Sabbath for your Soul

Ordering Your Private World by Gordon McDonald 

The Rest of God: Restoring Your Soul by Restoring Sabbath by Mark Buchanan 

“Confessions of a Former Sabbath Breaker” – Article by Eugene Peterson 

Kasey Olander: 

Welcome to The Table, where we discuss issues of God and culture. I'm Kasey Olander. I'm the web content specialist here at the Hendricks Center at Dallas Theological Seminary, and today we're going to be discussing Sabbath. So we are joined by Dr. Sten-Erik Armitage and Dr. Shawn Shannon. Shawn is minister of spiritual formation at Tallwood Baptist Church and she's also a former campus minister with Baptist Student Ministry, which is how she and I initially got connected. Shawn, thank you so much for being here. 

Shawn Shannon: 

I'm glad to be here with you. 

Kasey Olander: 

I'm excited for this discussion. Sten-Erik, you are Assistant Professor of Pastoral Ministries at DTS and Lead Pastor at Trinity Fellowship Church. Thanks for joining us today. 

Sten-Erik Armitage: 

Oh, it's a pleasure to be here. 

Kasey Olander: 

I'm really looking forward to it. So I'll just start to put my cards on the table, no pun intended. Sabbath is something that I'm really interested in and really passionate about, but I know that we as Christians a lot of times have different opinions about Sabbath today. So even as we as brothers and sisters might land in different spots, it is still one of the 10 Commandments. And so it's mentioned several times in Scripture and for that reason, I figured it was something that was worth our time to reflect on and to talk about. And so I'm really excited to have each of you join me today, and I figured that we would start off by just setting the table, talking about well, what is Sabbath? What is our topic today? So Sten-Erik, why don't we start with you? 

Sten-Erik Armitage: 

Sure. Just at a base definitional level, Sabbath is Shabbat, which means to cease. We often think it's to rest, but it's to cease, to stop. 

Kasey Olander: 

Yeah. What about you, Shawn? Anything to add to that? 

Shawn Shannon: 

Is it is simultaneously a command because it really is right there, fourth command, and a gift. And so I think sometimes in our culture, we think a command, a demand, an order is something that is not really for us, it's for the advantage of somebody else. That's not true here. It is a command, it is a gift. 

Sten-Erik Armitage: 

I like that language of gift because we think about that first Sabbath on that seventh day. God, his presence filled creation completely on that seventh day, and I think about our contemporary practice of Sabbath. We should be filling our day, our mind, our hearts with the peace and the rest of God. It's a time that we can luxuriate in his presence, and that's a gift anytime we can do that. 

Kasey Olander: 

Yeah. So you're talking about the presence of God, but you Sten-Erik, you mentioned ceasing. What are we ceasing? 

Sten-Erik Armitage: 

So God ceased creating because it is finished, it was done, and so he stopped that productive work. So traditionally when we talk about ceasing with Sabbath, it's ceasing anything that is productive, anything that's obligatory or anything that would cause others to work on our behalf. That's the traditional idea. 

Kasey Olander: 

Yeah. So maybe some examples of what is work? What is obligatory, productive? 

Sten-Erik Armitage: 

Well, work is a good thing. Work is in the garden. A man was created to work. Toil is what happened after the fall, right? 

Kasey Olander: 

Important distinction. 

Sten-Erik Armitage: 

Work is something that we do that glorifies God, that can be life-giving both in what we're doing and how we're doing it, where toil is that grind, that pain. That now this is necessary just to exist idea, and what we're ceasing is that toil, because we're resting in what God has done. But as far as the production, just as God was done making, so we are done doing the things we're obligated to do, taking a minute to recognize the world will keep spinning. My company will continue to exist. My ministry will continue to thrive without me steering the wheel. God's got this. 

Kasey Olander: 

Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. 

Shawn Shannon: 

When Sabbath is first mentioned, it's before the commandments were given. God let his people know, "I'm going to feed you, I'm going to give you manna," and that was Sabbath. This was their introduction to that. And can you imagine what it's like for people who are trying to live away from home, they're living in the wilderness, to go to bed every night with knowing the pantry would be full for tomorrow? So there's always that gift. An interesting thing about Sabbath for me is that the first thing that God calls holy in His word isn't a space, it isn't a people, it's time. That you get to the first dimension of when he rested and he called it holy. Who knew that the thing that most commonly we interact with that's holy is time? It's this time. 

