mommy’s seat – explosion ensues.
7:00 AM… and we’re semi-smiling now. It’s time for worship practice. Dad tries to entertain tired little ones – who should still be in their beds. Mama tries to get it together. She faces God in the bathroom – her nerves of steal, grace under pressure, ability to lead, and utilize God-given talents/gifts – all these things come at a cost. She can feel the weight of their expectations, “Why don’t you take over leading a team? You aren’t being loyal. You aren’t using your gifts. Why don’t you like me? She has an issue with me. What is her problem? I can’t worship when he leads… sing louder. Speak less. Don’t preach when you are supposed to be singing and I won’t sing when I’m supposed to be preaching. I don’t like that hymn… wait let’s just get rid of all the hymns. Why do we talk about blood so much? You are a negligent mother.”
Jesus, I need your strength to do this or it’s just about me.
“You be lifted high. You be lifted high. You be lifted high in my life Oh God. And I fall to my knees, So it’s you that they see Not I. Jesus, you be lifted high.” -Leeland Mooring
Practice.
Nurse a baby.
Get the kids to Sunday School.
Worship Team Prayer…. check.
First Service… check.
Nurse a baby.
Worship Team Prayer…. check.
Second Service…check.
Gather children. Socialize and “do” church.
Get the littles in the car… home.
Open fridge to make lunch – psst. you forgot to stop at the grocery store.
——————————————-
This may seem like a bad play or an exaggerated script for some imaginary character. Sadly it isn’t. This is the truth for far too many families [laypeople and pastors]. While we hope that this morning is done with a sense of sacrifice and as an offering to God – much of what comes across and is done behind the scenes is a masked attempt at living authentically. This isn’t church or worship – it’s a concert.
How can we gather for worship, be led in worship, lead worship,… like this?
When young families are running themselves ragged to fulfill their “calling” and couples are tearing at each other’s flesh in order to get there in one piece and minister to others who are hurting…. we all lose.
How can the walking wounded… take care of the wounded? How can the rushing, hurried and performing… lead a quiet, reflective and purposeful worship of God? How can the jealous, argumentative and disgruntled… form a vision and stick with it? How can a denying. hiding and keeping secrets gathering of believers… gather together in authentic honesty and worship a God of truth?
I’m left wondering: Why do we let THEM steal our Sabbath?
Understanding the Sabbath
The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “But as for you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘You shall surely observe My sabbaths; for this is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you. ’Therefore you are to observe the sabbath, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death ; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. ‘For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, holy to the LORD ; whoever does any work on the sabbath day shall surely be put to death. ‘So the sons of Israel shall observe the sabbath, to celebrate the sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.’
It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever ; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He ceased from labor, and was refreshed.” [Exodus 31:13+]
“Refreshed” or “Naphash” – meaning “to take breath” or “refresh oneself.”
Sabbath is an intentional slowing meaning, “To cease, desist, or rest.”
In the book of Nehemiah we find the people not taking the Sabbath seriously. They are actually buying and selling goods.
Nehemiah says: In those days I saw in Judah some who were treading wine presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sacks of grain and loading them on donkeys, as well as wine, grapes, figs and all kinds of loads, and they brought them into Jerusalem on the sabbath day. So I admonished them on the day they sold food. Also men of Tyre were living there who imported fish and all kinds of merchandise, and sold them to the sons of Judah on the sabbath, even in Jerusalem. Then I reprimanded the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil thing you are doing, by profaning the sabbath day? “Did not your fathers do the same, so that our God brought on us and on this city all this trouble ? Yet you are adding to the wrath on Israel by profaning the sabbath.” [Nehemiah 13:15-18]
Profane: to defile, pollute, desecrate, to violate the honor of… or to make common.
The Sabbath was established by God as a perpetual covenant for generations.
