The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry

Week 9 | Sabbath | Exercise 1 of 4

 
 

Take time to READ this CHAPTER 9: p142-176

Most of what we will cover is found in the ‘How to Unhurry Work Book’ which we are working through over the next 4 weeks

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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)

  • What has been your experience of a Sabbath?

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

  • Sabbath originates from the Hebrew word SHABBAT. The word can be translated into 4 words:

    • STOP / REST / DELIGHT / WORSHIP

    • Which of these words do you associate with Sabbath?

  • We first see a time of stopping/resting/delighting in Genesis 2:2 after God created the world, he rested it on the 7th day.

    • Genesis 2: 2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

    • We see this idea of resting in Exodus 16. God supplied each day's need of manna for five days; on the sixth, a double portion was provided to last through the seventh day, on which no manna appeared. Correspondingly, the Israelites were commanded not to go out at all but to remain at home on the seventh day.

    • We see God underlining the importance of Shabbat by its entrance in the 10 Commandments

      • 8 “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.

  • How important is this day, in God’s eyes?

  • What is your take on a ‘blessed’ day? What does that mean?

  • In Mark 2: 23-27 we witness a conversation between Jesus and the Pharisees.

    • One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”

    • Why was Jesus’ reply, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath”?

      • What does this mean for us, today, this week?

  • In a 24/7 culture how valuable is taking sabbath?

  • What is the difference between a ‘day off’ and a Sabbath?

  • What impact would taking a regular Sabbath have on your week?

Discuss

  • Review Sabbath is a 24-hour time period of restful worship, by which we cultivate a restful spirit in all of our life. A good way to think about Sabbath is through the lens of four translations of the Hebrew word shabbat:

    • 1. Stop—we cease from all working, all thinking about working, all worrying and all wanting.

    • 2. Rest—we rest our soul, meaning, our whole person. Physical: we sleep. Mental and emotional: we calm down, relax, process the week. Spiritual: we cease our striving, and rest in God’s love for us through abiding.

    • 3. Delight—we pamper 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.

    • 4. Worship—we index our heart toward grateful praise and adoration of God, and we surrender our life to him, one week at a time.



  • Before you begin, a few things to note

    • 1. These four exercises are designed to build on each other. Don’t try them all at once, especially if you’re new to Sabbath. Over the course of a month, ease yourself into the rhythm of Sabbath.

    • 2. You can’t “succeed” or “fail” at this practice. The goal is simply to show up. Resist the urge to say, “I’m bad at this,” or, “This isn’t for me,” or, “I don’t like this.” Be patient with the practice, and with yourself.

    • 3. Of all the practices of Jesus, Sabbath is by far one of the most counter-cultural. It touches so many of the tender vulnerabilities of our soul; it’s also a form of spiritual warfare, a kind of assault on hell’s hold over our over-busy soul. It’s very hard for the enemy to tempt well-rested, healthy, happy people. At first, it may feel like you’re swimming upstream, or even fighting spiritual realities. That’s normal, just keep at it until you feel a shift in the current, and it’s moving you toward rest and no longer away from it.

PRACTICAL EXERCISE | SABBATH | Exercise 1 | The Basics (taken from REOH workbook)

  1. Mark out a 24-hour time period (or as close as you can) to rest and worship

  2. Pick a ritual to clearly Begin and End your Sabbath

    • Use the exercise #1 resource to give you ideas

  3. Spend the entire day in the four aspects of Sabbath: Stopping, resting, delighting and worshipping

    • Use the #1 resource to give you ideas

Again, there is no “right way.” Adapt your Sabbath practice to your personality, preferences, stage of life, and however it is you connect with God: time in nature, walking your dog to the park, playing frisbee golf with your kids, getting lost in a good novel, etc. Just take the day to pamper your soul in God’s presence.

• If “how” to do this is unclear to you, don’t feel bad, you’re not alone. Spend a few minutes thinking and praying over these simple questions:

• What about my regular routine would I need to stop to experience the Sabbath?

  • What is restful for me?

  • What brings me an easy delight?

  • What is a worshipful way I connect to God?

INSPIRE | - 'How do we inspire each other to do something different this week? What opportunities are in front of us, that we can choose to explore?’

Discuss

  • What ONE thing am I going to do differently this week?

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

Go Deeper

Watch ‘The Chosen’ Season 1 Episode 2: Shabbat

  • Watch how Shabbat is introduced

  • Notice the different ways in which Shabbat celebrated. What are the differences?

  • At the end we see families sitting down to eat, what is the producer trying to impress on us?

You can access this via downloaded the app or on YouTube