Then when we get the commandments, the mention in Exodus 20, it's tied to creation like Sten-Erik was just talking about. God ceased. He didn't stop creation and then rest, the rest was part of creation. It was the culmination of creation. And so we're invited to remember the Sabbath, and it's a time for worship. But then when we get to Deuteronomy, we're asked to observe the Sabbath and it's tied to being freed from slavery. This is being said to people who because they're slaves had worked for 400+ years without a day off, and suddenly they're invited into something new, sadly, which wasn't something that the people around them were doing. And so for me, it's back to this is a gift. Remembering, observing, creation, Exodus. Here, God is helping us by giving it a name, Sabbath. 

Kasey Olander: 

That's really interesting. I like that you highlight that, the first thing that is called holy is time. I feel like there's in today's culture, simultaneously we're always keeping track of time. We have to go to the next meeting, we have to have our next. We're always looking at the clock and at the same time, time is something that we take for granted where we have electricity, we could work around the clock if we wanted to. 

And so it's interesting, we don't always stop to think about something like time being holy as opposed to something that dictates our lives or something that we can try to control with technology or what have you. So we have talked a little bit so far about what we might do for Sabbath, but I guess to take a step back a little bit, what are some of the different views that Christians might have today about Sabbath? Surely not everybody thinks of it the exact same way, but Shawn, why don't we start with you? What are I think a few of the ways, the places people might land as they think about Sabbath for Christians today? 

Shawn Shannon: 

I would be delighted to think that Christians think about Sabbath, just to be honest. I think growing up, I didn't receive any instruction about it. Sometimes Sabbath and Sunday were used interchangeably in my world without much explanation, and so it took some outside sources to introduce me to Sabbath. It took the Holy Spirit to convince me about Sabbath. I'm not talking about those things, but I'm making an assumption here. I think a lot of believers just don't think much about it. I don't think our culture thinks about it. 

Probably when I was growing up, there was a sense that Sabbath was something that some people held to that was restrictive, so it meant certain things were closed on Sunday. That was about as far as it went, but without explanation except that that seemed to be for some people, pleasing God. I have had very little but some interaction with Seventh Day Adventists and they hold to their conviction that the day of the week matters, so that's one aspect of different Sabbath beliefs, and they have excellent biblical background on that. And then I think there is a general, sometimes unconscious really, that the Sabbath no longer applies, that there's no longer Sabbath. I have some thoughts about that. 

So probably in the world in which I traffic, there are some people who have ideas of a real restrictive sort of Sabbath, it must happen on a Sunday, some who believe it must happen on a Saturday, and some who believe it just doesn't matter at all. Those are at least categories. And then there's people who are either Sabbath observers or the category I put myself in, I'm a Sabbath attempter. I never quite get it right. When I got to the end of my Sabbath this past week, I realized two things that were really missing and I felt it, but I haven't given up. I'm a persistent Sabbath attempter because it's such a gift. So those are my thoughts about what I see about Sabbath. Sten-Erik, I want to hear your thoughts then I'd like to talk a little bit about what happens with Sabbath in the New Testament. 

Sten-Erik Armitage: 

Yeah. I think you nailed it. It's that spectrum between completely unaware of what Sabbath is other than a word that floats around church sometimes to an overly legalistic observation of Sabbath, where they bring everything back into it. But I think the most common in our circles is that view of Sabbath, that's supposed to be on Sundays, but it's not practical because we have so much to do and it wasn't commanded in the New Testament, so we don't have to do it. 

Kasey Olander: 

And I think like you guys have highlighted, a lot of times people just haven't thought about it. I was like, "Well, that's why it would merit a conversation. I would love to reflect on it." 

Sten-Erik Armitage: 

There you go. 

Kasey Olander: 

Have a discussion. But Shawn? 

Shawn Shannon: 

I did a project with campus ministers. It was a project of a program of spiritual formation for first year full-time campus ministers, and one of the invitations in that was to observe Sabbath monthly. Worked with this group for four or five months and one of the interesting things was helping people not immediately substitute the idea of day off for Sabbath. "For my day off," it's like, no, no, no, no, no, this is a day for. This is not a day off. 

