It’s taken me a long time to learn the importance of Sabbath. I’m a restless activist and, like most of us, live immersed in a nonstop 24/7 culture. It’s tempting to f ill every space with tasks or screen-time. Sabbath sounded old-fashioned and legalistic – just dead time. However, three things have changed my perception: hunger, scripture and nature.
By hunger I mean a deep ache for rest and refreshment. I got tired of running on empty with every moment filled by work, church, family and domestic responsibilities. I needed a regular pattern of time apart, away from emails, people and busyness. I needed a break, or I would break, and for me that break meant time in creation.
In scripture I rediscovered what I’d long known, that God designed us and the whole world with rhythms of day and night, work and rest, seasons of growth and times of quiet renewal. As I went deeper, I realised Sabbath is at the heart of creation and new creation. It’s not optional but fundamental.
Think of it, Sabbath is:
Instituted in creation: where, as Jurgen Moltmann points out, Sabbath not humanity is the crown of creation, the climax of the seven day account.1
Codified in covenant: it’s one of the Ten Commandments, and passages like Leviticus 25 show it relates to land and animals as well as people.
Transformed in Christ: Jesus rescues Sabbath from legalism and proclaims himself ‘Lord of the Sabbath’ (Matthew 12:8).
A foretaste of eternity: Hebrews 4:9 speaks of the eternal ‘Sabbath rest’ when Jesus will be at the centre of a renewed, restored creation. Yet, it’s been time with God in nature that has most transformed my lived experience of Sabbath. What previously made it deadly to me was the impression that it was about restrictions and rules, and was definitely spent indoors.
Yet, look at Jesus! He frequently took himself away to a quiet place, outdoors, to spend time alone with his Father. It was in creation that Jesus found re-creation and renewal. The natural world is where we were made to be at home, and amidst its rhythms, interruptions and complex relationships we find our place as God’s creatures. There is increasing recognition, partly driven by the pandemic’s lessons, that we need nature for good mental health. The NHS is promoting ‘green social prescribing’ with ‘nature-based interventions and activities’,2 and the RSPB is partnering with GPs on the basis that ‘nature has the power to boost our health, happiness and wellbeing’.3
