A Call to Honor the Sabbath

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VirginiaHuguenot

Puritanboard Librarian
Interesting (deficient but surprising, at least in my experience with the PCUSA) op-ed from USA Today, July 2, 2006, by a PCUSA minister:

Opinion
A call to honor the Sabbath

By Henry G. Brinton
USA Today
July 2, 2006

For all the attention paid this past year to public displays of the Ten Commandments, you'd think people would spend as much energy trying to follow them.

When it comes to the Fourth Commandment - "Remember the Sabbath Day" - that's not the case. And pastors like me, far from being role models, are among the worst offenders. After all, we work every Sunday.

The problem with ignoring the Sabbath is that it hurts us as individuals, families and communities. Wayne Muller, a therapist, minister and best-selling author, is convinced that modern life has become a violent enterprise.

We make war on our bodies by pushing them beyond their limits, war on our children by failing to give them our time, and war on our communities by failing to be kind and generous and connected to our neighbors. To bring an end to this destruction, we have to establish a healthier balance between work and rest.

Whether religious or not, people know that they need to take a day off in order to maintain their sanity and remain efficient and productive at work. But I'm convinced that downtime is not enough.

We need a formal day of rest. A true Sabbath gives us time to refresh and renew ourselves, regain proper perspective and redirect our lives to what is good and true and worthwhile.

There is something positive and even creative about allowing ourselves to take a break, as is noted in the Bible when it says God finishes the work of creation on the seventh day ... by resting (Genesis 2:2). Resting is an act of creativity.

Unfortunately, our society rewards hard-driving people who are focused on their work seven days a week, and our technology allows us to be constantly connected to the workplace through computers, cellphones and BlackBerrys.

"Modern culture's time values often seem enslaving and oppressive," says Dennis Olson, professor of Old Testament Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. "Work time seems increasingly to expand and rob us of time with family and friends. Computers and the Internet bombard us with a constant flow of data, messages and information."

And as many Americans are pulling more time at the office, they're spending less time in bed. Average amount of sleep has dropped from nine hours a night in 1910 to seven hours today. The result is that we feel harried and hurried, out of balance, out of sync.

For much of this country's history, blue laws kept businesses closed on Sundays, forcing Americans to focus on church-going, rest and relaxation. Although many people resented these limitations, these laws did have the beneficial effect of creating a day of rest. But in the past century, and particularly since the 1960s, states have relaxed these rules regulating business on Sunday as our consumer-driven culture has gone into overdrive.

What began as a trickle soon became a raging river: Today, almost every mall, theater and restaurant is operating seven days a week. Even in Europe, where church-going has been in decline for years, Sunday has been - until recently - a day in which most businesses were closed, allowing people to spend time with family members and friends.

Given this history, Sabbath-keeping is going to be a countercultural activity, one requiring commitment and creativity. A day of rest does not have to be a Saturday or a Sunday - impossible for pastors and many others - but it should be at least one day out of seven, and qualitatively different from the other six.

The key is to break away from work patterns, whether that means hobbies, sports or artistic activities. (Sabbath is related to the Hebrew verb meaning "to cease, stop, interrupt.")

"Spend more time with people in a friendly way, with meals (and) extended conversations, but no talk related to work," advises theologian Marva Dawn, author of Keeping the Sabbath Wholly: Ceasing, Resting, Embracing, Feasting.

New York Mets pitcher Pedro Martinez rests by engaging in gardening; for a professional gardener, though, Sabbath-keeping might involve playing baseball.

My own practice on Wednesday, my substitute for Sunday, always includes a long run. My thinking becomes unstructured as I jog along a beautiful wooded trail, the stress melting away and solutions to knotty problems popping into my mind. In this activity, I feel close to God. This is my way of remembering the Sabbath day, and keeping it holy.

There is a communal dimension to rest as well, one that is important for maintaining healthy relationships in our families and communities.

My son, who is trying out for his high school cross-country team, often joins me on my runs. This gives us a chance to talk without time pressures or interruptions, far from the demands of work and school.

At the end of life, we'll remember and cherish these times - these mini-sabbaticals, if you will - far more than those hours toiling away in the office. As the saying goes, no one ever says from his deathbed, "I wish I had spent more time at the office."

Ironically, we can actually be more productive if we take a break from time to time. Dawn is convinced that what we gain is "a greater eagerness to do our work and a better sense of what that work actually is."

We can learn from men and women in the European Union, who work hard but still enjoy an average of five weeks of paid vacation per year. They often remark that they don't "live to work," as we do - instead, they "work to live."

So take a vacation this summer and a Sabbath day throughout the year - whether to honor God, your family or yourself.

Henry G. Brinton is pastor of Fairfax Presbyterian Church in Virginia and author of Balancing Acts.
 
Interesting, though we just reviewed this in our Sunday school class, I wouldn't agree with his quote that "...pastors like me, far from being role models, are among the worst offenders. After all, we work every Sunday." It happens that his work is completely within the bounds of the Sabbath day! But I do agree that he should take a day off to rest and rejuvenate and be with family, etc.

And of course to take a Sabbath day in honor of oneself smacks of self-importance. The overly enthusiastic ecumenicity of the PC(USA) shows there ;-)
 
Did I miss something? Was there a word in there about God's claim on the day, and the moral duty of men to honor God according to the Scriptures on the Lord's Day? Or was it all couched in naturalistic "rest-benefits"? Therapeutic theology for the neo-heathens.