Kasey Olander: 

Perhaps if you- 

Shawn Shannon: 

It's time as we don't normally practice it. It's something that really for most would not be in our lives, except for God's ask and God's gift. But I have heard though Sabbath really isn't mentioned in the New Testament, Jesus heals at least seven times on the Sabbath and Sten-Erik, you may agree, it seems pretty intentional. 

Sten-Erik Armitage: 

Oh, yes. 

Shawn Shannon: 

He's restoring that healing aspect to the day. One thing that argues well for me, that Sabbath is taking the disciples and Jesus as an example. What happened after the crucifixion? And depending on whether or not there are seven times during the year that there are two Sabbaths in a row with our Jewish brothers and sisters, this was one of them. Well, I've wondered where was Jesus between the crucifixion and the resurrection? Why not say he was observing Sabbath? He had this lifelong practice of there's Sabbath. His disciples, who I could not fault at all for running around trying to do all sorts of things on the Sabbath after he passed away, apparently it wasn't even a question for them. 

They did not move out and move toward the tomb until after Sabbath. When Jesus is talking about the Sabbath, he describes himself as the Lord of the Sabbath. I don't think he would make himself Lord of something that no longer existed. And it seems like his big interaction with Sabbath was it's redemption. So I see, and then you get into Acts and the times that Paul is in the synagogue on the Sabbath day because worship was a part of that. So it just seems to me that it was meant to continue. There was no canceling of the Sabbath. Why would there be? All these people that I take as my teachers observed the Sabbath. 

Kasey Olander: 

Sure. How about you, Sten-Erik? What do you have to add to that about how do you find where you land in terms of Sabbath? 

Sten-Erik Armitage: 

Sure. It is one of those things where there's not the explicit command from Jesus to observe the Sabbath in the New Testament, but we're told to imitate the life of Christ, and we see him consistently observing the Sabbath and the comments made of him being critical of the Sabbath. He's not critical of the Sabbath, he's critical of the way the Sabbath is being observed. It became this very legalistic thing where the beauty of Sabbath was lost in making sure we get the ritual of Sabbath right. And going back to Genesis, here in the creation account it was day, it was night, the next day. So there was a beginning and there was an end to every day of creation, but then we get to the seventh day, God rested and there was no end to that rest. 

Which makes Hebrews 4 make even more sense when we hear about the rest, that we have the hope of rest we have presently and future, that is a Sabbath rest. And the idea that the Sabbath has been fulfilled by Christ, so we don't need to keep it. Matthew 5: 17, Jesus said, "Don't think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come to fulfill it." Fulfillment doesn't mean abolishment. As Christians, we have freedom, we have liberty. We're no longer bound by the Sabbath requirement, but the example of Jesus. The example of the history of Sabbath keeping as promoted by God in scripture, it's a beautiful thing that has present day ongoing significance for new covenant believers. 

Kasey Olander: 

And as you guys have mentioned, having it be a gift, not something that we're like shackled to, we have to Sabbath, but it could be a gift and making it distinct from Shawn, like you said, not just a day off. If I spend 18 hours watching TV, then that's not really refreshing for my soul, even though maybe it was my day off. So I guess that moves us into then what does Sabbath currently look like for each of you? Shawn, why don't we start with you? 

Shawn Shannon: 

Years ago, I read Ordering Your Private World by Gordon McDonald and he talked in there, one of his first points was the difference between living driven and living called. And I felt a little nailed by that because I thought I'm much more driven than called, and a lot of my drivenness, if I keep boiling it down long enough, has the basic ingredients of fear and pride in some sort of mix. So I felt convicted, and the conviction there about exploring how to live called eventually led me into being around some talk and some reading about Sabbath practices. And I can remember, I had been to a meeting where we were asked to fast from media and from food from the time we left to go to the meeting until the time we were returning. 

When I was returning, I was having my first break fast meal in a Schlotzky's and I was reading Working The Angles by Eugene Peterson, where he talks about how we relate to Scripture and prayer. He talks about spiritual direction. He also hints at Sabbath. And I sat there and I thought this is getting personal. The Lord wants me to honor the Sabbath. So then I begin to look for teachers, and that old saying that where there is the desire to learn, the teacher will appear. Well, again, I'll lift these up. This isn't all of them, but there began to be all these people who wrote about Sabbath, either entire books or chapters, and I thought there's something to this. And when I was reading about it, there was consolation in my soul. There was a quickening. I thought oh my goodness, this is something I'm thirsty for that I didn't even know was on the shelves, and I began to explore how to do Sabbath. 