“The seventh day celebrates the completion of the work of creation and is holy to the Lord. The Sabbath is a sacred day, set aside for God, consecrating to Him a specific period of time… The Sabbath was a solemn recognition that God had sovereign rights, a public act of appropriation wherein the believing community acknowledged that they owed their life and being to Another. As the memorial day of creation, the Sabbath meant a worship of adoration and thanksgiving for all God’s goodness, for all the Jews were and had. The rest from work was secondary.” [Brennan Manning, Abba's Child]
Manning goes on to say that, “every Sabbath was solemn renewal of the covenant between God and His chosen people….Every Sabbath they rejoiced anew in the promise of God.”
Sabbath has always been about the worship of God…
As my husband so eloquently puts it, “When did church become a funeral dirge?”
Redeeming the Sabbath
This may be hard for you to hear from me because when someone doesn’t go to church we treat them with suspicion, all their words about church are considered “bashing” and therefore their actions are suspect. The truth is that the schedule listed above – was my existence for a period of time. I learned to dread Sunday mornings. I remember driving to church praying for strength to make it. But on the other side of burned bridges I find that I love the SABBATH more now on the outside of a building then I ever was allowed when I gathered in a sanctuary for worship
The worship and praise that fills these redeemed Sabbaths has healed Sundays for me, for us.
I get up before dawn… in the middle of the night… in the freezing cold of winter to catch the colors of sunrise. I go through the drive thru and get a cup of coffee from McDs, park on the bridge near our house, read God’s Word with a flashlight – waiting for the light to make an appearance. And it does, every single Sunday the sun comes up. God meets me there in the middle of a snowy field, or dew-covered grass.
It’s glorious in ways I can’t begin to describe.
It doesn’t happen in a hurry, or with a lot of noise, with drums, and an expensive sound system – it happens with my daughters in tow, my babies on my knees and the word of God on our lips. It happens when we go to play or hike the forest. It happens when we stand in awe watching a graceful heron soar above the waters. And we question and speak and wonder and JUST STAND STILL.
This is more Sabbath… then I have ever known. And it happens in yoga pants and hoodies, with no make up and crazy bed hair.
This is “mikdash me-at, a miniature sanctuary in which the parents are the priests and the family table [is] the altar.” [Manning]
And with all my heart I want to share this kind of Sunday with others. I want you to know that even if your Sabbath is crazy and more work then worship… it’s probably important that you find a different day during the week to take an “intentional rest.”
It’s a hard fact to face that sometimes when you go to church on Sunday your family will need to set aside an alternative day as a day of rest.
Find a day to worship – don’t let THEM steal your Sabbath.
Abiding,
J.
More Posts from the Archives on Sabbath…
My favorite – Redeeming Sundays
There’s No Pretending Here
Dawn
Artificial Harmony
Awake
A complete listing of the posts in this series:
Introducing a New Series: Why do you let them steal your…?
Why do you let them steal your joy?
Why do you let them steal your peace?
Why do you let them steal your courage?
This hit home….and hit hard! Kudos to you for having the strength to step away and find your Sabbath. I too was there…in the middle of the chaos of “worship”. I found my Sabbath a few years ago…in the wonderment of all that HE has created.
Blessings!
Well done! As a mommas who is struggling to enjoy Sunday mornings without losing it altogether I totally get this post. I’m so glad that you are able to worship Him, not with cymbals and fanfare, but it your own quiet way. Amen
This was beautiful. I also lived this life for many years until God picked up my small family and escorted us away- far from our home. I honestly didn’t know how to handle our new sabbath lifestyle. It took some listening to my Shepherd to understand the difference between extreme service and worship. God has altered my Sabbath and worship a couple of times since then, and these last 5 years have changed everything about my worship. A beautiful post, Jessica.
Too much of the time people take on more than they are “called” to take on. Our Sunday experience needs to start with saying no and only saying yes to what we are being actually called to do–sometimes that means the prayer warriors in disguise as Christians in the pew (or chairs) are appearing like they are doing nothing when their roll is the most important role of all. Being a people pleaser, I learned that lesson hard and kept learning it until this year when I had to let go of all the other things I was talked into doing and only do the things I was called to do within my gifting. Now worship is quite nice. Sunday afternoons finds me on the internet or reading a book or baking or taking long afternoon naps or catching up on my Bible reading. My Sunday feels more like a sabbath than it has been in the past six months.