We Are All Welcoming Sabbath Now
Friday evening prayer from Gates of Prayer
A few years ago, God grabbed me by the shoulders and said, “It’s time to rest.” I wish I could say I went willingly into the truths of Matthew 11:28–30 and Isaiah 30:15 but old habits are hard to break and programmed ways of living take time to dissolve in the light of truth.
Thankful that God’s mercies are new every morning, I began to listen to His voice calling me to a new way of life. A Sabbath lifestyle. An understanding of the rest of God that I had failed to grasp from all the years of reading the Bible and faithful church attendance.
I stumbled upon this call to Sabbath prayer and decided to meditate on it while I memorized it.
It seems like the whole world has been called in for Sabbath, doesn’t it? In light of the dangers of spreading and/or contracting the coronavirus, being inside, shut away, and sheltered seems like a wise choice.
If we don’t regulate ourselves, the world, or tragedy, will step in and do it for us. If we don’t pick a day to rest, our bodies will pick it for us.
I am particularly drawn to the second-to-last line in this prayer. It’s as if the earth has declared “Enough!” We cannot push ourselves to exhaustion without paying the price — everything comes with a cost. We cannot push the earth to depletion and chaos without paying the price.
“Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” — (Psalm 90:12, NIV)
As you shelter in place (an imposed Sabbath), I pray you will consider your role on this planet. Will you love life enough to let it cease for one hour a day, one day a week, and live a Sabbath lifestyle — denounce overproduction, greed, and consumerism?
Will you join me in ceasing — not just when we are forced to — but as a choice. Because, even when this crisis is over, this truth will remain: no longer can we tear the world apart to make our fire.
Welcoming Sabbath
“Our noisy day has now descended with the sun beyond our sight.
In the silence of our praying place we close the door upon the hectic joys and fears, the accomplishments and anguish of the week we have left behind.
What was but moments ago the substance of our life has become a memory; what we did must now be woven into what we are.
On this day we shall not do, but be.
We are to walk the path of our humanity, no longer ride unseeing through a world we do not touch and only vaguely sense.
No longer can we tear the world apart to make our fire.
On this day heat and warmth and light must come from deep within ourselves.”
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