So what began for me with scanning ahead into my work week to find 24 hours where I was not responsible for leading something, now I could attend something, those kinds of things, but that was the key part. And from there it just began to be learnings about what was a good investment in my relationship with the Lord? How was I wired to replenish spiritually? And then I began to need to also inform my community that this was a different day, and so that was very important. I think this is a place where Justin Whitmel Earley he talks about he observed Sabbath in community. Well, my only community is my cats, and they don't have intelligible conversations about Sabbath. But my closer friends and my work associates know this is Shawn's Sabbath day, so that's been helpful too, to have the community there and then to have that freedom to try things and to find out I don't think so. That's not very restful. 

Anyway, I've been committed to the practice of it. I'll say this, I did not know how lifesaving it could be. There was a time period when my mom was declining with Alzheimer's and I was working on a doctoral degree and I was working full-time plus, and it sounds like it would've been a good time to use that extra day to get more stuff done. But I think the thing that kept me alive for those five years was the commitment to persevere in keeping Sabbath. If nothing else, it thrust me into some very practical dependence on God to make life work or not. It put me in a position to need manna, to need something I couldn't make for myself. And either God was going to come through or he wouldn't, but I really think it helped me live, even though it was very counterintuitive to continue to observe Sabbath during that time. 

Kasey Olander: 

There's a very practical way for you to exercise, "I have to trust the Lord. I have to trust that the next things will keep functioning, whether it's my job or my family or whatever it is, that if I Sabbath on this day, that I trust that the Lord is the one who upholds all things." 

Shawn Shannon: 

Yes. 

Kasey Olander: 

So Sten-Erik, what about you? What does Sabbath look like now? How did you first start practicing it or getting interested? 

Sten-Erik Armitage: 

Well, I got interested because I was so tired and so busy, and this idea of Sabbath seems well, if I could do that, that would be refreshing. So full disclosure, I am a very gifted and talented hypocrite. So I have come to value Sabbath and I have rhythms where I am regularly practicing Sabbath in certain ways that I'll share, but then life starts getting intense and that rhythm gets set aside. And I'm very thankful that once every two years I teach a class here at DTS on the spiritual disciplines, and I feel that Sabbath is the anchor discipline from which the other disciplines receive their life. It's important. 

And as I'm preparing for that class, the Holy Spirit reminds me of how poorly I'm doing, and so it's this recurring cycle of I need to get serious about this again. So one thing I started with Sabbath was the traditional, the day off idea. I'm going to rest so that I can be rested, so that I can be productive. After a while, I was convicted of the idea that the, "So that," was a problem because the Sabbath was not given to us so that we would be more productive the rest of the week. Rodney Clapp writes that the uselessness of Sabbath is precisely the point of Sabbath. So if I have the mindset of I need this so that I can be more effective in the classroom or in the pulpit, then I've co-opted Sabbath for my own purposes instead of honoring the Lord of the Sabbath. 

Kasey Olander: 

It's not a means to an end. 

Sten-Erik Armitage: 

Exactly. And so that's one of those places where I have to question myself regularly. There is the inadvertent fruit that we will be more rested, but I need to focus on this is for God. It's not for me, it's for him, and so I set it aside. It's not a time for me to read a book that I want to teach on or prepare for a sermon. No, it's a time for me to cease from those things that are my necessity the rest of the week. So my practice runs depending upon what I'm doing in that season from two half days where I'm intentionally ceasing. Now, there might be some work involved, which I can talk about that later, but it's a different kind of work. It's not work for production. And those two half days are that purpose, but I like it when I'm able to have a solid day where that entire waking cycle is focused there, but that really depends upon where we are in the school year and the church calendar. 

Kasey Olander: 

Sure. And that's why it's good news that it's not legalism, it's not a have to if you want God to love you or if you want to be saved, it's something that we get to do and something that God might invite us into. But like you said, that doesn't make it something that is a compulsion or that we need to feel like guilt or shame about not doing. 

Sten-Erik Armitage: 

It's a voluntary act of worship that we've been invited into that Jesus modeled for us. 

Shawn Shannon: 

That is so well said. 

Sten-Erik Armitage: 

I'll write it down. 

