Welcome! How good it is to be together on this Tuesday. It’s a blessing to begin a new month with you in the Pastor’s Workshop.
This week we’re working on a message about Rest. Our title is “Blessed by Rest”. Our primary text is Genesis 2:1-3. Our supplemental Scripture is Exodus 20:8-11. Our key thoughts – How can we put “Boundaries on Busy-ness” and reclaim the blessing of rest that God created and commanded?
On Tuesdays we look at the structure of the texts. We see how ideas and images sequence. In that sequencing we look for a logic. How is “the message” emerging in the midst of the words of the Scripture?
The three verses in Genesis “flow” like this:
· God completes Creation. All is done. All is finished. All is very good.
· That sense of Completion, Wholeness and Divine Satisfaction, that Very Goodness of Shalom, dawned with Day Seven.
· In that Completion, Wholeness and God Satisfaction, God rested. God let that sense of total goodness abide and be and bless all things.
· And God saw that this Holy Rest was Very Good. And God blessed the Rest and hallowed the day, creating Sabbath.
In essence, in Day Seven God “created” Rest. God instilled “Rest” as part of the Created Order. “Rest” came into being as an essential part of how things are and of who we are.
The three verses in Exodus “go” like this:
· God is giving the Ten Commandments to Moses. God is “speaking” to God’s people, outlining essential elements of the relationship (the covenant) God shares with them.
· The first four commandments are about the direct relationship the people share with God. The last six commandments are how that direct relationship with God is then reflected in the relationships God’s people live with one another and the world.
· The fourth commandment reminds the people to “remember the Sabbath”. Don’t get so caught up in the business and busy-ness of life (the first Six Days of the week) that you forget about the Day Seven. Remember that Rest is part of Creation, of how things should be.
· They are to enjoy Shalom and observe Sabbath because God is enjoying Shalom and observing Sabbath. God is resting and as they follow God they are to rest too!
· The people are to keep it “holy”. Not only are they to rest, but more importantly, they are to rest with God, rest in the Lord, and reconnect with God.
· Not only do they need to observe and claim Sabbath. They are to provide it for all they have “dominion” over, their family, their workers, their animals, and even the “stranger within your gates”. All are given the blessing of resting in the Lord.
In the fourth commandment we find that what God creates and instills in God’s initial Order of All Things, God commands and institutes in the covenantal life God shares with God’s people.
These texts emphasize the place that “Rest” has in the world and the importance it plays in our lives. They call us to examine not only how God commands Sabbath Rest because it is part of God’s original goodness, but how we keep Sabbath Rest for our own good.
I’ll let you think on that one, as well as any other ideas/themes that have come to your mind during your reading and thinking.
And I’ll also let you get busy, because today is Day Two (“Twos” Day – sorry, I couldn’t help myself!) of our new work week.
See you tomorrow in the Pastor’s Workshop!
Prayer: Gracious God, thank You for the blessing of the work today. Thank You for the gift of sharing our gifts, talents, abilities productively in your World. More than that, thank You that in the rhythms of life You have instilled the rhythm of Rest. You give us Rest so that we might be fresh to fully engage each day. When we get too preoccupied with all we do, remind us to put boundaries on our busy-ness so that we can have quality Sabbath time with You. This we pray in the name of the One who is Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus Christ our Lord.