Subversive Sabbath Quotes

“Sabbath and the gospel scream the same thing: we do not work to get to a place where we finally get to breathe and rest—that is slavery. Rather, we rest and breathe and enjoy God that we might enter into rest.”
― A.J. Swoboda, Subversive Sabbath: The Surprising Power of Rest in a Nonstop World

“Still today, we are reminded of that truth each week when we take a day to rest in God’s presence. Sabbath is a scheduled weekly reminder that we are not what we do; rather, we are who we are loved by.”
― A.J. Swoboda, Subversive Sabbath: The Surprising Power of Rest in a Nonstop World

“It is only when we have a need and recognize it that we can confess our dependence on God and be thankful for God’s gracious hand. Humility is essentially that: recognizing our own needs and our ultimate inability to fulfill them by ourselves. Imagine the joy and thankfulness of Adam to know his need was fulfilled by God the moment Eve was created.”
― A.J. Swoboda, Subversive Sabbath: The Surprising Power of Rest in a Nonstop World

“Martin Luther echo this refrain: “God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars.”
― A.J. Swoboda, Subversive Sabbath: The Surprising Power of Rest in a Nonstop World

“For this reason, the Jewish people had many “holy days” that helped them remember the sacredness of time and God’s role in creating it. The prominent role that time plays in the Genesis narrative resulted in time being understood as sacred, or of ultimate importance, for Jewish faith.”
― A.J. Swoboda, Subversive Sabbath: The Surprising Power of Rest in a Nonstop World

“20 Another difference is the role of women in creation. In an ancient context where men, rulers, and kings alone bore God’s image, the biblical story depicts a world in which men and women are created in God’s image.21 Among patriarchal societies, no other sacred text held such a high view of women as the Hebrew Bible.”
― A.J. Swoboda, Subversive Sabbath: The Surprising Power of Rest in a Nonstop World

“The Sabbath teaches us that we do not work to please God. Rather, we rest because God is already pleased with the work he has accomplished in us.”
― A.J. Swoboda, Subversive Sabbath: The Surprising Power of Rest in a Nonstop World

“are not challenged to take it seriously themselves. The result of our Sabbath amnesia is that we have become perhaps the most emotionally exhausted, psychologically overworked, spiritually malnourished people in history.”
― A.J. Swoboda, Subversive Sabbath: The Surprising Power of Rest in a Nonstop World

“Sabbath forgetfulness is driven, so often, in the name of doing stuff for God rather than being with God. We are too busy working for him.”
― A.J. Swoboda, Subversive Sabbath: The Surprising Power of Rest in a Nonstop World

“Howard Zinn once wrote, “We can reasonably conclude that how we think is not just mildly interesting, not just a subject for intellectual debate, but a matter of life and death.”
― A.J. Swoboda, Subversive Sabbath: The Surprising Power of Rest in a Nonstop World

“The Holocaust was first conceived as a simple, inconspicuous idea—unchallenged and unquestioned by far too many.”
― A.J. Swoboda, Subversive Sabbath: The Surprising Power of Rest in a Nonstop World

“Why? Sabbath is not a reward for a job well done. Sabbath is the result of a world that is oriented toward a good and generous and loving God.”
― A.J. Swoboda, Subversive Sabbath: The Surprising Power of Rest in a Nonstop World

“Sabbath rhythms are not meant for paper; they are meant to be practiced. “Holy days, rituals, liturgies—all are like musical notations which, in themselves,” one Jewish scholar writes, “cannot convey the nuances and textures of live performance.”
― A.J. Swoboda, Subversive Sabbath: The Surprising Power of Rest in a Nonstop World

“Sabbath is a scheduled weekly reminder that we are not what we do; rather, we are who we are loved by.”
― A.J. Swoboda, Subversive Sabbath: The Surprising Power of Rest in a Nonstop World

“It is not as though we do not love God—we love God deeply. We just do not know how to sit with God anymore. We have come to know Jesus only as the Lord of the harvest, forgetting he is the Lord of the Sabbath as well. Sabbath forgetfulness is driven, so often, in the name of doing stuff for God rather than being with God.”
― A.J. Swoboda, Subversive Sabbath: The Surprising Power of Rest in a Nonstop World

