Keeping a Sabbath Every Week, Part 1
Exodus 20:8-11
Deuteronomy 5:12-15
Mark 2:23-28
We keep a Sabbath every Sunday, beginning with a special dinner on Saturday evening and avoiding our normal work activities until after dinner on Sunday evening. This requires a lot of purpose, a bit of planning, and sometimes extra work on Friday and Saturday, but the rewards make it more than worthwhile. I find it's somewhat like tithing: it hurts at first but I find myself able to do more during the week because I've set apart Sunday in a special way for the Lord and His work, just as I find my money goes further and there's more of it for my pleasure when I've set apart the first portion for the Lord. It's helpful for me to remember that it's not a day of rest (i.e. to sleep in and do whatever I'd like). It's a day set apart for the Lord, a day to honor Him and to worship Him with other Christians. Maybe it would be more relaxing if we didn't regularly have guests over for both Saturday and Sunday dinners, or if my diet (gluten free) allowed me some more shortcuts on meals such as buying a loaf of bread. But I have found ways to make the weekends more peaceful and I'm always implementing new strategies that make a great thing even better. If you keep a weekly Sabbath, I'd love to hear what you do to make it even more fruitful. I'll post (periodically? regularly? weekly?) some of the techniques and recipes I use to avoid my regular work on Sundays while still hosting extra guests, participating in extra activities outside our home, and having extra special dinners both Saturday and Sunday evenings.
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Linked with Works for Me Wednesday and Simple Lives Thursday
I'm definitely intrigued! Can you be more specific? Do you keep tv/computers turned off? Spend time as a family? etc...
ReplyDeleteMy hubby and I recently took part in our church-wide Daniel Fast....those 19 days were much more peaceful in so many ways. Have a common purpose knit us closer together.
Denise (dropping by from Simple Lives Thursday)
I'm definitely going to continue writing about this every Wednesday for several weeks or even months. Some of that will be what we do as a family. Much more though will be more practical prioritization and realistic goals that can be adapted for any family or any individual.
DeleteThe quick answer: we don't avoid media although we've considered it at times. We usually don't have much time for it though. Most weeks we spend Sat evening to Sun evening together as a family, attend church every Sunday and a prayer meeting most Sundays. We usually have guests once or twice during that time or are guests at someone else's home. These meals are special memory-makers, generally including bread, juice/wine, dessert, and other dishes a step up from weeknight meals. Saturday evening in particular is spent on family activities. Sunday in between church and prayer meeting is as low-key as possible, almost always including a family naptime and leftovers for lunch.
What we don't do: laundry, cleaning, filling cars with gas, schoolwork, avoidable cooking, gardening, husband's work, etc.