Sabbath

A Collect for Saturdays

Almighty God, who after the creation of the world rested from all your works and sanctified a day of rest for all your creatures: Grant that we, putting away all earthly anxieties, may be duly prepared for the service of your sanctuary, and that our rest here upon earth may be a preparation for the eternal rest promised to your people in heaven; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Our prayer for Saturday acknowledges today as the Sabbath, a day of rest established by God as a gift for God’s people.   

And on the seventh day God finished His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it; because that in it He rested from all His work which God in creating had made. (Genesis 2)

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is a sabbath unto the LORD thy God, in it thou shalt not do any manner of work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested on the seventh day; wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. (Exodus 20)

The Day of Pentecost, which we celebrated last Sunday, is from the Jewish festival Shavuot, which commemorates God giving his people the Torah and the Ten Commandments. The commandments are not burdensome, but God’s gift of love. To keep them is a joy and privilege that identifies the people of God and makes them special. The Sabbath is part of the gift.

A day of rest from the work that we do throughout the week, the Sabbath is meant by God for our benefit, health, and enjoyment. In honoring it, we are given a day of peace, respite, rest and relaxation. As Jesus said (Mark 2:27), we were not made for the Sabbath, the Sabbath was made for us. It’s God’s gift of love. In keeping Sabbath, we live into the godly image in which we are created, becoming more like God.

Shabbos. Shalom. Peace.

TW+