A Sabbath Sunday

Taking notes from the Rest Pro.

A couple months ago, our internet went out after severe storms in Newnan. (A very minor inconvenience compared to the many homes that were completely destroyed or seriously damaged from tornadoes.)

In The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, John Mark Comer (apparently my latest pastor crush, second only to Andy Stanley) describes the way he spends Sabbath with his family. Since pastors work on Sunday, JMC’s family observes the Sabbath on Saturday. They turn off all of their devices for 24 hours. They walk and read and rest and pray and play.

“The Sabbath is an invitation to enter delight. The Sabbath, when experienced as God intended, is the best day of our lives. Without question or thought, it is the best day of the week. It is the day we anticipate Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday--and the day we remember on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Sabbath is the holy time where we feast, play, dance, have sex, sing, pray, laugh, tell stories, read, paint, walk, and watch creation in its fullness. Few people are willing to enter the Sabbath and sanctify it, to make it holy, because a full day of delight and joy is more than most people can bear in a lifetime, let alone a week.” -- Dan Allender

I’ve been thinking a lot about the Sabbath, its importance and implications. I’ve casually wondered how I could observe the Sabbath more obediently, but that’s about all I’ve done: casually wondered.

But when we came home to no internet or cable on a Sunday, it gave us a chance to experiment with a relatively screen-free Sabbath, albeit not by choice.

We read. We napped. We sous vide pork and made milkshakes. We slowed down, and we did watch one of our five DVDs—Iron Man.

And it felt unbelievably rejuvenating.

"We rest. We play. No work. God loves us." -- Marty Solomon's Sabbath slogan

There is a lot that can qualify as rest, but there is only one place to find true rest, and that is Jesus.

And try as we might, I just don’t think we’re going to find that rest in Netflix or newsfeeds.

Maybe we find it when we unplug from all that is tying us down and lean into what sets us free.

I don’t know yet what our Sabbath rhythm is going to be, but I hope it involves fewer screens and more presence, because what fills us up is often found in physical and spiritual connection, not an internet one.