Rest. God commands it.

Here's a short quote about Sabbath I heard recently from a friend:

You do not need to work seven days a week. You are not God. God rested, so surely you can rest, too. You are not the creator and sustainer of your own life. All you are and all you have comes from God's provision. Stop. Be still. Trust God. Rest. 

We often categorize Sabbath as one of those commands from the Old Testament that is no longer necessary. But it's not an archaic command from the Old Testament just for ancient Israelites. It's part of the fabric of the rhythms of creation. It's in the Ten Commandments, which many Christians still value. It's also the one command from the Ten Commandments that Christians habitually ignore without blinking an eye.

Yet, Biblical passages about Sabbath suggest that Sabbath is necessary for the lives of God's people. Of course Sabbath won't save anyone. But Sabbath is fundamental to the life of faith, because Sabbath at its root reinforces a life of trust in God. Sabbath reminds us that we are not God, we are not the ones who make life "go." And Sabbath reminds us how our God does not demand or enslave, and the life we're called to is likewise different -- a witness to the God who frees us and brings life.

Sabbath is for our good; it's for our benefit! Sabbath is intended to be life-giving.

Yet, sadly we don't have time for Sabbath. We continually ignore it. And that's not a good thing.

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The word "Sabbath" refers to a specific day, but the word also communicates the idea of "stop." The Sabbath day is the "stop day." If you notice in the commands about Sabbath in the Old Testament (Exodus 20:8-11 and Deuteronomy 5:12-15), God never says anything about worship. In other words, Sabbath is not a day of worship. Sabbath is a day of stopping.

What do you stop from? Everything that you do where you are striving and trying to produce, to make your life, to perform. Sabbath frees us from the burdensome myth that we are the creators and sustainers of our lives, and invites us to actively trust that God is. If you do yard work or tasks around the house because you feel you need to sustain a certain image or make your house keep up with the latest trends, then Sabbath means stopping from that. Shopping, buying, and selling in the marketplace all are involved in the ongoing cycle of attaining, producing, and working. Sabbath is a stop from that. It all can wait a day.

But in our culture, Sabbath = lazy. If you're not constantly productive, or on the go, you might get behind. In God's economy, Sabbath = life. It's for us. It's not a command to burden us; it's a command to make sure that our lives actually have a day to breathe, to rest, to give life to ourselves and others, to heal. To rest in God.

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Over the next few weeks, we'll take a look at aspects of Sabbath and consider how we can incorporate it into our lives, our families, our homes. But don't wait! I invite you and your family to just start somewhere. Just start trying out Sabbath, and as you do, over the next few weeks we'll address the many sides to Sabbath and it's meaning for us today. As you think about it, share your thoughts and questions in the comments. We'll incorporate them into the content over the next few weeks....

For now, here are a few practical ideas to begin the journey of Sabbath-keeping at home.

1. Start small. It's no surprise that Sabbath is about as counter-cultural as it gets in our world today. This should be a sign of how un-Christian American culture really is, and has been for a long time. Keeping Sabbath for many of us is nearly impossible at this point. We can't -- or at least we tell ourselves that we can't -- just stop everything cold turkey and keep the Sabbath. And, unlike the Israelites, it's not like we've been swept up and delivered from an oppressive environment of production, from demands for 24-7 work to build up an empire that doesn't recognize God, and re-created anew to be a new people with a new way of life under a freeing and life-giving God, where Sabbath is liberation from unending striving and productivity (or have we?). At any rate, recognizing that Sabbath observance is tough sledding in our culture, maybe we should start small. Begin maybe with a "Sabbath evening" or a "Sabbath afternoon." Try a little at a time: stop from work. Maybe stop from shopping. Maybe stop from all technology and electronics just for an afternoon or evening first. Increase it to an entire day after a few weeks.

2. Don't do it alone. Sabbath is never an individual thing. The commands in Exodus and Deuteronomy involve entire families and communities. Get your whole family involved. Even better, try a "Sabbath project" with one or two other families from your church. Sabbath is not about being isolated. It's about stopping from striving and producing. Sabbath can be a time to fellowship and celebrate that God is God and we are not. Take Sabbath and gather with others while you stop and celebrate rest.

