Introduction
Finding real rest amidst the whirlwind of work and life responsibilities and the culture of constant connectivity can be a real challenge. At least it has been for me. I have found that the practice of the Sabbath has been an act of cultural resistance and an invitation to cease my striving. The journey of ceasing has been both incredibly challenging and life-giving. Marva J. Dawn’s book, Keeping the Sabbath Wholly, is one of many Sabbath-related books that have helped me on my journey. Dawn’s book focuses on four aspects of Sabbath keeping: ceasing, resting, embracing, and feasting. In this blog post, I will concentrate on ceasing and its relevance for those of us living in today’s fast-paced world. Ceasing has indeed reshaped and reoriented my Sabbath practice. Ceasing can be challenging while still trying to juggle family and work responsibilities. Dawn discusses seven areas of ceasing in her book, which will form the outline for this post. Deep rest and intentional ceasing will help you learn, as it has helped me, to resist the whirlwind and rest in God’s gift of peace.
1. Ceasing from Work
In our fast-paced world, ceasing completely from work for a day can appear not just unproductive, but even irresponsible. But this day of ceasing is not just essential for our physical health, but for spiritual renewal. For me, ceasing from work means no email, Teams messages, text messages, work-related calls, or planning. Even small tasks like a quick email check can easily pull me back into work mode. Glancing is like cracking open the door to the pantry to an impatient and hungry toddler. Once the door is open, it’s hard to hold them back. Dawn writes, “In ceasing from our own works, we trust God to work in us.” God’s work in us is much more productive and meaningful than our work. Ceasing is a profound act of trust. By ceasing, we trust that God is continually working, managing things even when I’m not. Ceasing from work is not irresponsible; it’s essential and wise. It’s a day of trust in God’s work in us, a trust that brings peace and reassurance.
2. Ceasing from Productivity and Accomplishment
In our modern culture, there exists a sub-culture, sometimes called the hustle-culture, where achievements, side gigs, and grinding out results are highly prized, and stepping away from it, for some of us, can feel uncomfortable. Often, our identity and self-perceived worth are tied up in our achievements. The Sabbath gives us a pause and an opportunity to reflect on our intrinsic God-given worth, which exists outside our accomplishments. My value is not in what I do but in who and whose I am. A day without the need to be productive is an invitation to enjoy life’s simple pleasures. We can engage in activities that do not need to be measured in their productivity value but in the fact that they renew us and bring us joy. Enjoying a sunset, reading poetry, listening… I mean really listening to music, and savouring God’s beauty in creation is a tangible taste of God’s unearned grace. Dawn writes, “Sabbath is a gift from God, not a constraint; it is an invitation to enter joy.” Our hustle, achievement-obsessed culture is not the only reality, and stepping away from it, intentionally on the Sabbath, is an invitation to enter God’s joy.
3. Ceasing from Anxiety, Worry, and Tension
The Sabbath is an opportunity to lay down our anxieties, worries, and tension. By laying them down, we tell God we trust him to provide for our needs. In the past few months, I have begun the practice of Morning Pages (discussed in Cameron’s book The Artist’s Way), in which I write three pages, long-form, stream of unfiltered thoughts. I express gratitude and frustration. Hopes and hurts. Morning Pages have also become a type of prayer journal where I can be real and raw with Jesus. I can mourn, I can celebrate, and I can allow him to speak to my heart. Dawn stated, “The Sabbath frees us from the need to control our environments, inviting us to re-enter Eden where we rely on God’s provision.” Re-entering Eden on the Sabbath is the place of releasing the attempt to control my environment, to lay down my worries and anxieties, and to trust in God’s provision.
4. Ceasing from Trying to Be God
On the Sabbath, ceasing from trying to be God means letting go of trying to control my life and the outcomes. Recognizing my human limitations allows me to embrace my utter dependence on God. Years ago, after finishing a hectic season of completing my M.Ed. degree, I sensed a profound tiredness and came crashing into the wall of my human limitations. I realized afterwards that my human limitations were not a flaw but a gift from God. Only God, El Shaddai, is all-sufficient. In Eden, Adam and Eve were designed with a deep dependence on God. It still exists today. John and Lisa Bevere, on a podcast I listened to years ago, shared that their goal as parents was to raise their boys to be independent of them but dependent on God. Natalia and I have adopted that goal. The Sabbath is not a day to completely disengage from our responsibilities as parents but to honour our human limitations and model that posture for our kids. During the Sabbath, we cease to try and control our lives and their outcomes, and we let God be God.
