Week Nine (Sabbath) - Sunday

Sabbath

Some of you may have heard of or maybe even remember years ago, there existed a thing called “the blue law.”  It was usually a local law or ordinance that prevented certain businesses from opening on Sunday in observance of the holy day.  Then, the rules began to be less restrictive.  Some were allowed to open, but only in the afternoon.  Today, there are very few businesses that refuse to open on Sunday morning and those are decreasing at a breathtaking rate.  But we cannot lay all the blame on merchants since we are the ones who patronize their businesses.  Even more so, many just do not seem to understand the purpose of the Sabbath.

To the astonishment of many, the Sabbath is not Sunday.  It is actually Saturday.  The reason that we often call Sunday the Sabbath is because Jesus was raised from the dead on Sunday, the day after the Sabbath.  The early Church came to understand Sundays as “mini Easters” and thereby established it as the Lord’s Day, but not the Sabbath.  That does not negate the need for a Sabbath day though.

The ancient understanding of the Sabbath is two-fold, though they are closely intertwined.  First, it is a day of remembering God.  Genesis 1:1-2:4a gives a strict account of Creation.  It shows the orderly and methodical process of God in the Creation for six days.  Then, on the seventh day, God rested.  Think about that for a moment, God, the Creator of the universe, rested after six days of work.  How is it that we feel that we can outdo God and do more work without rest?  Can we blame this on our ignorance or our arrogance?

The early Jews strictly adhered to observing the Sabbath.  On the Sabbath, absolutely no work was to be done.  All food that would be consumed over the Sabbath had to be prepared the day before.  Travel was limited to less than a mile, so not to work up a sweat.  To do any type of work would be to defile the day and the person was to be put to death.  No exceptions! 

Then, one day, a certain Jew healed a man with a withered hand.  The religious people who were with him were outraged at his defiance of their customs.  Then the man put things into perspective as he said, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.”  Of course, you recognize these words as being spoken by Jesus.   Many today want to say that Jesus was saying that it is okay to work on the Sabbath.  What Jesus was doing was not negating the Sabbath but putting it in proper context.  The Sabbath is not a ritual to be blindly followed, but a state of heart in which recognizes the need for recognition of God and for rest.

This leads us into our second understanding of the Sabbath.  It is a day of rest.  I feel that it is important at this point to point out that, in regards to the Sabbath, rest and relaxation are not the same.  The Sabbath is a day of rest.  It is not a day off or a break from our daily grind to do something as strenuous or more strenuous, even if it is fun!  The Sabbath is a holistic approach to true rest.  It covers the whole basis of health and well-being: physically, mentally, and spiritually.  The body needs regular breaks for rest and God, the Designer, provides that through the Sabbath.  That is why Jesus, the Lord of even the Sabbath says that you weren’t created for the Sabbath, the Sabbath was created for you.  


JOURNAL QUESTIONS

1. Reflect on your sermon notes and journal reading from today.


GROUP EXERCISE

10 minutes - Community Building (informal time of gathering)
10 minutes - Sharing of Concerns and Praises
  5 minutes - Prayer for One Another
30 minutes - Discussion of Topic
                     - What journal entry would you like to share?
                     - What childhood memories do you have of Sundays?
                     - What do you think about the Sabbath actually being Saturday? Do you think
                       Christianity has broken the commandment about keeping the Sabbath holy?
                     - Do you think the Sabbath is as important in modern times as it was in our biblical 
                       readings?
                     - How do you observe the Sabbath? Do you think that is adequate? 
  5 minutes - Wrap Up/Closing Prayer 

Week Eight (Solitude) - Saturday

1 Kings 19:8-13

8 So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. 9 There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the LORD came to him: "What are you doing here, Elijah?" 10 He replied, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too." 11 The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" 




^Reflect:
What was God trying to say to Elijah?

Week Eight (Solitude) - Friday

Revelation 1:9-11

9 I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, 11 which said: "Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea."



^Reflect:
John was exiled to the island of Patmos. Here he saw visions of Jesus. Do you think his isolation helped or hindered his visions?

Week Nine (Sabbath) - Thursday

Leviticus 25:1-7

1 The LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai, 2 "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sabbath to the LORD. 3 For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. 4 But in the seventh year the land is to have a sabbath of rest, a sabbath to the LORD. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. 5 Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest. 6 Whatever the land yields during the sabbath year will be food for you--for yourself, your manservant and maidservant, and the hired worker and temporary resident who live among you, 7 as well as for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. Whatever the land produces may be eaten.



^Reflect:
 What else is Sabbath for?

Week Eight (Solitude) - Thursday

Psalm 39

1 I said, "I will watch my ways and keep my tongue from sin; I will put a muzzle on my mouth as long as the wicked are in my presence." 2 But when I was silent and still, not even saying anything good, my anguish increased. 3 My heart grew hot within me, and as I meditated, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue: 4 "Show me, O LORD, my life's end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life. 5 You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man's life is but a breath. "Selah" 6 Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro: He bustles about, but only in vain; he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it. 7 "But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you. 8 Save me from all my transgressions; do not make me the scorn of fools. 9 I was silent; I would not open my mouth, for you are the one who has done this. 10 Remove your scourge from me; I am overcome by the blow of your hand. 11 You rebuke and discipline men for their sin; you consume their wealth like a moth-- each man is but a breath. "Selah" 12 "Hear my prayer, O LORD, listen to my cry for help; be not deaf to my weeping. For I dwell with you as an alien, a stranger, as all my fathers were. 13 Look away from me, that I may rejoice again before I depart and am no more."

^Reflect:
Is meditation always an easy thing to do?

Week Eight (Solitude) - Wednesday

Psalm 49:3

3 My mouth will speak words of wisdom; the utterance from my heart will give understanding.



^Reflect:
Why is meditation important?

Week Eight (Solitude) - Tuesday

Luke 5:12-16

12 While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." 13 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" And immediately the leprosy left him. 14 Then Jesus ordered him, "Don't tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them." 15 Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. 16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.



^Reflect:
With so much more healing he could have done, Jesus withdraws to pray. Why?

Week Eight (Solitude) - Monday

Matthew 14:22-23a

22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray.



^Reflect:
Why does Jesus withdraw to be bu himself?