Sabbath

12:10 am, June 10, 2009

I think I have been on a road of transformation the last year or two, and because I am at the beginning of this journey, I haven’t known how to talk about or process it. This week God is giving me language for it.

The conviction I am experiencing is summarized in this line from Dangerous Act of Worship: “If we don’t lift our heads to see God in worship, we can’t see what God wants to show us, which includes our neighbor.”

I have lost the habit of listening to God for others. Sure, I’ll listen for the church as a whole, but not individual people. Gone are the days when I would look out on a Sunday and ask God who to pray for and why. Seeking out people after the service to share a word of encouragement or pray. I want to recapture that. I want to navigate to a place where I tap back into the interpersonal intercession of the prophetic. I want to lift my head in worship to look back at others and know what is needed.

Some thoughts from Dangerous Act of Worship…

Sabbath keeping practices:
1. Awaken us to God.
2. Cause us to confess our self-absorbed lives
3. Deepen our Christian life
4. Give fresh vision
5. Remind us of who we are, who our neighbors are

To Sabbath:
1. Say “no” to one’s self and agenda, schedule, etc.
2. Say “yes” to God and the world He has given.

A Few Ways to Sabbath:
• Be quiet. Slow down. Be still.
• Listen to God. Read. Pray. Hike. Meditate.
• Be the church. Be together. Deepen relationships.
• Play.
• Meditate and consider the forgotten, the poor, the needy.