I Release My Anxieties
Stop.
Take a deep breath. As you breathe in say, “You grant me grace.” As you breathe out say, “I release my anxieties.” Repeat as many times as you need.
Listen.
“You shall keep my sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, given in order that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. You shall keep the sabbath, because it is holy for you; everyone who profanes it shall be put to death; whoever does any work on it shall be cut off from among the people. It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.” Exodus 31:13b-14, 17
Reflect.
Go back and re-read that passage from Exodus and ask yourself how seriously God considers the commandment to rest on the Sabbath. You read that right: seriously enough that the punishment for not observing the Sabbath should be death.
I’m not arguing that we start enforcing this rule. I hope we can agree that it’s a rule that requires a little bit of nuance in modern society. But the intent remains: if God needed a day of rest, you need a day of rest. You need it so badly that refusing to recognize it will kill you.
Sabbath stands as one of the most counter-cultural commandments in Christianity. It insists that our worth is not in our output. Sabbath requires us to completely stop. We reevaluate who we are and who God calls us to be. We reconsider if what we’re doing with our time matches our faith and priorities. We step away from a system that insists you’re only worth what you can do and back into a system that assures you of the worth of your life simply because you have been created by God.
It’s really easy to justify not taking this break. We usually crave stability, not health, so it’s much easier to just keep doing what we’re doing no matter how poorly it functions. It’s one of the strange benefits of this pandemic era. We’ve all been forced to stop doing much of what we were doing. Now, as things restart and reengage, we all have the constant crisis: what do we return to? What value might be found in doing less and being more?
As you continue to ask these hard questions, I hope you can reprioritize Sabbath. For people of faith, Sabbath means rest as well as a return to God. It’s why the pattern of worship is engrained in Christian life. For at least one day in a week, we need to step out of the message that you have to do more and into worship and community, where you know you are valued just as you are.
Pray.
God, I praise you for the gift of the Sabbath. Work that gift in my life, not only for a day of rest and worship each week, but also that I would find small times for rest in my day and large portions for rest in my months and years. May I be renewed by these holy pauses so I may again rest in you. Amen.
Carry On.
You’ve got a few days until Sunday, the usual day for Sabbath in our tradition. How will you make it a day of worship and rest? How will you give it the priority that God intends?