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REFLECT | 'What is going on in our life right now?’

Discuss

Did you manage to implement the ONE THING you said you were going to do differently this week? Why/Why not? (Not supposed to be condemning, just an acknowledgement)
How did your Sabbath go this week? What worked? What didn’t? Why/Why not?

ENGAGE | ‘How do we engage with what God is saying to us?

Does western culture have a rhythm to life/the week?
John Mark Comer comments that ‘In a society addicted to the twin drugs of accomplishment and accumulation, the Sabbath is an act of resistance’.
- Do you agree with this? Why or Why not?
Compare Exodus 20:8-11 and Deuteronomy 5:12-15
- (The Exodus passage was written to the first generation of Israelites out Egypt. The Deuteronomy passage is the second generation who had not experienced Egypt)
  - Exodus 20:8-11“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labour and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
  - Deuteronomy 5:12 “Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labour and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do. 15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.
- Are they the same or different?
  - To OBSERVE - is to SHARMA (Hebrew) = to keep watch over / protect. It was the word given to Adam over the garden of Eden.
- How would you OBSERVE a holiday?
To fully understand the importance of Sabbath we need to understand the WHY!
- John Mark Comer comments that the rationale behind the Sabbath command in
  - In Exodus is;
    - it’s grounded in the story of Creation.
    - it’s about Rythm
    - an invitation to delight in God his world and all that is good and beautiful and true and your life in it
    - life-giving to tap into
  - In Deuteronomy is
    - it’s grounded in the story of Redemption
    - it’s about resistance
    - a warning to never to go back to Egypt again
    - ‘stick it to the man, street protest against Egypt’
How did Pharoh treat the Israelites?
- Read Exodus 5:4, 5, 9, 14, 17,

John Mark Commer summarises this by saying …..

It was an economic system built on the back of slavery. Slaves don’t get a rest, only valued by what they produce until they die.
Rest comes only to people who have been set free by GOD, not just from slavery but a socioeconomic system that is in turn legitimized by the false gods of the empire.

In the first passage, the Israelites were to

REMEMBER

You’re not slaves anymore
You’re not slave drivers
You’re image-bearers of God

A statement that reflects that Isreal’s identity, Sabbath showing ‘we are different’.

How does this relate to where we are today? What does Egypt look like today!?
Are accomplishment and accumulation evil?
How easy is it to get sucked into the culture of accumulation? Are we addicted? How do we say NO MORE?
How is Sabbath an act of resistance to the culture?
In our heart posture, are there ways in which my Sabbath is causing other people to work? Are there ways in which I am resting at other people’s expense? Is my lifestyle accidentally causing injustice in the world?

(This is not to cause a guilt trip but to imagine/reimagine a day of rest and worship not just for us, but for all)

Exercise 2 resource

Exercise #2: The Preparation Day Overview

The New Testament writers called the day before the Sabbath (Friday, in first-century Jewish culture), the “preparation day,” because Sabbath is a practice, a discipline, and it takes preparation and planning to disconnect from the hurry of the world for an entire day. The day immediately before Sabbath is vital to its success.

1. Make a plan.

• A few days before your Sabbath, sit down and think of what needs to be done before your Sabbath errands, email, grocery shopping, bills, etc. You list makers, write up a “to do before Sabbath” list.

2. Do the hard work of preparation.

The day(s) before your Sabbath, carry out your plan. Here’s a list of common things we need to do before we can rest and worship for a full 24-hours:

Go grocery shopping and stock our kitchen with (delicious) foods.
Pre-make dinner or any labour-intensive meals. Soups, salads, or enchiladas are all great options for Sabbath dinner.
Clean your house or apartment.
Answer all time-sensitive texts, voice mails, and emails.
For those in jobs that require time-sensitive communication, consider an auto-reply so people know you’ll get back them soon.
Plan out a rough schedule for your Sabbath. Don’t over plan. Take it slow. Give plenty of time to relax at an unhurried pace.
If you want to meet up with a friend on the Sabbath, set a time and place.
Think of something you can do to make the day special
special food or desert, a book you read only on the Sabbath, a park you love to visit or friend you deeply enjoy spending time with.

Don’t let stress ruin the start of your Sabbath. All these details can spike our anxiety.

Don’t worry about the “perfect Sabbath,” just get what you can done in your allotted time, and then relax into the goodness of what is, without letting it get drowned out by what could be.

3. Spend an entire day in rest and worship.

INSPIRE | - 'How do we inspire change in each other? What are we going to do / change / do differently this week?'

Discuss

What ONE thing am I going to take the opportunity to do differently this week?

How can we INSPIRE each other to add a Sabbath routine into our week?

Go Deeper

You can access this via downloaded the app

The Chosen | Android app store

The Chosen (Apple App store)

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