Shawn Shannon: 

Well, in some of the writings about Sabbath, it talks about one reason we do that is that if we don't, everything fills in. There's not a space cleared where there is not something that doesn't have to be dislodged in order for that to be time with God. 

Kasey Olander: 

Right. It's maybe not natural to us to have these regular patterns of rest. Maybe it would be nice if rest just happened to me, but a lot of times if I'm not intentional about it, stuff crowds in there. 

Sten-Erik Armitage: 

It is just like budgeting. Our expenses will always make their way up to our income and the cult of productivity that we all subscribe to, if we don't dedicate this time to this purpose, something will enter in and take that time away from us. 

Shawn Shannon: 

I'm glad you said that. It reminds me that when you look at all of the 10 Commandments, the first talk about not having idols. And I don't know, I've not ever done a quiz on this, but for me, when I think of if the basic understanding of an idol is something that I'm counting on to provide me for what only God can give, then my big old idol is productivity because I have this thought that if I get enough stuff done, I'll have peace. So the practice of Sabbath is an affront. It's toppling that idol. And I don't know this because people have different idols, but I wonder if for most of us who follow the Lord, if the Sabbath in some ways always takes direct aim at whatever our particular idol is. It wouldn't surprise me. 

Sten-Erik Armitage: 

No, me either. 

Shawn Shannon: 

And another thing about Sabbath, we've mentioned rest and I think Sten-Erik mentioned evening and morning, that pattern, it's so interesting to me that there in the beginning of things, our day starts with rest. It doesn't end with rest, and so we're not working toward rest as something that's earned, which is how I think of it. But my reeducation is that I rest and then I work from rest instead of toward rest, that seems to be the rhythm of Sabbath, which I'm really bad at. But again, only virtue is not having given up. 

Sten-Erik Armitage: 

If I can be a nerd for a second. 

Shawn Shannon: 

Oh, please. 

Sten-Erik Armitage: 

We see two words that are used for rest regularly in the Hebrew scriptures and Shabbat is one, which we already said means more ceasing. The more common one is nuakh. And nuakh has that connotation of abide like we have in John 15. In this rest, this nuakh, we find a safety and protection and home. This is where we live. And in Exodus 20, where we have the command, we hear that God rested, nuakh, on the seventh day and then he blessed the Shabbat day and made it holy. So he rested and blessed the ceasing day, and then we go on and we look at the creation mandate. 

When he is talking to Adam, the text says, "The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and to keep it." The word for "put" there is nuakh, so he took the man and rested him, abided him, placed him in that place to work and keep it. So he's in a state of rest in this work because he's in the presence of God and toil hasn't been entered into. And I think when we fail to Sabbath well or recognize that rest includes work, but not the type of work that can be classified as toil, then any work can devolve into toil. It's the rest of God. 

Kasey Olander: 

I was going to come back to, Sten-Erik, you mentioned earlier that you might do some work on your Sabbath. What does that look like for you and how do you distinguish it from toil? 

Sten-Erik Armitage: 

If it's something I'm obligated to do, then I should not be doing that on the Sabbath because I'm not trusting God to sustain and take care. I'm not recognizing who really is doing everything. But if there are things that I don't normally do that I am able to enter into as a form of worship, of delight, then that's work that I can do. So for example, writing for pleasure or reflection, I'm going to use this example. You know what? This is a good example for me. I was going to use gardening, but I don't enjoy gardening, so that would be a toil. 

I'm hoping my wife doesn't see this, but I enjoy cooking and I don't do a lot of cooking. That is something that Sabbathing I would be able to enter into because it's not something I have to do, it's not something I regularly do. I know this goes against some modern day Jewish conceptions of Sabbath. You're not going to cook on the Sabbath, but that's something that it's not toil for me and it's not something I need to do Monday through Saturday, it's a special thing. And if it's worshipful, and again, not obligatory, I believe this is going to be up to the individual believers, but that's something I can enter into. 

Kasey Olander: 

I like that you phrased it that way. And at the Hendricks Center, we talk a lot about giftedness, this idea that each of us has things that we really gain energy from doing that we're really satisfied by, and so cooking might be one of those activities for you. For me, one of those things is drawing. It's not productive, it's not to sell. It really doesn't do anything, but it's something I, quote, unquote, "never have time for." Really, I never make the time, but having a Sabbath has that time already carved out so I can do something that might be enjoyable or restorative and something that to me is something that might honor God with. 

