A friend (can I call you that, Darin?) passed this on to me some time ago. After reading it several times, it’s time to post it.

This is from “Christ Plays in Ten thousand Places” (page 117)…

If there is no Sabbath- no regular and commanded not-working, not-talking — we soon become totally absorbed in what we are doing and saying, and God’s work is either forgotten or marginalized. When we work we are most god-like, which means that it is in our work that it is easier to develop god-pretensions. Un-sabbathed, our work becomes the entire context in which we define our lives. We lose God-consciousness, God-awareness, sightings of resurrection. We lose the capacity to sing “this is my fathers world” and end up chirping little self-centred ditties about what we are doing and feeling.

The Most difficult command to keep, a most difficult practice to cultivate. It is one of the most abused and distorted practices of the Christians life. Many through the centuries have suffered much under oppressive Sabbath regimes. And more than a few of us have been among the oppressors.

Recent years have convinced me that most of us have missed this Sabbath thing seriously, if not completely.

Whereas we sometimes perceive it as a law or tedious set of rules that Jesus appears to have disliked, Scripture appears to paint it more as a divine rhythm, a thread in the fabric of reality. It just might be built right into the very essence of the universe.

And if any of that is true, then swimming against the flow might prove to be more destructive than we might have first imagined.

If you haven’t started chewing on the Sabbath idea yet, it’s time to begin.

Peterson is a good fellow to start with, so pop that piece in and start chewing.