The Sabbath is a Womb

LEAH FARISH|GUEST I once started a list with just the title, “What I accomplish on the Sabbath” —and those words lay on a big blank page. Actually, that captures most of my point.  At least in the world’s eyes, Sabbaths don’t accomplish very much, and I think that’s fine.  How did I get comfortable with such scandalous unproductiveness? In college I was dating a Christian who decided to “keep the Sabbath.”  What that meant to him was, no studying on Sunday.  I had a choice of either mirroring that schedule or being out of sync with him.  So I quit “working” on Sunday.  Eventually I fell out of love with the guy, but I fell in love with the Sabbath.  What won me over was this passage from Isaiah 58: “If because of the sabbath, you turn your foot From doing your own pleasure on My holy day, And call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, And honor it, desisting from your own ways, From seeking your own pleasure And speaking your own word, Then you will take delight in the Lord, And I will make you ride on the heights of the earth…." I was intrigued by the reward offered for keeping the Sabbath: that I would take delight in God.  I was tantalized at the idea of increasing my enjoyment of Him, and amazed that it could happen as a result of doing something—or rather, not doing things.  After all, the passage indicates as much “negative” obedience as positive action...

The Sabbath is a Womb2023-03-24T18:16:37+00:00

When Furrows Fight Back

AIMEE JOSEPH|GUEST Complaining about work is the adult equivalent of college students complaining about mid-terms and finals. And let’s be real, we all have those days when work feels like a weight too heavy to carry and “Everybody’s working for the weekend” is our theme song. We are wired for work. Contrary to popular belief, it is not a result of the fall. Challenges in work and struggles with identity around work were most assuredly a consequence of man’s rebellion against God’s created and careful order; however, work itself honors God and is a needed part of human flourishing. Wonderful Work In his pattern of the newly minted perfect world, God offered Adam and Eve significant freedom to do significant work on the fresh earth. There were animals to name and gardens to tame. Carl Linnaeus had nothing on them. Work was not a burden, but a particular privilege for those made uniquely in God’s image. God blessed the first human couple by giving them the significant work known as the cultural mandate. “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground’.” (Genesis 1:28). As one who lives in San Diego and frequents the world-renowned San Diego Zoo, I can tell you this is no small task. The San Diego Zoo employs 2,300 employees to care for their menagerie. God entrusted Adam and Eve with a task that was large enough for the intellectual, physical, and creative capacities he gave them. God wired us for work. My teenaged children balk at having to do special projects around our home. As good parents, we force them to do so anyway. When the day is done, they almost always say, “Today was a good day. We worked hard and accomplished a lot.” Similarly, sometimes I catch my husband hanging out in the shed after we have organized its chaos. There is something so human and right about accomplishment after hard work. Yet you and I both know that work is not always a worshipful experience....

When Furrows Fight Back2023-03-24T18:16:45+00:00
Go to Top