What is sabbath
The Sabbath is a set-apart 24-hour period dedicated to the elimination of busyness and usual work, focused on rest, worship, and activities that bring attention to God and fill you with joy/delight. Here we have provided resources for you and your community to know what Sabbath is and how to apply it to your life. Our prayer is that you will experience the rest of Jesus in a tangible way as you embrace this gift from God.
Simply Said
The Sabbath is a set-apart 24-hour period dedicated to the elimination of busyness and usual work, focused on rest, worship, and activities that bring attention to God and fill you with joy/delight.
What is sabbath?
The word Sabbath is translated as “to stop” or “to cease”. God creates one more thing when he finishes the sixth day and starts the seventh day. He creates rest. He stops, looks at all he has done, and makes something in the rhythm of all of creation – Sabbath. He then makes this day holy and sets it apart. As his children, we receive our loving Father’s gift and once a week we stop/cease work, we rest, we worship, and we take time to be filled with the delight of the gifts from our God. We do this through*:
Stopping—we cease all working, all thinking about working, all worrying and all wanting.
Resting—we rest our soul, meaning, our whole person. Physical: we sleep. Mental and emotional: we calm down, relax, and process the week. Spiritual: we cease our striving and rest in God’s love for us through abiding.
Delighting—we fill our soul with activities that spark joy, wonder, gratitude, and happiness, such as eating good food, walking in nature, spending time with family or friends, listening to music, playing games, making love to our spouse, or just having fun before God.
Worshiping—we index our hearts toward grateful praise and adoration of God, and we surrender our life to him, one week at a time.
*List from “How to Un-hurry Workbook” by John Mark Come
Do we still need sabbath?
Whenever we ask people how they are, they often respond with, “Good, just busy”. Growing kids, endless work, family drama, the house that always needs to be cleaned, homework that’s due, and endless content on our devices leave us tired. God has created a rhythm from creation for us to be able to contribute to this world through work and to have a deep rest within our souls. In the depths of all of us, we want Sabbath. The reason is because God created it in us and for us.
What sabbath teaches us about God
What sabbath teaches us about man
prayer + practice
This serves to give ideas on how to practice prayer in correlation with your Sabbath practice. If you want to practice prayer but do not know where to start, simply choose one of these and apply it to your Sabbath practice.
Opening + Closing Prayer
Prayer Walk
A great form of prayer on Sabbath is a prayer walk. This helps us slow down, take our minds off work, allow feelings to come up, and get our bodies moving. During this time, you can speak to God and listen to God in silence. Our encouragement during these walks is to keep your phone inside, or on Do Not Disturb so that the focus can be the presence of God.
Nap
Sleeping is one of the most spiritual acts. The reason is that it is a physical confession that God is in control. Take a Sabbath Nap. Have the whole family take a nap. Before you go to sleep pray to God that He would remind you that as you rest, He is the sustainer and provider for the world.
Slience
Journaling
best practices
Our temptation is to start out sprinting, but every part of our faith is a marathon. There may be some of us who already practice Sabbath; however, if this is new for you remember to start where you are. It is okay to start with less than 24 hours or to try different things. The biggest goal is to start somewhere.
Heart of sabbath
Preparation
“People who keep Sabbath live all seven days differently.”* In order to have a 24-hour day set apart, our other 6 days must be lived out intentionally. We must make sure our necessary work is finished, all the housework is finished, and the day is prepared for. Here are some things to consider to help with preparation:
Plan out a rough schedule for Sabbath and consider what must be done before then.
Wash the dishes before Sabbath.
Plan out your Dinner.
Answer all phone messages and return all text messages.
Clean or pick up your house or apartment.
Make a list of work responsibilities that would interrupt your set apart time and make sure to complete those.
* “Sabbath as Resistance” by Walter Brueggemann
Rituals
Making pancakes and bacon in the morning each week on this day
Going for a walk
Praying a blessing over your kids
The lighting of candles
Putting on a special essential oil in your diffuser
Making a special dinner and/or dessert
Sleeping in each week on this day
Meeting with your close friends
Picking a song you play each week to start Sabbath
Personality
Technology
Seasons Of Life
Practicing Sabbath will look different depending on what season of life you are in. Here are some ideas for practicing Sabbath in different seasons of life. These are adapted from the Sabbath Practice guide released by Bridgetown Church.
Singles
Married Couples
- Spend time together catching up. (Phones away, just the two of you)
Don’t fight (there are six other days to do that).
Avoid hard conversations.
Don’t talk about things that aren’t restful (i.e., stuff you need to get done in the coming week).
Talk about your personal and shared discipleship.
Nap.
Read.
Give each other space to do what is life giving (opposites often attract and find very different activities restful. Create space for that). Introvert married to an extrovert? Spend the morning reading in the quiet (introvert time), then go out to an early dinner with friends (extrovert). Or something like that.
Plan out a rough schedule for Sabbath and consider what must be done before then.
Wash the dishes before Sabbath.
Plan out your Dinner.
Answer all phone messages and return all text messages.
Clean or pick up your house or apartment.
Make a list of work responsibilities that would interrupt your set apart time and make sure to complete those.
* “Sabbath as Resistance” by Walter Brueggemann
Young Families
Making pancakes and bacon in the morning each week on this day
Going for a walk
Praying a blessing over your kids
The lighting of candles
Putting on a special essential oil in your diffuser
Making a special dinner and/or dessert
Sleeping in each week on this day
Meeting with your close friends
Picking a song you play each week to start Sabbath
Older Families + Empty Nesters
sabbath worksheet
We created a Sabbath Worksheet to help you work through how to practically practice Sabbath in your life.
additional resources
If you want to know more about Sabbath here is a compiled list of resources that are helpful. Because this list has many options it can feel intimidating on where to start. Our encouragement is just to start somewhere. Pick one that seems appealing and start there.