Stars: ★★★☆☆ (Maybe Worth Reading)
Premise
This book examines the Ten Commandments through the lens of the Fourth Commandment. The author details how observance of Sabbath today is as countercultural as it was when the Israelites came out of Egypt. He argues that observing the Sabbath will allow you to more completely love God and love your neighbor as you consistently make the deliberate choice to stop working. This choice will free you from anxiety, coercion, and exclusivity.
Loved
- Sabbath as Resistance to Anxiety: I have written extensively about how anxiety has been a large part of my story. The author’s argument about how the regular observance of Sabbath allows us freedom from much of the anxiety of life. We don’t have to listen to the voice that tells us we should be working or accomplishing something. We can relish the treasured time to simply rest and enjoy our families, our neighbors, and our God. This fits with so many of the other lessons I have learned over the last few years about intentionally choosing a slower life so that my children can have an enjoyable, unrushed childhood.
- At the end of the chapter called “Sabbath and the First Commandment” is my favorite quotation of the book:
We are, liberals and conservatives, much inured to Pharaoh’s system. For that reason, the departure into restfulness is both urgent and difficult, for our motors are set to run at brick-making speed. To cease, even for a time, the anxious striving for more bricks is to find ourselves with a ‘light burden’ and an “easy yoke.” It is now, as then, enough to permit dancing and singing into an alternative life.
This summation of his argument presents the observance of the Sabbath as a place of hope, an escape from a relentless rat race, an unexpected treasure of joy.
- Sabbath as Resistance to Multitasking: As a homeschool mom with a full time job, I have often prided myself on the ability to multitask. I can keep my juggling act up for a while before things come crashing down. I appreciated this chapter explaining that the skill may not be something to find so much pride in. Slowing down and being present in the moment, whether that is presence in worship or presence in fun, is likely to make an eternal difference. Half doing everything is unlikely to have the same impact.
Didn’t Love
The book is not an engaging read. There are many good nuggets and thought-provoking ideas throughout it, but it took me substantial effort to focus long enough to dig out the nuggets. At 89 pages, it seems like it would be a quick read, but that wasn’t the case, at least for me.
Lessons Learned
- The idea of practicing a full day of rest every week seems extravagant to me, which might be why God commanded it. I think we might start with Saturday mornings and afternoons and perhaps expand from there – start small to build the resting muscle. Genuine rest is counter to so much I have learned for my whole life. My idea of rest currently is to listen to my favorite podcasts while I fold laundry or vacuum my apartment. The idea of fully resting is both a little scary and very exciting.
- When Afa and I went on our tenth anniversary celebration, the most restful part of the trip was the fact that we had no cell phone service. Over the course of reading the book, I decided that leaving behind our cell phones would have to be an integral part of any truly restful Sabbath observance.