My notes for this morning.
two spiritual disciplines are being considered today. The daily office and the sabbath.
The second one actually on of the ten commandments, and we will spend the bulk of our time here, because of it prominence in the Bible.
But the daily office is also in the bible, and I would like for us to consider it for a few moments
Jesus got up early to pray (which was his custom) Daniel prayed three times a day. David in psalms lists six times of day that he likes to pray.
We even see the disciples in the book of acts getting together daily to pray.
So it would seem that for us to develop a habit of praying at regular times during the day would not be make us "strange or unusual" Christians, but rather, would put us in good company in the pages of the Bible.
There are some questions, which are actually answered fairly easily.
1) what should I do during my daily time of prayer? - stop - ask for direction - ready/study/listen to some sort of instruction in Godliness - reflect -pray again
2) There is no specific formula. It seems that God has as many ideas about how to interact with him as he has children. Each of us is different, and Paul makes a point of saying that we should not judge each other as we choose different ways to interact with God.
3) It is mostly about the heart. Is your practice leading you to fall deeper in love with Jesus? Then you should keep it up. Is your practice leading to a dry faith, and bitterness, and frustration - then stop! To do something, when there is no joy associated with the practice, will not create within you the desired outcome.
4) Do something!
Now lets turn to the sabbath rest - because the bible has a bit more to say about this and we will need to consider it at some length to fully understand the practice.
The book suggests four phases of a true sabbath
1) stop - this requires quite a bit of faith in our go-go-go culture. Do we believe that if we stop and do nothing toward our goals on one day a week that we will be able to accomplish those goals in the other seven.
I must admit that this is not something I have done well. I have not done it in my own life, and I have not taught it to others.
monday is my "sabbath." But if there is no other day that will work, I often schedule things. I will meet with people. I will attempt to do a little extra work to get a head start on the week.
But God has instructed us to stop. And we should listen to him.
2) rest
second aspect of a proper sabbath is rest. The question here is "what recharges your batteries?" What activity allows you to unplug and disengage and relax. This again is different for each person. For some this means going for a run, or going skiing or flying a kite, or riding a bike, or reading.
The trick here is to allow the "stopping" to flow into a "restful" day. Often scheduled stopping becomes a "make up" day for all the things you did not get done. This is not "resting."
I remember being quite fascinated by the sabbath practices of the orthodox Jewish people who live Cherry Creek. Heidi and I lived there for about six months at the end of my seminary days, and we observed families walking to the synagogue on Saturday. The walked because "starting a car" would be work. They had to live within a certain distance of the synagogue because walking too far would be "work."
3) delight
The third aspect of sabbath rest that we are going to look at today is "delight."
We know we have accomplished a state of "rest" when we start to take notice of, and fully enjoy simple things. Are we able to enjoy a conversation with a friend. Are we able to taste food. We are able to see a sunrise, or a flower and truly enjoy it.
4) contemplate.
Finally, we are to spend time during our Sabbath thinking about God. This is why for most of us, sabbath is Sunday. This is the day we come together to worship God. To think deeply about his words. To open our hearts to his instruction. This is one of the big reasons we gather here as a faith community every week.
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