As for his crack about pastors, Jesus stated in Mt. 12:5 "Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the Temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless?" Clearly the work of ministry is integral to the right-keeping of the day. The pastor-author of the article made no reference to his obligation to minister, just offered a lame "acknowledgement" that he was more guilty than anybody.

No, pastor, actually the day itself is significant (although the principle is greater). And while you and those who are doing real "deeds of necessity" on that day need your "break" and ought to take it later for natural reasons, that fact doesn't impact the propriety with which God charges his day.

This comment is his close:
So take a vacation this summer and a Sabbath day throughout the year - whether to honor God, your family or yourself.
???!!!??? Horrible.
 
Out of pure curiosity, can anyone explain why (at least in America) we have two "sabbaths" (saturday and sunday)? The Bible seems to suggest that we should labor 6 days a week, and not 5. My guess is that Saturday was more for recreation and Sunday was set aside for worship. Does anybody know the history of the weekend?

I can see people simply refuting this guy by saying, "we take two days off every week. It's called the weekend."
 
I had a friend once say:
"How will I know when a thoroughgoing Reformation has been achieved? Well one visible way will be when we work 6 days a week."

Interesting take, no?

But, I'll add that I do value recreation. We can "work" at bread-winning employment 5 days, as long as we are not known for "lazing away" our 6th day. There is plenty fo keep us "busy" as long as we have the right attitude. But if our attitude is such that we think the 40hr work week is "biblical" and not to be criticised at any level, that's wrong, in my opinion.

[Edited on 7-3-2006 by Contra_Mundum]
 
I read that after WWI some (I think postal carriers) got a half day off on Saturdays and after WWII many began to have a shortened work week.
 
Haven't you seen the bumper stickers? Unions gave us the five-day workweek. Actually I think this claim might be accurate.
 
Originally posted by Contra_Mundum
I had a friend once say:
"How will I know when a thoroughgoing Reformation has been achieved? Well one visible way will be when we work 6 days a week."

Interesting take, no?

But, I'll add that I do value recreation. We can "work" at bread-winning employment 5 days, as long as we are not known for "lazing away" our 6th day. There is plenty fo keep us "busy" as long as we have the right attitude. But if our attitude is such that we think the 40hr work week is "biblical" and not to be criticised at any level, that's wrong, in my opinion.

[Edited on 7-3-2006 by Contra_Mundum]

I tend to agree with this. Although my professional work occupies 5 days, my Saturdays are almost always occupied by physical work and study. I do get out with my wife from time to time to walk or go sailing, but that might happen just as often on a weekday evening.

But our idea of a vacation is sitting under a tree and reading. We probably aren't very good modern role models.

Keeping active to the point of mild fatigue for 6 days actually makes me appreciate the day of rest so much more.

Vic
 
Originally posted by NaphtaliPress
I read that after WWI some (I think postal carriers) got a half day off on Saturdays and after WWII many began to have a shortened work week.

This is true. I grew up in the 50's and my parents told me that they had to go to work 1/2 day on Saturday. They even had commuter train schedules (NY Metropolitan area) to handle it.

My first summer job was in '64. I had to go in 1/2 day every other Saturday. We were all on straight salary and worked 40 h or 44 h alternate weeks.

We also had more holidays from school back in the 50's where I went and I remember more people being off work, for example, on Columbus Day, Lincoln's Birthday and Washington's Birthday. When one of them fell a Friday or Monday it was like a bonus. I guess they don't give holidays as much anymore because (theoretically) Saturday's the other day off.

:sing: Those were the days, my friend...

Enough rambling. -- Jay
 
Originally posted by Contra_Mundum
Did I miss something? Was there a word in there about God's claim on the day, and the moral duty of men to honor God according to the Scriptures on the Lord's Day? Or was it all couched in naturalistic "rest-benefits"? Therapeutic theology for the neo-heathens.

As for his crack about pastors, Jesus stated in Mt. 12:5 "Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the Temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless?" Clearly the work of ministry is integral to the right-keeping of the day. The pastor-author of the article made no reference to his obligation to minister, just offered a lame "acknowledgement" that he was more guilty than anybody.

No, pastor, actually the day itself is significant (although the principle is greater). And while you and those who are doing real "deeds of necessity" on that day need your "break" and ought to take it later for natural reasons, that fact doesn't impact the propriety with which God charges his day.

This comment is his close:
So take a vacation this summer and a Sabbath day throughout the year - whether to honor God, your family or yourself.
???!!!??? Horrible.

I agree fully, Bruce. The "call to honor the Sabbath" is anemic and in many ways contrary to the teaching of God's Word, which makes Sabbath-keeping part of the moral law binding upon all people at all times in all places, not merely for pragmatic reasons, but principial and embedded in the creation ordinance for the specific purpose of honoring Christ, whose day it is, and who conquered sin and death by his resurrection on the Lord's Day.

Nevertheless, I found it interesting that a PCUSA minister would refer to Sunday as the "Sabbath." I sat under PCUSA preaching for years, a denomination that I now consider to be apostate, and this is the first time in my life I have ever heard a PCUSA minister refer to Sunday as the Sabbath. That alone was worth :2cents:
 
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