“There are times we cannot meet the needs of others. There are times we trust God to help others through others. Not every need represents God’s will for our lives.”
― A.J. Swoboda, Subversive Sabbath: The Surprising Power of Rest in a Nonstop World

“Sloth of spirit is the inability to say no and have boundaries. The Sabbath straightens up our spirits and awakens us from the lull of the eternal yes. Therefore, a no is the language of intention. No one accidentally says no these days. Except for laziness, a no actually comes from a place of self-knowledge, of self-restraint, of self-awareness. For the Christian, a no should be spoken with the discernment of what God has spoken yes over. We must be sensitive to what God has called us to in order to be free to say no to other prospects. We must have ground in our week that is fallow, free from commitments, free of obligations, a place where life can flourish. A no creates healthy margin in our lives. Have you said no to someone today?”
― A.J. Swoboda, Subversive Sabbath: The Surprising Power of Rest in a Nonstop World

“The root sin of busyness is sloth—that laziness of spirit in which the muscles of intention of discernment and boundary have atrophied.”
― A.J. Swoboda, Subversive Sabbath: The Surprising Power of Rest in a Nonstop World

“Both Sabbath and worship have largely become individualized—a difficult reality we must be sensitive to when thinking through the Sabbath. Without being sentimental, I do wonder whether something critical is lost when we disconnect our corporate worship from our Sabbath. I even wonder whether something is lost when we stop donning our Sunday best.”
― A.J. Swoboda, Subversive Sabbath: The Surprising Power of Rest in a Nonstop World

“Margin is difficult to keep in a community. But without space, there cannot be community. To reflect this, our church has intentionally opted not to have a midweek worship gathering. We could have one. But we wanted to create space in people’s week for them to be able to say yes to their neighbors and those around them. Christian community can easily become a place where we are so crammed with activities that we do not have time to do the things that Jesus cares most deeply about—such as loving the lost in our neighborhoods. The Sabbath, in our experience, creates a unique opportunity to share the gospel. For in that one day a week, we are unfettered with activity and can actually spend some time with those whom we live alongside.”
― A.J. Swoboda, Subversive Sabbath: The Surprising Power of Rest in a Nonstop World

“Margin is difficult to keep in a community. But without space, there cannot be community.”
― A.J. Swoboda, Subversive Sabbath: The Surprising Power of Rest in a Nonstop World

“Sabbath is never linked to fasting in either Jewish or Christian traditions. A fast suggests a demure, sad environment. But joy rules the Sabbath.”
― A.J. Swoboda, Subversive Sabbath: The Surprising Power of Rest in a Nonstop World

“We do not live differently for the sake of living differently. Rather, we know that these contrarian patterns become signs to the world of who we are. Christians, with our belief that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, should be the healthiest people in the world”
― A.J. Swoboda, Subversive Sabbath: The Surprising Power of Rest in a Nonstop World

“in the tribal church of our time, it is often assumed that progressive and conservative Christians have different interests: one cares for animals, and one does not, at least not as a point of doctrine. It is assumed that the work of evangelism and preaching and doctrine are the things that conservative Christians care deeply about and that issues of justice and activism and politics are the issues with which liberals are concerned. But why should conservatives not do justice? Why should liberals not do evangelism? Justice and evangelism cannot be done without the other. The gospel is hypocritical without the social gospel, and the social gospel hollow without the gospel.”
― A.J. Swoboda, Subversive Sabbath: The Surprising Power of Rest in a Nonstop World

“We should limit how much beef we eat, because the amount of water, fossil fuel, and grain it takes to procure one pound of beef is nearly unimaginable. We should recycle. And precycle—buy things that have as little packaging as possible. We should do our best to walk and take public transportation and offset our fuel by giving generously to those who are helping plant trees around the world through organizations such as the Eden Project. But perhaps the most important thing we can do immediately to positively impact the health of the planet is to begin to take a Sabbath. If we work six days a week, it very well may be that we can limit one-seventh of our carbon footprint because we are not commuting on that day.”
― A.J. Swoboda, Subversive Sabbath: The Surprising Power of Rest in a Nonstop World

