Friday, August 8, 2014

Keep The Sabbath Holy...AND....Be Flexible About What Day It Has To Be


Isaiah 56:1-2 -  This is what the LORD says: "Maintain justice and do what is right, for my salvation is close at hand and my righteousness will soon be revealed.  Blessed is the man who does this, the man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil."

 

The Sabbath was defined in Exodus 20. It was to be a day of rest. It was to be a day that the people focused only on God. It was to be a day that they worshiped him for how great and merciful he was…thanked him with sacrifices befitting the sins they needed to repent of. It was to be a day filled with only thoughts of what God had done for them…and what they could do to let God know how much they appreciated his love.

 

The Jewish people that began this tradition picked Saturday as their Sabbath….it was their 7th day.  They rested and worshiped in their homes…or traveled to the closest temple. Modern Christians began to use Sunday to rest and do their worshiping. Sunday became the day as it marked the day before the workweek began.

 

To me….it does no good to debate which day is actually the Sabbath….the point Isaiah is trying to make here is that we should set aside a time….a whole day….to rest and focus on God. He says that God will bless the one who holds at least one day of the week as holy….who doesn’t desecrate it with work….or other activities that don’t help us focus on God.

 

That sure make me reflect on some of the things that I engage in on my Sabbath.  I am one of the people who is blessed to work a 5 day week…..with 2 days off each one to do as I please. Perhaps some of the things I have done on the Sunday…my day of worship and rest…don’t always completely focus me on God.

 

And I will go ahead and open the can of proverbial worms …and say that since some people must work on my Sunday...they need to feel comfortable that they can worship on a different day. But let’s face it…not many churches offer an alternative worship service to accommodate all the different days that people are given as off days.  And people have to work…all of us do not have the perfect job…with the perfect days off….that follow the traditions of worship in the past.

 

It does my heart good to know of at least some nontraditional services in my town. Thanks goes to the 1st United Methodist church of London, Ky…who have transformed an old dollar store into a place of worship on Tuesday nights. ‘Connect’ is a casual service…with great contemporary worship music…where people are even fed a snack and given time to fellowship as they enter. They have baptized many new believers…because they have rewritten the rules of ‘WHEN’ the Sabbath has to occur.  (You can read more about it or become involved in their services by exploring this link   http://www.london1umc.org/connect   )That’s really what Jesus did when he came folks…he explained the difference in true worship….and simply keeping a rule that Moses was given.

 

Father…thank you for reminding me that I need to re-think the activities of my day of worship.  Help me to focus completely on you that day…and only do things that help me reflect on what great things you have done for me….and how I can have a stronger faith. Thank you for opening my mind to include new ways to help people find a Sabbath day that fits the crazy work world we have come to know.  I ask you to keep your promise and bless the ones that help keep Connect an opportunity of worship on Tuesday nights. Amen.

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