Hello my friends,
This is Mark Gladman,
Also known as Brother Frederick James,
Your friendly neighbourhood monk in dogs.
Welcome as we continue this special series of reflections reflecting on the Hebrew words for rest as we explore the deeper meaning of Sabbath.
Now I want to begin.
.
.
Not with one of those Hebrew words just yet.
But in what seems like a slightly unusual place,
I want to start in the creation story in Genesis.
And the reason I want to begin there.
Is because when God gives the Ten Commandments in the book of Exodus,
The command to observe creation is grounded in creation itself.
In Exodus,
We read these words,
Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.
For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth,
The sea and all that is in them,
But rested the seventh day.
Therefore,
The Lord blessed the Sabbath day.
And consecrate it.
In other words.
.
.
Sabbath isn't presented as some random religious rule added later on.
Sabbath is woven into the very rhythm of creation itself.
And because of that,
I think it's worth spending some time slowly reading through the opening creation poem in Genesis 1.
Through to Genesis 2 verse 3.
And if you do that and read carefully,
There's a few things you might notice that perhaps you might not have noticed before.
One of the first things.
Is the repeated phrase that closes each day.
You might remember it says,
And there was evening and there was morning.
Now that sounds fairly normal to us until we realise that it's the opposite of how we usually speak.
We tend to say.
.
.
Morning.
And evening.
Which kind of sounds like work first.
Rest later.
But the Genesis rhythm is reversed.
Evening comes first.
Rest comes first.
Stillness comes first.
Darkness and quiet.
Comes first,
Then comes.
.
.
The work of the next day.
And there's something deeply beautiful hidden in that rhythm.
It's the idea that creation itself begins from rest.
Human beings were never designed to live as though rest is just a reward at the end of a day of exhaustion.
Biblical speaking.
Rest is the starting place.
We work from rest,
Not towards it.
And then there's another phrase repeated throughout the story.
And the phrase is,
And God saw that it was good.
And the Hebrew word used there is TOLB.
And while our English translation often renders it simply as good.
The word carries a sense of beauty,
Delight,
Goodness and harmony.
God looks upon creation and sees beauty again.
And again throughout the story.
At the close of each day.
There's this pause,
This moment of noticing.
And delight.
God doesn't rush immediately into the next act of creation.
There's reflection.
There's awareness,
There's enjoyment at what's been done.
And maybe there's something important there for us too.
How often?
Do we move through our days without ever stopping long enough to notice what was beautiful?
How often do we rush from one thing to the next without reflecting on goodness,
Grace,
Kindness,
Beauty,
Or presence?
Part of Sabbath may involve relearning how to notice the beauty that already exists within our lives.
To pause long enough to say.
This was good.
And then there's one more fascinating detail hidden in this Genesis story.
If you read carefully.
.
.
It almost seems as though God finishes creation twice.
At the end of the sixth day,
After God has made the humans,
We read these words.
God saw everything that God had made,
And indeed it was very good.
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished.
Okay,
Did you get that?
Finished.
Complete.
And yet,
Immediately afterwards we read.
.
.
And on the seventh day,
God finished the work.
Now,
Wait a moment.
Wasn't this already finished?
How can creation be completed twice?
Well,
Ancient Jewish reflection noticed this too.
Rabbi Rashi,
In a famous midrash,
Suggested that something was still missing at the end of the sixth day.
Creation was not yet fully complete because one thing still needed to be created.
Manuha.
This is rest,
Stillness.
Tranquility,
Peace,
Settledness,
In other words,
According to this insight.
Creation itself was incomplete until rest existed within it.
And when you begin to see that,
It changes the entire story.
Because we often assume the climax of creation is the creation of humanity.
But in the Genesis poem,
The climax is actually Sabbath rest.
The culmination isn't merely the work completed,
The culmination is entering into rest.
The culmination is delight.
Stillness.
Wholeness.
And peace.
God finishes the work.
And then.
.
.
God Rests.
And maybe this reveals something profound.
About the human soul,
Maybe.
Life isn't meant to be one endless cycle of producing and achieving.
Maybe the deepest goal isn't constant accomplishment.
Maybe the deepest goal is communion.
His presence,
His peace,
His restfulness in God.
And maybe that's why so many of us feel exhausted.
Because we've learned how to work.
But in doing so,
We've forgotten.
How to stop.
We've learned how to produce.
But not how to delight.
We've learned how to achieve.
But not how to rest in what's already beautiful.
And good.
Sabbath reminds us that we're invited into something deeper.
Not just the completion of tasks,
But the recovery of our souls.
So as we conclude this first of our Sabbath Reflections.
I invite you just for a moment.
To just stop and pause and be still.
Take some nice deep breaths.
We're just going to pause in some time of silence and reflect and hold the creation rhythm in our awareness.
Remembering that this rhythm is evening.
And then.
.
.
Morning.
Remembering that this rhythm is rest before striving.
Remembering.
That this beautiful rhythm is beauty.
Before anxiousness.
Remembering that this rhythm.
Is delight.
Before productivity.
And slowly.
Gently.
May we begin rediscovering what it means to live within the rhythm God built into creation from the very beginning.
Let's pray.
God of creation.
You formed the world in wisdom.
In beauty.
And in peace.
Teach us again the sacred rhythm of rest.
Slow our restless minds.
Quiet our anxious hearts.
Help us stop rushing long enough.
To notice the beauty that is already here.
Teach us to delight in goodness.
Teach us to embrace stillness without fear.
Teach us that our value.
Isn't found just in what we produce.
But also in our capacity to be present.
To breathe.
To receive.
And to rest in you.
May this journey into Sabbath lead us not simply towards relaxation.
The towards are deeper.
Wholeness.
And may we discover.
Little by little,
The piece that has been woven into creation.
From the very beginning.
And may grace,
Peace and love be with us and remain with us today and always.
Until tomorrow,
My friend.
May God's rest and peace be with you.