“A Christian cares for the things God cares for. I call this “borrowed compassion.” The original compassion is not ours. It is God’s compassion. We care because God cares. And compassion is connected to pain, not comfort. Jesus had compassion on people and felt the pain that they felt. When we watch the news and see stories about how creation is being harmed by the way we live, we should feel pain. We should hurt. We should groan. In leading our church community, when I feel the pain of the decisions of people who have chosen themselves over others, who have chosen sin over righteousness, who have chosen selfishness over service, I should hurt. Christianity is never about arriving at a place in life where we are insulated and free from the pain of the world. We need to feel it. Compassion is feeling the pain of God in our guts and being moved to actually do something about it. In fact, I think our obsessive, overworked lives are situated in such a way that we do not have to feel the pain of the world. In insulating ourselves so, we do the world a disservice. We do what Douglas John Hall calls “psychic numbing”—we surround ourselves with activity to protect our hearts and minds from having to feel the compassion of Jesus for this world.19”
― A.J. Swoboda, Subversive Sabbath: The Surprising Power of Rest in a Nonstop World

“If there is a person who should be encouraged in the taking of the Sabbath, it is the youth pastor. Not to mention we should be training them for lifelong ministry. Sabbath-breaking, of course, cannot sustain lifelong ministry. “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it” (Prov. 22:6). That points us to the communal side of Sabbath-keeping. For we almost always pass along to others what we ourselves have received from others.”
― A.J. Swoboda, Subversive Sabbath: The Surprising Power of Rest in a Nonstop World

“We have forgotten we have Ten Commandments. Again, for the person who says that we no longer need to rest, I would be curious which of the other commandments they think are antiquated. Is the commandment against murder to be done away with? May we finally lie? Is adultery okay now? Is stealing okay now? We have basically changed a commandment into a suggestion.”
― A.J. Swoboda, Subversive Sabbath: The Surprising Power of Rest in a Nonstop World

“I learned much from the experience. The responses, for one, were intriguing. Generally, people asked me two main questions. The first was “What do I do on the Sabbath?” Such a question is very American, isn’t it? What do I do? We are addicted to doing. Being is not even a category we are able to entertain. The second was “How do I make time for the Sabbath?” Again, we cannot make time. We are human. God makes time. And the assumption that we can make time is dangerously hurtful to our well-being. I have come to the conclusion that the topic of Sabbath-keeping is so hostile to American Christianity because Americans often worship their time. We think time is ours.”
― A.J. Swoboda, Subversive Sabbath: The Surprising Power of Rest in a Nonstop World

“Do not forget that physical rest is only one form of rest. Sabbath is about holistic healthy living, not just sleep or rest. God desires us to have spiritual, physical, mental, social, and emotional health. One can get all the physical sleep and rest one needs yet still be deeply drained spiritually. Or vice versa. That may mean that on the Sabbath day you need exercise. Again, in my own work of pastoral care, sweat is not a normal part of my job. If my heart rate goes up, it is the result of stress and anxiety. I do a lot of sitting, talking, listening, reading, and writing. Because a majority of my job is deskbound, I find that on the Sabbath day I need rest from my sedentary work by entering into some kind of physical activity. This may include spending time in the garden or playing basketball. I remember spending one Sabbath day picking up piles of wood that lay around our house. Such an activity, I agree, may seem ironic given the Old Testament admonition against picking up sticks on the Sabbath day. But that, for me, was the most restful thing I could do that day. The principle is this: the Sabbath is opposite day. By that, I mean that it is wise to aim our Sabbath activities around what we do not ordinarily do for work. Maybe you will need to pick up sticks on the Sabbath. Maybe you work the land and need a day to sit and read. For those whose work is physically demanding, the Sabbath may be most restful when it does not include physical activity. For others whose work is more sedentary or mental, perhaps physical activity is what is needed. The Sabbath offers us a counterrhythm to whatever we have been doing for the workdays.”
― A.J. Swoboda, Subversive Sabbath: The Surprising Power of Rest in a Nonstop World