Excerpt
The Sabbath Practice
WelcomeWelcome to the Sabbath Practice. We are so happy to have you along for this four-session journey into what Jesus called “rest for your souls.” Few things are as desperately needed today as the recovery of the ancient practice of Sabbath–a full day every week set aside to stop, rest, delight, and worship.
Following this Practice has the potential to be a before/after moment in your spiritual journey, but it will not be easy. Sabbath is radical and countercultural; yet at the same time, its raw power to open us up to transformation cannot be overemphasized.
Are you ready? This Practice will be difficult, counterintuitive, and awkward to master, but it will also feel restful and deeply right. Over time it will help you become at ease in your own body.
As with all the Practices, we don’t sabbath because it’s good for us (though it is), but because we are apprentices of Jesus, our Rabbi and Lord. To follow after Jesus is to adopt his overall lifestyle as our own and arrange our daily lives around his presence and peace, or what the ancients called “following the Way.” And Jesus sabbathed. In fact, many Jesus stories in the Gospels take place on the Sabbath, especially the stories of healing and deliverance. One likely reason is that
the Sabbath is a day for healing and freedom. It’s a day where the kingdom to come has come and we get to enter a whole new dimension of time and space.
So as you give yourself to this Sabbath Practice, remember all of this is an attempt to give ourselves more deeply to Jesus himself and let him do what no Practice or teaching or book or podcast or technique can possibly do–give rest to our souls.
How to Use the Companion GuideLearn: Gather together as a community for an interactive experience of learning about the Way of Jesus through teaching, storytelling, and discussion. Bring your guide to the session and follow along.
Practice: On your own, before the next session, go and “put it into practice,” as Jesus himself said. We will provide weekly spiritual disciplines and spiritual exercises, as well as recommended resources to go deeper.
Reflect: Reflection is key to spiritual formation. After your practice and before the next session, set aside 10–15 minutes to reflect on your experience. Reflection questions are included in this guide at the end of each session.
Process together: When you come back together, begin by sharing your reflections with your group. This moment is crucial, because we need each other to process our lives before God and make sense of our stories. If you are meeting in a larger group, you will need to break into smaller subgroups for this conversation so everyone has a chance to share.
Tips on Beginning a New PracticeIt’s essential to remember that all of the Practices are a
means to an end. The end goal of Sabbath is not to say, “I practice Sabbath.” It’s to apprentice under Jesus to become a person who is marked by an inner spirit of restfulness and who is calm, at ease in their own body, unhurried, kind, and present. You will become aware of what God is doing around you, sincerely grateful, emotionally healthy, and delighted by the goodness of your life with God. You will be like a rock in a sea of chaos, unmoved by the overwork, overconsumption, and overactivity of our host culture.
Because it’s so easy to lose sight of the end goal of a Practice, on the following pages you’ll find a few tips to keep in mind as you sabbath.
Start small Start where you are, not where you “should” be. If a full 24 hours is too much, start with a half day; if that’s too much, start with a few hours.
Think subtraction, not addition Please do not “add” Sabbath into your already overbusy, overfull life. Think:
What can I cut out? A weekend sports event? A house project? Weekend emails? Formation is about less, not more.
You get out what you put in If you merely dabble with this Practice or take shortcuts in order to do the bare minimum, you shouldn’t expect it to be particularly transformative. However, the more fully you give yourself to this Practice, the more life-changing it will be. This Practice leads to a fuller, deeper life only if you commit to it.
Remember the J curve Experts on learning tell us that whenever we set out to master a new skill, it tends to follow a J-shaped curve; we tend to get worse before we get better. If you currently enjoy your Sunday routine or day off, don’t be surprised if your first few Sabbaths are awkward and difficult. Just stay with the Practice; you will come around.
There is no formation without repetition Spiritual formation is slow, deep, cumulative work that takes years, not weeks. The goal of this four-session experience is just to get you started on a journey of a lifetime. Upon completion of this Practice, you will have a map for the journey ahead and hopefully some possible companions for the Way. But what you do next is up to you.
Before You BeginA note about the Reach PracticeWe recognize that we’re all at different stages of discipleship and seasons of life. To that end, we’ve added a Reach Practice to each of the four sessions. In it you’ll find extra exercises designed for those of you who have both the desire and the capacity to maximize your Sabbath experience. Additionally, we have suggested weekly reading and podcast episodes to enhance all four sessions. Enjoy!
A note about the recommended readingReading a book alongside the Practice can greatly enhance your understanding and enjoyment of Sabbath. And on the Sabbath, we actually have time to read! You may love to read, or you may not. For that reason, it’s recommended but not required.
Our companion book for the Sabbath Practice is
Sabbath by Dr. Dan Allender, who is a psychologist, author, and founder of the Allender Center in Seattle, Washington.
The Spiritual Health ReflectionOne final note: Before you begin Session 01, please set aside 20–30 minutes and take the Spiritual Health Reflection. This is a self-assessment we developed in partnership with pastors and leading experts in spiritual formation. It’s designed to help you reflect on the health of your soul in order to better name Jesus’ invitations to you as you follow the Way.
You can come back to the Spiritual Health Reflection as often as you’d like (we recommend one to two times a year) to chart your growth and continue to move forward on your spiritual journey.
