The Gospel According to Mark - The Backstory of Rest [Ryan Ashley]

Mark 2:23-28, Genesis 2, Exodus 20:8;11

1. The Sabbath is Built into the Rhythm of Creation

Genesis 2

“The Sabbath is an invitation to enter delight. The Sabbath when experienced as God intended, is the best day of our lives. Without question or thought, it is the best day of the week. It is the day we anticipate on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday – and the day we remember on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. Sabbath is the holy time where we feast, play, dance, have sex, sing, pray, laugh, tell stories, read, paint, walk, and watch creation in its fullness. Few people are willing to enter the Sabbath and sanctify it, to make it holy, because a full day of delight and joy is more than most people can bear in a lifetime, let alone a week.”

Dan Allender

In the relentless busyness of modern life, we have lost the rhythm between work and rest. All life requires a rhythm of rest. There is a rhythm in our waking activity and the body’s need for sleep. There is rhythm in the way day dissolves into night, and night into morning. There is rhythm as the active growth of spring and summer is quieted by the necessary dormancy of fall and winter. There is tidal rhythm, a deep, eternal conversation between the land of the great sea. In our bodies, the heart perceptibly rests after each life-giving beat; the lungs rest between the exhale and the inhale. We have lost this essential rhythm…

Our culture invariably supposes that action and accomplishment are better than rest, that doing something - anything – is better than doing nothing. Because of our desire to succeed…we do not rest. Because we do not rest, we lose our way. We miss the compass points that would show us where to go, we bypass the nourishment that would give us aid. We miss the quiet that would give us wisdom. We miss the joy and love born of effortless delight. Poisoned by this hypnotic belief that good things come only through unceasing determination and tireless effort, we can never truly rest. And for want of rest, our lives are in danger.”

Wayne Mueller

2. God Blessed the Sabbath

3. God Made the Sabbath Holy

“The Sabbaths are your great cathedrals.”

“Architecture in time.”

Abraham Heschel

Exodus 20:8,11

4. The Sabbath is Not the Same as a Day Off

5. Sabbath is a Command and a Gift

6. Remember the Sabbath