Letters From the Pastor
Sabbath - October 2012
The Tacoma Newspaper, from a town just south of Seattle, Washington, told a story about a basset hound named Tattoo. Tattoo didn't intend to go for an evening run, but when his owner shut the dog's leash in the car door and took off for a drive with Tattoo still outside the vehicle, he had no choice - he went for an evening run. A motorcycle officer noticed the passing vehicle had something dragging behind it: it was "the basset hound picking them up (his feet) and putting them down as fast as he could." The officer chased the car to a stop. Tattoo was rescued, but not before he had reached a speed of 20 to 25 miles per hour, and rolling over several times.
Our lives often seem often much like this dog’s life - being pulled by a leash and running as hard as we can run. Barely keeping up with the pace of life, and sometimes like Tattoo, we can’t keep up. We hit the ground, roll over a few times. Thankfully, a police officer spotted this poor dog and stopped the car so that the dog could be rescued. In our frantic pace, God has done the same thing, He has placed something in our busy and hectic lives to cause us to stop. He gives us rest. More specifically He has given us rest in Him, and this gift of rest is called the Sabbath. Literally, the word Sabbath means to stop, to cease, to be at rest.
The word Sabbath for most of people means Sunday. A day most don’t have to work, but due to hectic schedules throughout the week, it is a day used to get all those things done that weren’t done during the week - like mowing the lawn, and cleaning out gutters, or picking up around the house. If one is religious, a Christian, Sunday may mean going to church for an hour or two, leaving the rest of the day to do what ever one pleases. Playing, watching TV, getting things done, but what rarely happens on Sunday, on Sabbath, is rest, deep abiding rest. We, in our culture, have lost that gift of Sabbath rest.
This loss of rest is seen in people’s lives. According to a poll conducted by USA Today on 1500 adults, 68% said they needed more fun, 67% need a long vacation, 66% often feel stressed, 60% feel time is crunched, 49% feel pressure to succeed, and 48% feel overwhelmed. Isn’t it amazing the amount of commercials being aired for heartburn and ulcers, and high blood pressure? Despite our society’s appetite for entertainment, we don’t know how to rest very well, and our failure to rest is killing us.
In our frantic pace of life God says, “Stop it, stop it right now, and rest in me.” God has given us a gift, that gift is called Sabbath. It is a gift of joy and life, a gift of renewed vision and energy, and a gift of faith. I know what you are thinking. You are thinking that you have too much to do; that you don’t have time for rest. Yet this is the very point of Sabbath. Sabbath rest is not about getting everything done so that you can rest, but rather finding rest amidst all that there is to do. Mark Buccann in his book, The Holy Wild writes, “Sabbath is not dependent upon our readiness to stop. We do not stop because we are finished. We do not stop because we have completed our phone calls, finished our project, gotten through this stack of messages, or sent out this report that is due tomorrow. We stop because it is time to stop. Sabbath liberates us from the need to be finished. The old wise Sabbath says: Stop now.”
The gift of the Sabbath has only two rules for its enjoyment. Rule number one I’ve already mentioned already. It is to cease, stop, rest. The second rule of the Sabbath is to honor God, which together means to cease and be still and know that He is God. Breathe in His glory and His awesomeness and His word. Fill your life with the things of God on that day, not the things of this world, or the things of a busy life. These are the only two rules and it is in following these that God’s word says that we shall find our joy in the Lord.
“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the LORD, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.” The mouth of the LORD has spoken (Isaiah 58:13, 14).”
Pastor Trent <><
Our lives often seem often much like this dog’s life - being pulled by a leash and running as hard as we can run. Barely keeping up with the pace of life, and sometimes like Tattoo, we can’t keep up. We hit the ground, roll over a few times. Thankfully, a police officer spotted this poor dog and stopped the car so that the dog could be rescued. In our frantic pace, God has done the same thing, He has placed something in our busy and hectic lives to cause us to stop. He gives us rest. More specifically He has given us rest in Him, and this gift of rest is called the Sabbath. Literally, the word Sabbath means to stop, to cease, to be at rest.
The word Sabbath for most of people means Sunday. A day most don’t have to work, but due to hectic schedules throughout the week, it is a day used to get all those things done that weren’t done during the week - like mowing the lawn, and cleaning out gutters, or picking up around the house. If one is religious, a Christian, Sunday may mean going to church for an hour or two, leaving the rest of the day to do what ever one pleases. Playing, watching TV, getting things done, but what rarely happens on Sunday, on Sabbath, is rest, deep abiding rest. We, in our culture, have lost that gift of Sabbath rest.
This loss of rest is seen in people’s lives. According to a poll conducted by USA Today on 1500 adults, 68% said they needed more fun, 67% need a long vacation, 66% often feel stressed, 60% feel time is crunched, 49% feel pressure to succeed, and 48% feel overwhelmed. Isn’t it amazing the amount of commercials being aired for heartburn and ulcers, and high blood pressure? Despite our society’s appetite for entertainment, we don’t know how to rest very well, and our failure to rest is killing us.
In our frantic pace of life God says, “Stop it, stop it right now, and rest in me.” God has given us a gift, that gift is called Sabbath. It is a gift of joy and life, a gift of renewed vision and energy, and a gift of faith. I know what you are thinking. You are thinking that you have too much to do; that you don’t have time for rest. Yet this is the very point of Sabbath. Sabbath rest is not about getting everything done so that you can rest, but rather finding rest amidst all that there is to do. Mark Buccann in his book, The Holy Wild writes, “Sabbath is not dependent upon our readiness to stop. We do not stop because we are finished. We do not stop because we have completed our phone calls, finished our project, gotten through this stack of messages, or sent out this report that is due tomorrow. We stop because it is time to stop. Sabbath liberates us from the need to be finished. The old wise Sabbath says: Stop now.”
