Greetings my friend.
This is Mark Gladman,
Also known as Brother Frederick James,
Your friendly neighborhood monk.
In dogs.
Welcome to the next teaching and reflection in our series as we contemplate Sabbath,
Working through some Hebrew words that introduce us to this deeper spirit of Sabbath rest.
Our word today is Shabbat.
Quite simply,
The word means to cease.
To stop.
To come to an end.
We find this word in Genesis chapter 2 when we read the words,
And on the seventh day,
God finished the work that God had done.
And God rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done.
That God had done.
So the Hebrew word translated there is rested.
Shabbat.
God ceased.
And maybe that sounds simple enough.
But if we're honest,
Most of us aren't very good at ceasing.
There's always something else to do,
Isn't there?
Another email,
Another message,
Another responsibility.
Another task,
Another project,
Another thing demanding our attention.
And our modern technology particularly means we can now work from almost anywhere at almost any time.
And so work follows us home,
Into holidays,
Into evenings,
Into bed even.
And into the silence.
Many people.
Now answer emails while they're supposedly resting.
There's reports even of people working during holidays.
Many people move constantly from one task to another.
Without ever truly stopping,
And even during transition moments between things,
We can fill the space with more activity.
We're deeply preoccupied with being occupied,
And because of that,
When we stop.
.
.
We feel guilty.
As though rest itself must somehow be justified.
Now work itself isn't the problem.
Creating's good,
Work's good,
Contributing is good.
But we get into trouble when we never cease,
When we never stop.
When we never allow completion to exist.
Maybe one of the reasons for this is that many of us no longer know what enough feels like.
We finish one thing and we immediately move to the next.
Sometimes we begin thinking about the next task before the first one's even complete.
Sometimes we start multiple things at once.
We call this multitasking and assume it makes us more efficient,
Even though more and more research suggests the exact opposite.
Our attention becomes fragmented,
Our minds become crowded,
Our souls become restless.
But when we return to the creation story,
We notice something very different about the rhythm of God.
God does one thing at a time.
Creation unfolds slowly,
Patiently.
Intentionally.
And there was evening.
And there was mourning.
Each act of creation given its own space,
Its own time.
Its own attention.
And then comes the seventh day.
And after creating the heavens and the earth and everything within them,
God FACES.
Shabbat.
And this is important.
Notice that God doesn't stop because God's exhausted.
And God doesn't stop because God's become frustrated with creation.
God stops because what's been created is enough.
Enough!
Maybe that's one of the hardest words for many of us to believe.
Enough.
Notice the rhythm of Genesis.
At the end of the day,
God says,
It is good.
And then on the sixth day,
It is very good.
And after declaring creation very good,
God stops.
God rests.
God delights.
God enjoys what has been made.
Don't panic.
A checking.
No overproduction.
No endless productivity.
There's just trust in enoughness.
And maybe one of the deepest invitations of Sabbath is to believe,
Even briefly,
That what has been done is done.
Is enough,
That you are allowed to stop,
That rest isn't failure and ceasing isn't laziness,
And that your worth isn't dependent upon constantly producing.
And so I want to invite you now into a moment of reflection.
Just take a slow,
Deep breath in.
And out.
And as you settle,
Just simply notice how difficult it may feel to stop.
Notice the part of you that feels pressure.
To keep going.
Notice the voice within you that says,
You should be doing more.
And then gently hear these words.
What you have done to this point.
Is enough.
You don't need to earn rest.
You are allowed to cease.
Shabbat.
Stop.
Cease.
Rest.
Allow yourself to imagine for a moment what life might feel like if you truly trusted that stopping was holy.
That rest was sacred.
That the light mattered.
That stillness was part of God's design for human life.
Because in a world that constantly demands seven day a week productivity so that seven day a week consumption can continue,
Sabbath becomes an act of trust,
An act of resistance,
An act of freedom.
And perhaps this is why God commanded Sabbath for Israel.
Because human beings need it.
We need rhythms of stopping.
We need permission to rest.
We need moments where we remember.
That life is more than endless striving.
So today,
May your invitation be this.
To cease.
Without guilt.
Without apology,
Without fear.
Stop long enough to breathe.
Stop long enough to notice beauty.
Stop long enough to enjoy what already is.
And maybe somewhere within that stopping,
May your soul begin remembering that you are already loved before you produce another thing.
And in fact,
Before you produced.
Anything.
Shabbat.
That's pride.
God of rest,
You created the world with wisdom and rhythm.
You worked.
You delight it.
And then you ceased.
Teach us how to stop.
Free us from the fear that we must constantly produce in order to matter.
Quiet the anxious striving within us.
Release us from guilt when we rest.
Help us trust that there are moments when enough truly is enough.
Teach us to light in what's already been given.
Teach us to honour our limits.
Teach us to embrace stillness as sacred.
And when the world pressures us to keep going endlessly,
Remind us that you created Sabbath as a gift.
May we learn the holy rhythm of Shabbat.
The rhythm of ceasing,
Resting,
Trusting and dwelling peacefully in your presence.
And may that peace,
Grace and love be with us and remain with us now and always.
Till tomorrow,
My friend.
A God's Peace.
Be with you.
Shabbat shalom.
