The Sabbath is gone. It started disappearing when first Century Christians began worshipping on Sundays, and weren’t quite sure what to do with the “seventh day”—as one of the commandments directed. With the development of the five-day work week (not that long ago), several societies adopted the Saturday and Sunday break—though some folks had to work on Saturday.
People of faith tried to save the Sabbath by designating Sunday as the “day of rest”—and blue laws in some states in our country limited both the sale of certain items, and the scheduling of certain events (though no one tried to literally limit how far anyone could walk on the Lord’s Day, as the Hebrew Bible had stipulated…).
Then multiple eight-hour shifts, multiple activities, and multiple tasking arrived. Folks on different shifts had to adjust to different schedules—and find other days to “rest.” The local church, once the “only dance in town” (though that was often not allowed either), soon found itself competing with other events—even during the “sacred hour” of morning worship. And rest? It had to be scheduled in between multiple activities and multiple schedules. And it has often disappeared—in cultures where busyness is blessed—and sometimes idolized.
Is rest a luxury? Or did God know something about the importance of interruption and pause? I’m betting that God knew, and wanted us to know, not only that the ground needed to lie fallow for a while, and that the beast of burden needed to catch her breath, but that human beings also need to lie fallow, and catch their breath…. Or shrink, become less productive, and die. (Even savvy steelers in Pittsburg discovered years ago that if workers were given four breaks a day instead of one, that productivity almost doubled in the factory….)
How to find it? We have to carve it out ourselves, in a week too busy for our own good. I’d tell you how to do it myself—but I need to take a break—right now.