Sloooow Down

DAILY READING

Exodus 31

FIELD NOTES

Exodus’ commands on keeping the Sabbath in Exodus 31 are intense: “Keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you. Everyone who violates the Sabbath will be put to death. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath, that person will be cut off from the people.”  Phew!  Now you won’t find me advocating that we should put people to death for violating the Sabbath, but I do think that we easily dismiss the command to keep Sabbath holy.  We get so caught up in our jobs, carting kids to band practice and soccer games, and doing doing doing that we rarely slow down to dedicate a whole day to resting and worshipping God.  Pastor Walter Brueggeman, author of Sabbath as Resistance, writes, “Multitasking is the drive to be more than we are, to control more than we do, to extend our power and our effectiveness. Such practice yields a divided self, with full attention given to nothing.”  In essence, trying to do it all (plus some) takes away our attention from those things that truly matter- our family, our kids, our friends, and certainly from God.  The call to Sabbath is to slow down, disconnect from all our to-do’s, and connect with that which truly matters in life.

QUESTIONS FOR THE FIELD

• Do you practice Sabbath in any way?  How can you practice Sabbath as an important way of slowing down and turning your full focus on God?  Start with something even if it’s just 30 minutes a day.

FAMILY FIELD TALK

• Do you think we practice Sabbath as a family?  How do you think that we could?  Maybe go for a hike together and enjoy God’s creation.

PRAYER GUIDE

Lord, when it is hard to disconnect and slow down, give me faith.  Turn my eyes, my mind, my heart to You and that which truly matters.  Amen.