5. Ceasing from Possessiveness
Another layer of our modern culture is possessiveness and consumerism, the constant temptation to buy and sell. Everything is 1-click away. Ceasing on the Sabbath is a naturally supported pause. As a family, we aim to avoid all commerce on Sundays. It’s a day to practice what the Puritan Jeremiah Burroughs called The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment. Contentment is not easy. It is an art and a great mystery that must be learned and mastered. Dawn said, “The Sabbath calls us to enjoy what we have, to set aside our desires for more, and to find contentment in the simple and the eternal.” I love that. We can find contentment in the simple and eternal. Simple and eternal things are not typically things at all… they are people and God’s creation. Ceasing to buy and sell on the Sabbath is an invitation to enjoy what’s important to God and rest in the contentment that comes as a result.
6. Ceasing from Enculturation
Ceasing from enculturation means stepping away from modern culture’s values, priorities, and distractions. In this way, the Sabbath is an act of resistance to the culture of consumption and busyness. There’s another excellent book I would recommend. It’s called Sabbath as Resistance: Saying No to the Culture of Now by Walter Brueggemann. He discusses how the Sabbath is not about a list of rules but an act of resistance which comes in the form of an intentional and meaningful pause. Dawn mentioned, “Sabbath keeping allows us to break free from the secular demands and pressures that shape our everyday lives.” These secular demands and pressures appear very real, but they are not necessarily what’s important to God. In his book The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, John Mark Comer shared some interesting findings related to enculturation. “Michael Zigarelli from the Charleston Southern University School of Business conducted the Obstacles to Growth Survey of over twenty thousand Christians across the globe and identified busyness as a major distraction from spiritual life. Listen carefully to his hypothesis: ‘It may be the case that (1) Christians are assimilating to a culture of busyness, hurry and overload, which leads to (2) God becoming more marginalized in Christians’ lives, which leads to (3) a deteriorating relationship with God, which leads to (4) Christians becoming even more vulnerable to adopting secular assumptions about how to live, which leads to (5) more conformity to a culture of busyness, hurry and overload. And then the cycle begins again.’” Ceasing from enculturation on the Sabbath means resisting contemporary culture and embracing the culture of the kingdom of God.
7. Ceasing the Humdrum and Meaninglessness
God designed in the very fabric of creation rhythms of rest and renewal. Every day is not the same. Every season is not the same. Just like fields need to lie fallow, so do we. Working every day is a recipe for burnout and a sense of meaninglessness. Sabbath is a pause which helps restore purpose and meaning to our lives. The Sabbath is a small sanctuary of time. The Sabbath is a space to rest and reflect. Dawn argued, “The Sabbath is not for the sake of the weekdays; the weekdays are for the sake of the Sabbath. It is not an interlude but the climax of living.” The Sabbath can and should be a climax for the week. Pulling away from the humdrum of life, we can re-anchor ourselves to what is most important to God. Embrace the gift of the Sabbath, don’t resist it, because in resisting our need for the Sabbath, we are going against the God-designed rhythms of nature.
Conclusion
Ceasing on the Sabbath is not a passive posture but a proactive plan. Dawn’s book, Keeping the Sabbath Wholly, has helped shape my understanding of the Sabbath and given me ideas on receiving it wholly. Ceasing is difficult. I often feel the pull toward work, productivity, commerce, control, culture, etc. On the Sabbath, I aim to honour and embrace the divine rhythms of life. I pause, reflect, and refocus on my identity in Christ, separate from my accomplishments. I invite you to reflect on your own Sabbath and renewal practices. Are you experiencing deep heart and soul rest? Do you feel God inviting you to cease from something and receive something better in exchange? Ceasing is a proactive step, a place to receive renewal, and an opportunity to find the rare jewel of Christian contentment.
Comments
One response to “Cease and Desist: Learning to Truly Rest on the Sabbath”
Well said and more importantly this article is well lived…!