3. Talk about it. Talk about Sabbath with your spouse, your friends, your co-workers, or your family. You might be surprised at how many people wished there was a day to "stop the machine." You might be surprised at how many people do keep a Sabbath. Talking about it might help you think more about what you think and feel about Sabbath. It might help you get ideas.

So...on to it! Start stopping. I look forward to the journey with you all.

Waiting for....

Advent is a time of waiting. For many children in our society, they're waiting for...presents. Or waiting for time off from school. Or maybe they can't quite name it, but they experience this pervasive sense of anticipation. They're waiting for...something. For many children, whatever it is they're anticipating quickly fades when Christmas passes. The fulfillment proves to be short-lived.

For parents, a different sense of anticipation might be felt. Maybe some wait for what gift they'll receive from their significant other, or from their children. Maybe parents anticipate how their children will react to the celebrations and to Christmas Eve and morning rituals. But for parents there also is a sense of anticipation, of getting things ready for Christmas gatherings, anticipation of travel, and of spending time with relatives and others. Sometimes this sense of anticipation turns in to anxiety.

Famiy Values

I don't know why it's taken us so long to do this. I may be wrong, but I suspect our family dynamics and the overall health of our family might be better had we done something like this long ago.

It's not that our family is falling apart or anything. We're a normal family who have times of joy and love--times we deeply cherish and wonder if we could have it any better. But we also have moments of great tension, anger, unforgiveness, bitterness, and raising voices.

We're a typical human family. Nothing to hide. No one to impress. No image to put up.

I don't know that we'd have less struggle if we'd done things differently. I do suspect we'd have more direction and a general sense of family unity and identity, though. Again, it's not that we don't have these now, but I suspect unity and identity might be clearer and that might play out in how we live, what decisions we make, and such.

I'm talking about developing a "Family Values" statement.

Habits of Enhancement: Serving "The Least"

As we've been talking about family worship, we've been working to think in a couple directions. First, to think of worship as more than singing songs. Second, to think of worship in our families as how we live and order our home lives.


We've looked specifically at the idea of worship as a life offered to God. And we've looked at things like prayer, Scripture reading, and music not as worship in themselves, but important habits that enhance our lives of worship offered to God.


Many of us are used to associating the words "serve" and "worship" in the context of serving in a worship service. We serve by helping out with some part of the public worship service on a Sunday morning, whether that's acolyting, ushering, helping with communion, playing music, or leading a prayer.


But what if the words "serving" and "worship" should go together in a different way than this? What if associating serving and worship like we've known in the context of the Sunday worship service is not quite on track?
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Habits of Enhancement: Songs

We don't sing songs in our house.

Well, we do, but we don't sit around and sing, like, a praise song or a hymn together after we read Scripture or pray together. Just ain't gonna' happen.

It's not that we think this is bad or corny. It's just not us.

But, music is alive in our home, you can be sure of that. And we are often timely and intentional about when we play certain songs and how we go about it.

Habits of Enhancement: Reading Scripture

Reading Scripture has been a central part of Christian life for a long, long time. But it was not always something that could be done in the home. Reading Scripture in the home is a relatively recent innovation, partly due to Martin Luther and a combination of other factors, including the invention of the printing press.

Prior to this, Scripture reading was something left to the religious educated to do, the elites. But the common people were to do more than just passively receive the words of Scripture. The words of Scripture were heard (not quietly read) and then modeled in lived life. The process of hearing Scripture and then being shaped by it is a sacred thing.

This is how we want to understand the importance of reading Scripture as we think about being families who worship, as we have been taking a look at what worship is (see posts here, here, and here), and how we can be families who worship. The book inspiring these thoughts, Family Worship, holds reading Scripture highly as part of being a family who worships.

Reading Scripture itself does not make a worshiping family. Reading Scripture is another "habit of enhancement" for the purpose of inspiring lives of worship and devotion to God that are lived and experienced by others in our actions and interactions.

Habits of Enhancement: Prayer

Last week we took a look at the second chapter of Family Worship. The author gave examples of people of the past (and present) who have taught about and modeled practices that are "habits of enhancement." These are daily habits of prayer, Scripture reading, singing songs, as well as other things that enhance the life of worship.

Such habits have great importance. That's why Christians throughout generations have regularly practiced them. One cannot live the Christian life well without them.

