This week I announced on Facebook that I was taking a “Sabbath Rest” from Facebook from the 1st of September until after the election, sometime around the season of Thanksgiving, or the beginning of Advent. There were a variety of factors that brought me to this decision. To be honest, the highest motivation was to avoid the rancor and divisiveness of the political drama in our country. My temperament is driven to make sure all statements are true, stories are accurate and falsehoods are revealed. I found myself churning inside as I read the lies of multiple conspiracy theories being “shouted” on Facebook posts. I tried to ignore them (as my husband instructed), but I just couldn’t be silent.
Karl Barth once stated, “A being is free only when it can determine and limit its activity.” I was headed towards the bondage of attempting to correct the cacophony of lies being perpetrated on social media—even though I KNOW that this is not the platform for civil discourse. But, when I couldn’t read (or ignore) and forget—I was agitated in my spirit and felt a need to make everybody see the error of their ways. So, I felt the urgent need to withdraw my involvement from this social platform. But, to withdraw into what?
The Sabbath was commanded for God’s people, with the purpose of restoration both physically and spiritually. It wasn’t merely a law to be enforced with harshness. It was a “call”—from the Creator God who had demonstrated this need in Creation itself. It was for for the purpose of healing, the building of relationships, and growing in spiritual maturity. As with ALL of God’s commands, the commandment to intentionally take a “Sabbath Rest” was both to keep us from harm and to give us something good. Gordon MacDonald knew of the power of this and wrote, “If my private world is in order, it will be because I have chosen to press Sabbath peace into the rush and routine of my daily life in order to find the rest God prescribed for Himself and all of humanity.”
Colossians 3:15 challenges us to “let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.” There was no question that my response to the Facebook entries concerning currant political issues in our country; COVID-19 restrictions; and the upcoming election was definitely disturbing any “peace of Christ” in my heart. Thus, I had to take a step back.
For the child of God, keeping the Sabbath is not slavishly restricting activities on a particular day (although a regular “day of rest” is beneficial). It is truly a mindset, a focus. Priscilla Shirer captured this idea in her quote, “God always and eternally intended the Sabbath to be a lifestyle—an attitude, a perspective, an orientation for the living that enables us to govern our lives and steer clear of bondage.” This is at the heart of my decision to withdraw from the milieu of the ever-present Facebook conversation. While my personal peace is maintained, as I focus on Christ, I am also prevented from becoming onerous in my correcting of others and thus destroying relationships over different ideas of what is best for our culture. It also saves me the time normally spent in reading and responding to my nearly 2000 Facebook friends!
Finally, such a Sabbath Rest had implications for my future. Keeping the Sabbath is big deal to our Creator God. It is built into the fabric of Creation itself. As I intentionally practice entering into such a rest, I am in concert with both the creation and God’s purposes. This final quote by Jurgen Moltmann lays out an awesome possibility built into this command:
The Sabbath opens creation for its true future. On the Sabbath the redemption of the world is celebrated in anticipation. The Sabbath is itself the presence of eternity in time, and a forestaste of the world to come.
May God be glorified in both my decision and the experience of such a Sabbath Rest.
Amen