The gift of the Sabbath has only two rules for its enjoyment. Rule number one I’ve already mentioned already. It is to cease, stop, rest. The second rule of the Sabbath is to honor God, which together means to cease and be still and know that He is God. Breathe in His glory and His awesomeness and His word. Fill your life with the things of God on that day, not the things of this world, or the things of a busy life. These are the only two rules and it is in following these that God’s word says that we shall find our joy in the Lord.
“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the LORD, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.” The mouth of the LORD has spoken (Isaiah 58:13, 14).”
Pastor Trent <><
The Shepherd and the Sheep - Psalm 23 September 2012
Have you ever noticed how one of the most beloved passages of scripture contains in it one of the most profound insults? Psalm 23 gives us a wonderful description of the Lord being our shepherd. A shepherd who guides us to green pasture and still waters, a shepherd who protects us in times of danger, and a shepherd who cares for us. Or as the writer of the Psalm concludes, that since “the Lord is my shepherd,” then “I shall not be in need.” The 23rd Psalm has been a Psalm of great comfort for all generations. Yet, if you think about it, the Lord being our shepherd implies that we are sheep.
Have you ever been around sheep before? They are not too bright. They have no defensive capabilities against predators. When in danger they simply go “baa,” when hungry they go “baa,” when thirsty or upset they go “baa.” When you think about it, so do we humans. Whenever we are hungry, thirsty, upset, or afraid we usually complain, fuss, get angry or criticize. In other words we go “baa,” except in English. Thus it is no coincidence that when the psalmist writes what it means for the Lord to be his shepherd he begins with how the shepherd “makes me lie down in green pastures.” Sheep can be so busy going “baa” that they fail to rest.
In the book “A Shepherd’s Look at Psalm 23” Philip Keller tells us how sheep will not rest if 1) They are fearful; 2) feeling a need to find food; 3) bothered by flies or parasites; and 4) upset by friction in the flock between other sheep. In order for sheep to rest the Shepherd needs to take care of their fears, flies, friction and famine. Thus we read in the Psalm, “He makes me lie down....” The Lord brings us rest.
We know this to be true in scripture. Jesus tells us to not worry what we shall eat, or what we shall wear (Matthew 6). We are told to rejoice in our sufferings (James 1:2), and be at peace with people (Romans 12:18), and to have patience in what the Lord is doing in us (James 5:7-8). Indeed the Lord is our shepherd. Yet, we worry about our jobs, we worry about our homes, we worry about our family, we feel we can not rest until all the things we need to get done are done, and we can not rest until we change ourselves or change others. You get the feeling; this list can go on and on. Rest for us is elusive simply because we fail to trust in the Word of God and believe that what God says He will do He does.
Thus, the rest that is talked about in Psalm 23 is experienced only through faith. For as long as we reside in this world our human nature will be bothered by fears, flies, friction and famine. Those things will not go away, but it is faith that says that in spite of any fears or worries, God is in control and He shall provide, therefore I can rest. A rest that is joyful, meaningful, peaceful, whole and satisfying. The true rest that is attained by faith and not by my never-ending efforts to remove all fears, flies, friction and famine. Be at peace.
“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in need. He makes me lie down in green pastures.”
Pastor Trent <><
Have you ever been around sheep before? They are not too bright. They have no defensive capabilities against predators. When in danger they simply go “baa,” when hungry they go “baa,” when thirsty or upset they go “baa.” When you think about it, so do we humans. Whenever we are hungry, thirsty, upset, or afraid we usually complain, fuss, get angry or criticize. In other words we go “baa,” except in English. Thus it is no coincidence that when the psalmist writes what it means for the Lord to be his shepherd he begins with how the shepherd “makes me lie down in green pastures.” Sheep can be so busy going “baa” that they fail to rest.
In the book “A Shepherd’s Look at Psalm 23” Philip Keller tells us how sheep will not rest if 1) They are fearful; 2) feeling a need to find food; 3) bothered by flies or parasites; and 4) upset by friction in the flock between other sheep. In order for sheep to rest the Shepherd needs to take care of their fears, flies, friction and famine. Thus we read in the Psalm, “He makes me lie down....” The Lord brings us rest.
We know this to be true in scripture. Jesus tells us to not worry what we shall eat, or what we shall wear (Matthew 6). We are told to rejoice in our sufferings (James 1:2), and be at peace with people (Romans 12:18), and to have patience in what the Lord is doing in us (James 5:7-8). Indeed the Lord is our shepherd. Yet, we worry about our jobs, we worry about our homes, we worry about our family, we feel we can not rest until all the things we need to get done are done, and we can not rest until we change ourselves or change others. You get the feeling; this list can go on and on. Rest for us is elusive simply because we fail to trust in the Word of God and believe that what God says He will do He does.
Thus, the rest that is talked about in Psalm 23 is experienced only through faith. For as long as we reside in this world our human nature will be bothered by fears, flies, friction and famine. Those things will not go away, but it is faith that says that in spite of any fears or worries, God is in control and He shall provide, therefore I can rest. A rest that is joyful, meaningful, peaceful, whole and satisfying. The true rest that is attained by faith and not by my never-ending efforts to remove all fears, flies, friction and famine. Be at peace.
“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in need. He makes me lie down in green pastures.”
Pastor Trent <><