Sabbath-keeping

I’ve been sadly mistaken about the Sabbath. I’ve often waved off this commandment when talking about the 10 Commandments . . . that all others are ones we can continue to keep but we Christians don’t keep it . . .

Perhaps it ought to be phrased, “we Americans are clueless about how to keep it.”

Walter Brueggemann says, “the sabbath commandment functions as the center and interpretive focus for the entire decalogue.” Majorie J. Thompson, from her book Family the Forming Center, continues “The Sabbath is an affirmation that God’s sovereignty and governance are to be trusted absolutely. After all, God is so secure about the order and goodness of creation that God can rest; and if God can rest, who are we to try to improve on God’s example?”

As my seven-year-old says . . . “Busted.”

Perhaps Sunday is your Sabbath? Practically this is my family’s Sabbath, but I don’t take it seriously enough at this point, but I want to learn more. My good friend, John Ogren, has written and we have talked much by phone and personally about family traditions and Sabbath-keeping. He wrote a piece in Wineskins about it, A Call to Inaction. If you can’t access the article, link Wineskins from your site or blog, then create a Wineskins log in, then tell me by email, and I’ll comp you one year subscription.