Some of you might be thinking of something like the Faith 5, a simple method for family devotions that has been put out by Faith Inkubators in recent years. This is very similar to these habits. Faith 5 includes more than just these practices, and focuses on the importance of sharing and connecting with one another. The difference is that we're focusing more specifically on understanding these as spiritual practices that form our lives as lives of worship. 

Habits of Enhancement

We've been going through the idea of family worship, and worship in general, as we are blogging along through ideas and content from the book Family Worship. As we've been getting our minds around the idea of worship so we can practice it in the home, we've been focusing on understanding what worship is and is not. In last week's post, we looked more at worship. Particularly we looked at when "worship" isn't worship.

Chapter two of the book, Family Worship, is very interesting and helpful. In this chapter, the author takes us through stories (very briefly and just skimming the surface!) of Christians of the past who have cultivated "family worship." This includes people we know like Martin Luther, Jonathan Edwards, and Charles Spurgeon. It also includes important, yet forgotten Christians of the distant past like Tertullian (from the 3rd century) and John Chrysostom (from the 4th century).

When "worship" isn't worship

To whom to we lift and direct our hands in worship?

We can be easily fooled--by ourselves--into thinking that what we're doing, or what we've been doing is just fine if there are no clear signs to the contrary.

In the previous post one point about worship is that it is a life thing. It's not defined by the songs, the liturgy, the prayers. In fact, sometimes the songs and praises and other stuff we usually associate with "worship" can get in the way of worship.

There are times when "worship" isn't worship.

What is worship? (Part II in a series on family worship, using the book "Family Worship")

It's happened before. We get ready to go to "worship" on Sundays and I get this unsettled feeling when someone says, "Let's get ready to go to worship."

Lately, I've been inclined to say something like, "No. We're going to sing songs of praise and gather with other Christians for prayer, fellowship, and encouragement. It's part of the Christian life, but does not define worship."

Maybe you've thought this. Maybe you have not. Maybe I'm wrong. Or maybe there's something more to "worship."

As we get into the book Family Worship, it is important that we get our heads around what "worship" is in the first place.

A new book about worship...family worship

So, I am always looking for good books. New research. New ideas. New ways to say old things. Books that explain something from a different angle. Books that challenge, inform, upend, encourage.

I'm usually pretty careful of two things. First, I am careful to not always read books by writers who are "on my team." It's important, I think, that we are reading things by writers who come from a different perspective, or by writers who we might think we won't agree with completely.

Second, I am careful to read books that have some "street cred." By that, I do not mean that a book must have the approval of all reviewers. I mean that they should be found respectable and worthy of engagement, even if someone does not agree with everything said.

Well, I found one such book that fits these criteria. And I offer it to you, parents and families, as a resource. Oh, and I'll be blogging and talking through it over the next several weeks. If you want to read along, I'd invite you to get a copy also.

Small Things.

A recent article from Bicycling Magazine focuses on eleven quick and simple changes that can positively affect one's bicycling life. The article suggests that small things--the things one might think are quite insignificant, that take really little time at all, that one can easily overlook--pay big dividends.

Like drinking a glass of water first thing in the morning.

One might not think that drinking a glass of H2O at first wake is a big deal. One might even be excused in thinking that a morning glass of water has less importance for one's bicycling. But such a small thing done regularly might make all the difference.

I believe it is no different for one's faith life and discipleship to Jesus--especially in the home.

Small things make a big difference.

Practicing the Fundamentals

Little League Baseball.

Several thoughts and images just went through your mind. Little boys and girls playing in the dirt. Running to third base instead of first base after hitting the ball. Eight kids running to the ball in the outfield when someone hits it, and the one who gets it jumps up and yells, "I got it!" 

Here’s one thing: little league kids need to have regular practice in the fundamentals of the game.

If they don’t, they throw the ball all over the field, swing at bad pitches, and forget what to do with the ball if it is hit to them. Good plays are more by accident than not.

Mind the Steps

This past fall I walked my daughter into a new school. She's in middle school now. It's a new stage--for her, for my wife, and for me. And it's a new stage for her two younger brothers. They look at her differently now. My wife and I see her differently also. I still haven't adjusted to the previous changes and transitions as she's grown up. I'm still wishing she were in a stroller.

We can't stop the turning of days or the physical, mental, and emotional growth and change we all experience. Such growth and change is a necessary part of life. You stop growing and changing, and you stop living.