A Rest in Development

Rest on Sunday. This one is going to take a bit to figure out. I haven't really any idea what to do with this one off the top of my head. The rest of the week is pretty easy. It's just a matter of rearranging what I am already doing on a weekly basis. Ok, ok....so I DO technically need to get a lot better acquainted with my iron, but it's not as if I don't know what the basic chores are.

Rest, however, has me a bit stumped.

True rest, as in sleeping in and napping and going to bed early, seems too much like sloth.

On Sundays I sometimes like to sew or shop, but those are chores on Wednesday and Thursday, so perhaps I shouldn't do them so as to better rest. But if I enjoy those tasks on Sunday and they don't feel like a chore, then is that rest?

I could go hardcore. I could take a cue from my inner Orthodox Jewess (complete with her dowdy black skirt and covered head) and tear off the toilet paper I'll need the night before so I don't do that work on the Sabbath. But that would be interchanging the Sabbath (Friday night to Saturday night) with Sunday and that would not be right. The Sabbath is its own thing entirely and you can't just say, "hey, I'm a Christian so we'll do all the same stuff on Sunday." (IMHO)

All this leads me back to the original question of what exactly constitutes Rest of Sunday. God rested on the 7th day, but again, that was Saturday, the Sabbath. Even so, it seems reasonable to at take a look at exactly what God was doing that do as a hint as to what I ought to do.

I have a Key Word Study Bible (NIV) by AMG Publishers. My Bible uses the Goodrick/Kohlenbereger numbering systemto identify key words of the original language. So anytime a word is numbered (Hebrew or Greek) you can look up the index in the back and find a more full definition of the word.

And away we go......

Genesis 2:1-2
Thus the Heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.

By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating he had done.

Rested: Sabat - to rest, cease; to come to an end; to keep or celebrate the Sabbath; to be ended; to sever; to bring an end; have an end; to destroy; to cause to rest; let rest; to cease to exist; to remove; take away. The most basic meaning is found in Genesis 8:22, where God declared that "as long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat; summer and winter; day and night will never cease." The term is used of God's rest after He had complete the work of creation. Also used of men who cear from labor, land which lies desolate, travelers who rest from traveling and elders who "rested" from the gate (ie, did not go to the forums on the Sabbath). Other meanings include to put away, to put down, to be lacking and to eliminate.

That didn't help at all. I don't want to be like land which lies desolate (although sometimes spending a Sunday in bed with the TV and internets is not only appealing but probably looks fairly desolate).

So let's look at "doing" to see what God was doing that he rested from.

Doing: Asah - to do, make, work, create, accomplish, prepare, to obey, to offer, sacrifice. Essentially means to do or make in a general sense. Carries the connotation of ethical obligation.

Actually, when combined, I think this helps.

If my "doing" during the week is what I am obliged to do, what I do out of obedience, is made up of time that I sacrifice, then couldn't my "rest" be as simple as making the choice of what to do? Couldn't my "rest" be the same as my "doing" if my "doing" if I want to be doing it? I don't mean that Sundays should be spent being indulgent and only doing what my little heart desires. But in a more general sense, maybe "rest" just means to not be bound by obligation to the same schedule I have during the week. I *could* do some of the same things, but it must not be with a sense of obligation if it is to be restful.

An author I like is Lauren Winner. In Mudhouse Sabbath, she talks about how the scripture references the Sabbath. She points out that verses vary between "Observe the Sabbath" and "Remember the Sabbath". The point is that a person can "observe" the Sabbath that is approaching or "remember" the Sabbath they just experienced. The Sabbath is so set apart from the other days of the week that it really sticks out in your mind whether you are recalling the last one or looking forward to the next one.

I think maybe that fits in to all this too, although I don't see exactly how just yet.

This really is a rest in development. I do not have the answer yet.