Sten-Erik Armitage: 

That's great. 

Shawn Shannon: 

Amen. 

Kasey Olander: 

Shawn, are there any of those things for you, things that you either know are really restful or restorative, things that you really enjoy doing? 

Shawn Shannon: 

I enjoy story, the experience of a story. My current Sabbath practice is to enter into Sabbath about 7:00 PM on Thursday if I can, and even the gift of Sabbath has to be held open-handed. Stuff happens and sometimes it can't. Well, I like PBS and if I guard the schedule, then I can begin my Sabbath with a Father Brown mystery. 

Sten-Erik Armitage: 

Those are great. 

Shawn Shannon: 

And that's just not something that has value in other areas, but it's a story and that is precious to me. And it's lagniappe. It's not a necessary thing, but it's a good gift. Also, I think we'd do well to explore what are those settings where we flourish in relationship to God? And for me, one of those is nature, and I'm glad to say I live in a neighborhood where I feel safe to walk. And there's a little park that I often walk to and I often try to save it for Sabbath so that I can walk to that park on the Sabbath and think of it as the Sabbath park, so little things. Now, sometimes there's advances in Sabbath observance that happened because I realized I missed the mark. This past Sabbath day, I was weary by the Sabbath. What is this? 

Well, then I took a walk and I called a tenured friend who lives in another time zone and we caught up, and after that there was this spring flowing again. And I realized that especially for me as a single person, I need to be careful that somewhere in my Sabbath, there's something about belonging. That was like oh yeah, I need to be intentional about putting some kind of belonging into my day. Another thing I neglected that day was worship, and I'm talking about something that's pretty overt that you wouldn't mistake that for an activity. So I'm all geared up for the next time the Lord clears the Sabbath for me, probably this Friday, that there will be belonging and there will be worship because I missed those things. 

Which is to say that for the daughter of two teachers and someone who's around the academic system as both of y'all are all the time, I have to remember I'm not getting graded for the Sabbath. I'm not going to make an A in Sabbath. On the other hand, if Sabbath isn't something that I've accomplished and that I become an expert and I keep a Sabbath perfectly, that God is always, he's my teacher, he's my master, he's my very good shepherd. I like also the aspect of Sabbath, that I'm a learner. I'm a learner at this thing. Sten-Erik, Kasey, y'all have both already said things that I look forward to applying. 

Kasey Olander: 

I appreciate that, Shawn. Sten-Erik, are there other key elements? Shawn highlighted belonging and she highlighted worship. Are there other key elements that you would think that would be a part of a Sabbath for someone to practice it today? 

Sten-Erik Armitage: 

Yeah, sure. I think when we are looking at Sabbath, there's aspects of it of engagement. So community is one of those things that you're going to intentionally engage with, but there's also elements of withdrawal. I'm going to pull away from those things that are productive or might be those idols that have been distracting me the rest of the week. And I look at things like in Isaiah 58, we have the Lord talking about, "Keeping my Sabbath as a delight." So what is something that is a gift from God that allows me to delight in him? And those things should be welcomed into my Sabbath. 

And so that might be you mentioned a Father Brown mystery on PBS, maybe it's a work of fiction that you otherwise normally wouldn't take the time to read because you're too busy with other things. But you know what? I can take a break and I don't have to read this, nobody's asking me to read this, but it is something that I can use this time for to delight in. That's a good litmus test question. Is this something that brings about delight and can be offered as an act of worship or received as an act of thanksgiving because of what God has done, not because of what we have done? 

Kasey Olander: 

That's really good, something that can be offered as an act of worship or something that can be received as an act of thanksgiving. That's good. I need to chew on that. Are there ways that I imagine that Sabbath would look differently for people perhaps in different roles or occupations? Some people in ministry, some people in the medical field, some people in different places might have ways that they rest differently, but also perhaps there might be different seasons of life. Has your practice of Sabbath changed over the years as you've endeavored? Shawn, I resonated with your language of Sabbath attempting. Has it looked differently over the years for either of you? 

