SABBATH – The need to sit in the presence of God.

SABBATH –

Pastor Calvin Cook – September 14, 2024

Mark 2:27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

What does Sabbath look like ? In my clergy covenant group, we have been speaking about what Sabbath and the need of Sabbath might look like. In my own life I strive to find that quiet peaceful center of life. It can and will happen whether planned or sometimes at the direction of the Holy Spirit. This morning I am feeling a great need for Sabbath.

Sabbath is not for Pastors writing sermons or preparing Bible studies, for others it is not a need for rest or falling asleep from exhaustion. It is not just about Sundays and attending church.  It is escaping into the presence of God where the whole self-mind, body, and spirit sits with God to be refreshed. It is a Holy place where everything other than focus on the creator and one true God becomes unimportant.

This morning my Sabbath looks like a cup of ginger lemon herbal tea and I have made extra to share. It looks like an open Bible reading the words that bring consolation to the days trials and transforms me for a little while to sit at the feet of Jesus where all anxiety ceases. It is a place where my cat Mabel sits on my lap and purrs to the instrumental hymn “Because He Lives” playing in the background. Sometimes it is a morning walk or being surrounded by a bunch of cackling chickens that seem to be trying out for some chicken choir all singing out of tune in their own cackles with different meanings. In times past it has been sitting beside a creek or waterfall and being soothed by the gentle flow of water and the ripples and pockets that have been created. It has been about sitting in a sanctuary in the quietness of the day as the morning sun beams through the stained glass window in an array of colors speaking of God’s covenants to his people.

Though I don’t practice Sabbath enough, I know it must be intentional and planned to escape everything and just be with God. I am thankful for those moments; my soul is enriched powerfully in those times when nothing else but God and my relationship with God really matters. I get the inkling in those moments that is what eternity will be like.

These last couple of weeks I have been all over the place emotionally, physically, and spiritually. I stood a few times at the top of the mountain and witnessed the view and have been in lowest valleys of despair. But none compares to these moments of Sabbath of just being with God and ministered to and cared for by God’s presence in this moment.

I never really want to leave, but as I do I leave changed. Probably the most important thing about Sabbath is leaving changed so that the importance of that personal relationship with Jesus that I have been gifted supplies all my needs and desires.