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The holy comes in a moment when we are captured by beauty, and a dance of delight swirls us beyond the moment to taste the expanse of eternity in, around, and before us.
The holy usually comes in unexpected, utterly surprising moments where the gift of goodness opens our heart to wonder and gratitude.
Delight doesn’t require a journey thousands of miles away to taste the presence of God, but it does require a separation from the mundane, an intentional choice to enter joy and follow God as he celebrates the glory of his creation and his faithfulness to keep his covenant to redeem the captives.
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.
The Sabbath is not merely a good idea; it is one of the Ten Commandments. Jesus did not abrogate, cancel, or annul the idea of the Sabbath. In the Ten Commandments, the fourth (Sabbath) is the bridge that takes us from the first three, which focus on God, to the final five, which concentrate on our relationships with others.
The Sabbath is a day of delight for humankind, animals, and the earth; it is not merely a pious day and it is not fundamentally a break, a day off, or a twenty-four-hour vacation.
The Sabbath is a feast day that remembers our leisure in Eden and anticipates our play in the new heavens and earth with family, friends, and strangers for the sake of the glory of God.
it is still rare for someone to publically tout his or her violation of the Ten Commandments, with one exception—our debasement with busyness. We love to tell others how much we work, how much we still have to get done, and how overwhelmed we are with the exhaustion of our labor. We admire busyness, speed, and productivity, yet we envy those whose leisure time is abundant.
If we violate his normative structure, there will be consequences that spiral through all dimensions of life.
Sabbath is the healthiest air for us to breathe, and it requires we obey God’s command and turn from anything less desirous.
Many who take the Sabbath seriously and intentionally ruin it with legislation and worrisome fences that protect the Sabbath but destroy its delight.
The Sabbath is simply not a day to “perform” religious activities and then to claim the rest of the day for thoughtless routine or mere entertainment or diversions.
Many who minister in our churches as pastors may celebrate the Sabbath on Monday or Friday; in fact, most who work in the church live in the endless cycle of religious tedium and chronic exhaustion.
It is not enough, and it doesn’t satisfy, even for a minute. The end only increases the desire for more—it doesn’t bring awe or gratitude. This is the energy of consumerism, the heartbeat of a self-serving capitalism.
Sabbath is not about time off or a break in routine. It is not a minivacation to give us a respite so we are better prepared to go back to work. The Sabbath is far more than a diversion; it is meant to be an encounter with God’s delight.
In fact, if we enter the Sabbath with joy, then it will spill its abundance into the other six days, thus keeping us from indulging in idolatrous overwork that leads to even more intense indulgence in riotous pleasure. The Sabbath is the kind of delight that leads to life.
It is about good food, drink,music, conversation, and the remembrance of sitting with God in the garden.
Sabbath is our re-creating the garden and recreating in the new heavens and earth.
what would I do for a twenty-four-hour period of time if the only criteria was to pursue my deepest joy?
The choice to go—to Sabbath—in the face of uncertainty and struggle is the true war with Sabbath.
We often fail to create a day of delight because to do so compels us to stand against the division, destitution, and despair that often holds us captive the other six days of the week.
Boasting about work is a national pastime. The one who works harder, against greater odds, and with fewer resources to gain the greatest ground wins. We are proud that we shoulder such immense responsibility and push our plow with the pride of aristocracy. Sabbath yanks us off our high horse, and for that reason alone few wish to dismount.
The proud, exhausted work addict believes he can cheat the fate of Sisyphus.
Is church attendance meant to be part of our Sabbath? It certainly depends on when you celebrate the day and when you attend church. Church service and Sabbath practice may be overlapped or distinct.
break, not a Sabbath. What is the difference? My friend’s day was merely time off from work. Eugene Peterson calls this version of a Sabbath a “bastard Sabbath.”
“I don’t know what to do with a day that is meant to be full of delight.” One person added, “Sabbath scares me because I am so much more comfortable with work, not play. I don’t know what to do with joy.”
Are we doing what brings us delight, or are we merely doing what is expected if we are to keep our lives on the path we are on—the path that, honestly, we don’t want? If asked at any one moment, “Are you experiencing joy?” most of us would be befuddled or irritated.
To consider what delights us is to stand accused by the countless moments of onerous obligation and unfulfilled dreams.
we would rather settle for distraction than open our hearts to what seems beyond our wildest dreams.
We are driven because our work brings us power and pride that dulls our deeper desire for delight.
Joy is lighter than sorrow and escapes our grasp with a fairylike, ephemeral adieu.2 Sorrow settles in like a 280-pound boar that has no intention of ever departing. One calls us to action and the other to grace. Which is easier: to work for your salvation with the self-earned power of self-righteousness or to receive what is not deserved or owed, but freely given and fully humbling?
It is suggested by many Jewish commentators that God created menuha on the seventh day. Menuha is the Hebrew word for rest, but it is better translated as joyous repose, tranquility, or delight.
God didn’t rest in the sense of taking a nap or chilling out; instead, God celebrated and delighted in his creation. God entered the joy of his creation
God’s rest on the seventh day of creation is paralleled by the birthing process and the period after birth, when the labor is finished yet the bonding begins.
God gazes in rapture at his creation and says, “She is so beautiful.” We do not know what else God did or didn’t do on the seventh day, but we can assume that his gaze did not vary or his delight wane as the day progressed. Instead, his infinite delight grew in wonder and joy as he surveyed all he created and declared that it was good.
In this book, we will build a case for delight by looking at the Sabbath as a festival that celebrates God’s re-creative, redemptive love. The festival involves four key components: sensual glory rhythmic repetition communal feasting just playfulness
The core of delight is our capacity to worship, to create and enter beauty as a reminder and anticipation of God’s goodness.
boundary between the Sabbath and all other time. The war involves guilt and shame-based demands that we “do it right” so no one can accuse our motives or deeds, including God.
“Whom do you thank for all this glory?”
It is never enough to encounter awe alone or with others. Awe takes our breath away, and a moment of wonder returns us to the childlike sensation of being small in the face of something—Someone—bigger. Awe is humbling.
Awe must propel us to gratitude.
What intrigues, amazes, tickles your fancy, delights your senses, and casts you into an entirely new and unlimited world is the raw material of Sabbath.
The only parameter that is to guide our Sabbath is delight.
Delight requires the courage to be attentive, intentional, and diligent. It will not happen without planning and preparation. It requires I ask myself, and my spouse, and my children, and my friends, and others: What will bring us joy? We must be guided by creation to engage creation.
All that is required is to know that God dances in his creation. Tune your senses to the play of God, and when you are ready, join in the Sabbath dance.
The Sabbath is not merely an event that happens in time; it redefines the nature of time and how we are to live it.
time doesn’t have to be redeemed or used or stolen or made or spent; instead, we are called to submit to time as the medium in which we live.
Time is not lost or gained, spent or used—one can only do that with space: time can only be honored as a gift. When we see time as a machine, then when it appears to break, we can do little but vent our frustration and wait for the expert to help us, rather than to submit and honor the One who has created time for our delight.
Sabbath remembers creation and anticipates re-creation. It is an eschatological event that prefigures a sin-free, glory bound world. As we remember Eden in the Sabbath celebration, we also imagine and anticipate the renewed and redeemed garden that is to come.
Learning to dance with the Sabbath is infinitely more important; therefore, it is far, far more difficult. It requires that we receive, intend, and protect the day.