Sten-Erik Armitage: 

Absolutely. Different seasons of being a student, of being a pastor, of having a full-time job and pursuing a doctoral degree, life gets busy. I have five daughters. Life is at times very intense, and so a part of Sabbath keeping, as we've already talked about, is not to make keeping of the Sabbath and idol itself where it becomes this guilt-inducing thing if I get it wrong. There have been seasons where my Sabbath thing has been an hour set aside, where I'm entering into silence and solitude and ceasing for the purpose of doing nothing but recognizing who God is and what he's done, and other times where I'm able to embrace that more complete 36-hour idea of Sabbath. And so those rhythms, we don't want to hold ourselves to a law that is going to create a pressure or an obligation that could cause us to lose sight of the beauty of Sabbath, if that makes sense. 

Kasey Olander: 

Shawn, anything to add to that? 

Shawn Shannon: 

Five girls? 

Sten-Erik Armitage: 

And one granddaughter, so there's a lot of consistency. 

Shawn Shannon: 

Oh, wow. Well, my admiration grows. That's great. I think the main shift for me, shifts, I can think of a couple. One has been when there is someone in my life in medical crisis, Sabbath's just going to look different. It can still be, but I don't feel like I can demand Sabbath from life. I can receive it. It's something to receive. But when there are certain crises, you just show up. And that's a part of what is so helpful to me that Jesus did intentional good on Sabbath that involved healing people, restoring their bodies, but also pretty much in every case, restoring them to community. 

Another thing that has shifted Sabbath for me is moving from a campus minister schedule, which put my Sabbath frequently on Sunday, to being a church staff member. And that's just been just finding other ways, other times, other practices. Another thing we haven't mentioned is I have a desire to see people in my life be able to observe Sabbath. So to care about the people around whom I work, other things like that, that they have some opportunity to consider clearing that space of time to tend to their souls. And there's not really much more to say about that except that I want to be mindful of people around me as potential people who have also received the gift of Sabbath, and some of them may just never have gotten back to that part of the closet to even start to open it, but it's still theirs and still there. 

Kasey Olander: 

I'm sensing a little bit of I don't know if tensions to navigate is the right word, but Shawn, you're highlighting of course we want to take care of people still. Of course we want to do something, even if it might be a lot of work to bring someone a meal, or of course you want to feed your kids on the Sabbath. It's not that we cease everything or even everything that might be somewhat difficult if someone is in a medical crisis, and at the same time, we also think of the fact that it's not self-focused, self-seeking, and yet there's a way in which knowing ourselves helps us to rest. 

So I am thinking there's a number of things that might be challenging for somebody if they endeavor to, "Oh, I've never Sabbathed before. Maybe I ought to try it. Maybe I might dip my toe in, or it might be something that just sounds like fun and it sounds like a gift that I might get to enjoy from God." So what would be each of your encouragement to somebody who is never Sabbath before but is open to the idea of trying it? Sten-Erik? 

Sten-Erik Armitage: 

Don't put too much pressure on yourself, first of all. And it's not about getting it right, it's about recognizing the heart behind what you're doing. And so the encouragement I would have, you don't need to have that full day right away. Maybe you enter into it where this evening is going to be a Sabbath evening, and this is going back to the very beginning of early Jewish observation of Sabbath, I'm going to have a candle and I'm going to gather the family around the table, and we are going to pray together as we prepare to enter into this four hours of ceasing. 

And we light the candle, and I can't remember who it was, who said it, but as you light that Sabbath candle, picture the wax as the pressures and obligations that you have to do to keep the world spinning as melting away because God has it under control. And just that simple act and then sitting down and engaging in delight with your family, having people over to celebrate in community, that's an act of Sabbath. It's just watching the heart intention. Are you doing this so you get to hang out with friends, or are you doing this to delight in the time that God has given you because he's taking care of all that needs to be truly done? 

Kasey Olander: 

And then that frees us up to find our identity in Christ, not in our productivity, not in checking things off our to-do list, even though I love doing that. 

Sten-Erik Armitage: 

Exactly. And for pastors, you mentioned Shawn, the difficulty on Sundays of that being your Sabbath, and I know that I have my Friday or my Monday have traditionally been my Sabbath days, but there's a pastor and author named Mark Buchanan who wrote a book on Sabbathing called The Rest of God, which is a great title because it's both the rest of God and the rest of God. And he's been able to, as a pastor, makes Sunday his Sabbath because of how he prepares and how he has taught his congregation in that his serving on Sunday morning because it is effectively done Friday or Saturday, he's able to simply present what he has prepared as an act of worship. It's not work at that point. And in his book, he writes through how he has done that. And it's a beautiful picture of even Sundays, for those who are in vocational ministry, could be Sabbath. I haven't personally gotten there yet, but I'm encouraged reading Mark's story- 

Kasey Olander: 

That it's possible. 

