Spiritual Seasons

Slowly, I'm working my way through spiritual disciplines I usually shove aside, bury in a busy schedule, or simply ignore.  Disciplines that often slip our minds and rarely find their way into our routines.

Sabbath
Solitude
Seasons
Service

We've spent the last few weeks discovering how to keep an urban Sabbath.  Did you miss it?  Check it out here. Hopefully, we've learned what Sabbath is and what it isn't.  Hopefully we've enjoyed some best of the best.  Hopefully, we've started making some good.

I debated where to go next (in order?) and decided to tackle Seasons BEFORE we get into all the holiday stuff so that maybe we're a bit more prepared to handle them.  Plus, Seasons doesn't necessarily have anything to do with holidays - as we'll see, and I didn't want it to get murky.

Making Room

Last week we explored the idea of Sabbath.  In summary, it's God-ordained rest from the world to live a whole day in God's kingdom here in preparation for our eternity.

Often we think of Sabbath as a day of relaxing.  Naps, movies, walks, etc.

I'm not saying you shouldn't relax on the Sabbath, but just "resting" begs the question - Resting from what?

Sabbath: Enter Rest

Spiritual disciplines can be difficult to put into play in a busy life.  The most difficult ones for me involve resting.  Can anyone else relate?

Do you live in workout clothes because it's easier to sprint from one demand to the next in spandex?  Does your weekly meal plan include a run through Del Taco because it is impossible to carve out 30 minutes to make dinner?  (Can anyone actually make dinner in 30?  If so - call me!)  Are your next 5 weekends already booked?  

Sabbath rest is hard.  In his book "Unity of the Bible," Fuller discusses the odd chapter and divisions in the Bible.  Genesis 1 ends after the 6th day of creation, as if the creation of man is the climax of the story.  Certainly we would like to think of it that way.  However, he argues, a better chapter division would be after Genesis 2:3:

Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.