Reclaiming God’s Intent For The Sabbath

The Fourth Commandment, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy”, tends to invite legalism, rabid antinomian sentiment, or spiritual innovation from Christians. In each of those cases, the conversation about Sabbath-keeping focuses on the individual. Talking about the Sabbath in those terms cuts out the fact that it wasn’t given to individuals. It was given to a community, and is meant to be celebrated in community.

What Sabbath Is Not

For many, Sabbath-keeping is a rule-laden throwback to the social practices of our American Puritan forebears. Certainly our shared history still echoes today, mostly in the fading patchwork of unenforced antique blue laws still on the books in some towns, and the fact that Christian-owned businesses Chik-Fil-A and Hobby Lobby close on the first day of the week in order to honor a Sunday Sabbath. Some traditionalist congregations still hold Sunday morning and evening services in order to…[Read more]