Sten-Erik Armitage: 

… it's possible. 

Kasey Olander: 

How about you, Shawn? What encouragement would you have for people? 

Shawn Shannon: 

You used a key word and used it a couple of times, Sten-Erik, the idea of preparation. Sabbath doesn't happen in my life without some sort of anticipation of it. I will start, I don't think about it now, but I scan out probably beginning a couple of days beforehand. And if there's something I need to get from a store or if I need to fill my car up with gas or laundry, but laundry to me is not an unSabbath thing. I love the transformation of the clean clothes. And I even think ironing for me is very Sabbathy because there's all these… anyway, we have different things that can be Sabbath, but there needs to be preparation. 

I need to have evaluated what are things that are urgent and important to which I need to attend so that it won't be irresponsible to step away from that. And the idea that you mentioned starting even with an hour is the blessing on start with something. You don't have to start with everything, but whatever something you can start with, do. And I have found that there are some principles that there are some things that are good for us that when we partake of them or even dare I say indulge in them, we get an appetite and want more of that. That, "This is good. Where can I get more of this?" Is you get a taste. You taste and see that the Lord is good, and then you want more, and then all sorts of things kick in inside to help arrange life so that thing can happen. 

Also, a reminder that Sabbath… I would love to take your class, Sten-Erik. I've been thinking that for about the past I don't know how many minutes… but that this is part of a larger picture of that buffet for spiritual growth that we have that's called spiritual disciplines. And so Sabbath exists in our life alongside of things like meditation or celebration or fasting or simplicity, but it's also part of a holistic picture of things that we are doing that help us abide, that help us hear the shepherd, those kinds of things. 

So I would say the preparation, the starting where you are. If I were going to go to Seattle from here, really the first thing I would need to know is not where Seattle is, it'd be where am I because I can't start from where I'm not. So in a Sabbath practice that's new, any of us starts where we are and takes the next reasonable step. And the idea that often progress is as much about direction as it is speed, that even to turn in the direction of Sabbath can begin some sort welcoming blessing that begins to draw us in more. I would say the Lord draws us in more, it's not some disembodied force. So those things, planning, preparing, starting where you are. 

Kasey Olander: 

Yes. It's one of any of the spiritual disciplines really are things that help our souls to delight in God as opposed to help us to feel productive or help us to feel super spiritual or help us to gain brownie points with God. God has already demonstrated his love for us and that while we are still sinners, Christ died for us and already accomplished everything we needed for salvation. 

Shawn Shannon: 

Sorry, there's a gnat. Sorry, I dispatched a gnat. So it was a delight to me when I realized that I love Taco Bell, but Taco Bell has what would you say, maybe 7 to 10 ingredients and you just put them together differently? 

Sten-Erik Armitage: 

Right. 

Shawn Shannon: 

But I've done some fine Chinese buffets in my lifetime, and when I began to realize that the nurturing of our life with God and even with others is like this huge Chinese buffet and there's all these different choices. And some of them are wonderful and I haven't even gotten to the end of the line yet, it is just really good news. 

Kasey Olander: 

Well, I would love to keep talking about this, but we're about out of time. I've really appreciated each of your insights. I know, like I said, we've talked about throughout that Christians have different convictions about what Sabbath is, what it might look like for the church today, but I think it's become clear that all of us are proponents of Sabbath, of resting in the Lord and finding what delights us because the things that we enjoy, even if they're activities, are ultimately gifts from God that can roll upward into enjoyment of him, who's the Giver of all good gifts. So I'm excited for the next Sabbath and I'm grateful for the time with each of you, and so thank you guys for joining us today. 

Sten-Erik Armitage: 

Thanks for having us. 

Shawn Shannon: 

Thank you. Thank you very much. A pleasure to meet you, Sten-Erik, and good to see you again, Kasey. 

Kasey Olander: 

I appreciate it. And we also want to thank you guys, our listeners, for joining us. We're grateful that you've listened to The Table, and we hope that you join us next time when we discuss issues of God and culture.