Bethlehem Lutheran Church

Sermon series: Creation Matters

071011_1015AM.mp3

 Jump to the Take-Out

Show of hands—how many of you got to church today via car?  How many of you wore seatbelts?  Go ahead—be honest.  No officer is standing outside to issue tickets for those of you who didn’t.  I would suspect that had I asked this question just 2 years ago not as many hands would have gone up.  It wasn’t until June of 2009 that Minnesota made not wearing a seat belt a primary offense.  Now law enforcement can stop motorists for seat belt violations—and attach a hefty fine to the ticket.  The state got our attention by going after our pocket books. 

More of us buckle up as a result of the law being enforced.  But long before the law existed we knew that wearing seatbelts was the simplest and most effective way to prevent death or injury in a crash.  Studies were conducted and articles published.  As early as 1955—before seatbelts were even standard equipment on cars—the medical profession knew that wearing seatbelts was a safety issue.  And yet the majority of us ignored the facts.  Aren’t we an odd species--to know that a particular practice is necessary for our well-being and yet refuse to do it?

Seatbelts aren’t the only place where this plays out.  We make unhealthy choices all the time.  Think about what you eat…or don’t eat, what habits you keep….or don’t keep, what you say…..or don’t say. The pattern reminds me of Paul’s words in his letter to the Romans  “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate…I can will what is right, but I cannot do it” (Romans 7:1ff). 

Paul writes that this condition we find ourselves in is the result of sin.  As we live our life apart from God we lose our way.  Apart from God we miss the compass points that direct us to live life as God intended.  A glimpse of  what God intends life to be is given in the early chapters of Genesis. 

In the beginning, God, the Creator brings light to darkness, order to chaos, and beauty to what was a deep void.  With each creative work God declares life good.  There is a rhythm to the story: God creates, God invites what is created to continue creating, and God declares it good.  But the rhythm doesn’t stop there. God works for a time and then, as we heard today, God rested.  Work and rest is the rhythm of life designed by God.  Work and rest is the natural rhythm, the healthy rhythm for land and sea, for plants and trees, for every kind of creature—even for you and me.  Work AND rest.  Not one without the other.  Not work followed by exhaustion and collapse--but rest. 

Read the text closely:  “On the seventh day God finished God’s work”.  Did you hear it?  God is active on the 7th day, finishing the intended rhythm for life, which includes rest.  God didn’t take the 7th day off!  God created rest, then blessed it and declared that it was holy.  In some traditions, Rabbis teach that on the seventh day God created menuha which is Hebrew for tranquility, serenity, and peace.  The 7th day is more than a deserved day off.  It’s sacred time.  It’s Sabbath time and necessary to God’s plan for a well-ordered creation. 

In a small but significant book called The Sabbath published in 1951 the author Abraham Heschel proposes that the greatest challenge facing the modern Western world is the loss of Sabbath time and our sense for what is sacred.  He argues that in our attempts to master our physical surroundings through technological advancement, we have become desensitized to the grandeur and beauty of life, both in the natural world and in the faces of other people.  In our rush to industrialize we have become so focused on gaining economic and political power that we have forgotten our ultimate purpose:  to serve as co-creators with the Divine in the establishment of a just and compassionate world. (blog.beliefnet.com 8/4/08).  In our desire for more—more money, more recognition, more satisfaction, more love, more influence, more security we work ourselves to the point of exhaustion.  These patterns deny the rhythm of work and rest designed by God.

Is it any wonder the world feels off kilter? Out of whack?  Unhealthy? Government is not supposed to shut down.  Relationships aren’t created to be broken.  Countries don’t exist to be at odds. How did we get here?

Wayne Muller, in another book also called Sabbath, writes: “life has become a violent enterprise.  We make war on our own bodies, pushing them beyond their limits, war on our children, because we cannot find enough time to be with them…war on our spirit, because we are too preoccupied to listen to the quiet voices that seek to nourish and refresh us; war on our communities because we are fearfully protecting what we have, and do not feel safe enough to be kind and generous; war on the earth, because we cannot take the time to place our feet on the ground and allow it to feed us, to taste its blessings and give thanks.” (pg 2).

I know this violent enterprise all too well.  More often than not I am overwhelmed by too much work and too much worry. Reading the paper and talking to others though, I’m pretty sure I’m not alone. How did we get here?  Muller suggests we have forgotten the necessity of Sabbath rest.

I wonder if this isn’t what the Pharisees are worried about in the Gospel reading from Mark.  They’re not questioning the necessity of the Sabbath.  They’re trying to determine what is appropriate behavior on the Sabbath.  They’re well aware of the theory of the slippery slope.  I mean, once you start plucking heads of grain in a cornfield who knows what other kind of “work” will be justified to do on the Sabbath.  The potential for people to forget the Sabbath altogether is very real. When we get so busy doing we neglect the importance of being. 

The Pharisees aren’t wrong.  They were zealous for God but Jesus points out that their zeal is misdirected.  God’s desire is not a legalistic relationship with humanity but a relationship marked by loving concern and deep compassion.  Jesus forgives.  He heals.  He prays.  He listens.  He feeds.  He rests. By his actions, Jesus reveals the heart of God.  Pay attention to the pattern of his ministry and you’ll see he practiced the rhythm of work and rest—God’s recipe for a well-ordered life.

Jesus makes it look so easy but I am very far from figuring out how to live in this sacred rhythm of work and rest.  I struggle to remember the Sabbath.  I wish I knew why. What I do know is that when I’m overwhelmed, anxious or worried, it is only Sabbath time that cures my soul. 

Just last weekend I was blessed with some much needed Sabbath time.  Our family was at the lake.  The weather was beautiful; the sun warm; the water refreshing.  In the morning, while it was still quiet I made my way down to the dock.  Take a look at the cover on your worship folder.  That was the space in which I sat.  Notice how very little is going on. It’s just an empty bench, a still lake, a few trees, a spacious sky.  But in that emptiness I was fed by God’s healing grace. As I soaked up the beauty of that scene I was reminded of two important truths:

1)  The world does not depend on me. Guess what?  Neither does it depend on you.  Creation continues because of who God is.  The world and all that’s within it relies on God’s promises, not our efforts. There’s something freeing in that—life-giving, energizing.  Sabbath time is not superior to the work you’re called to do but it is a necessary discipline to receive the peace you need.  And….

2) Sitting still, listening for God, seeking his presence is in and of itself an act of faith.  In setting aside lists of things to do you let go of your own agenda.  It’s an act of surrender and this is when your heart is most open to the power and presence of God.

Sabbath is God’s gift to all creation.  To remember Sabbath not only nourishes the soul but it is a witness to God’s grace. You don’t have to leave town to practice Sabbath.  Sabbath time can be found in your own back yard—on a reflective walk because Sabbath time is not about a particular place.  It’s more about quieting the chatter in your mind and keeping your focus on God alone.  In Sabbath time you listen for God, stay present to the holiness of the moment, and breathe.   It’s a way of saying no to making something happen so you have space for a yes to that which matters most—your relationship with God.

Keeping Sabbath is not a life-style suggestion.  It is a matter of life and death.  Think of that every time you buckle your seat belt.  You were not made for the seat belt.  The seat belt was made for you.  It protects your body as you travel roads of unexpected turns and danger.  The Sabbath is what protects your soul.  You can’t avoid the challenges and difficulties that life might bring, but as you live in the sacred rhythm of work and rest God will bless you with the certainty that your life and all creation is in his hands.  Amen.

Send Take-Out to Print