I normally just do a quick review of the books I read at the end of each month but “Living the Sabbath” had many points of intersection with some of the emphases I wanted my year of renewal to have. So, for my own benefit, I’ve decided to do a more in-depth summary. In this book, Wirzba argues for the cultivation of Sabbath practices that “reform and redirect all our ways of living.” The book is divided into two parts. Part one explores the meanings of Sabbath and the difficulties of realizing Sabbath goals in our lives. In part two he explores how to take Sabbath delight into some of the main dimensions of daily life.

Part 1: Setting a Sabbath Context

Chapter 1: Losing our way – contrasts the frantic and death-dealing modern way of life with the gift of Sabbath practice as a way to align ourselves with God’s ways. True Sabbath practices increase our delight and appreciation for God and his creation.

• Modern pace of life is exhausting. Never having enough. Perceptions of slackness if we stop. Ignoring bodily signs of disfunction … the epidemic of obesity, hyper-tension, mental health etc that flow from non-stop, productivity and growth driven culture. Contrast this with Ps 92, the bible’s “Sabbath Song” is which everything is worship.
• “Though we don’t often think of it this way, biblical teaching on the Sabbath takes us into the heart of this essential questioning. [What is all this living finally for? What purpose does our striving serve] Rather than being simply a “break” from frenetic, self-obsessed ways of living, the Sabbath is a discipline and practice in which we ask, consider and answer the questions that will lead us into a complete and joyful life.” (p 20)
• “As Ellen Davis has reminded us, ‘Praise does more for us than it does for God.’ The reason we worship is not so that God will be impressed with us. It is rather that we will become less sentimental, less self-absorbed, and more realistic about the life God has given” (p 28) Frantic activity outflowing from an ability to trust in God’s care.

Chapter 2: The Meaning of the Sabbath – examines the various biblical meanings of Sabbath in the Old Testament. Considers the creation story and menhua (rest, tranquility, peace of God), including God’s delight in his creation. Aspects of Sabbath include creation, freedom, justice, peace.

• “The Sabbath is not a break from life but rather a profound theological lens that enables us to get a better look at all of it. In its observance we commit ourselves to honor the presence of God in all things and to participate in the ways of life and health.” (p 41)
• Two finishes to creation. 6th and 7th days. After six days the creation lacked rest which God provides on the seventh day. “Not a divine after thought”
• Sabbath is a celebration of the liberation of the Israelites from back-breaking work.
• Sabbath requires giving up our control.

Chapter 3: From Sabbath to Sunday – God’s self-revelation in Christ rearticulates and expands our understanding of his ways and the Sabbath.

• “Christ’s hand in creation, now combined with Christ’s earthly ministry, lets us know how we can be renewed and thus show forth what God wanted of us all along. By following Christ’s example we gradually enter into the menuha of God.” (p 43)
• Christ gives creation it’s most authentic meaning and direction
• The real test of our allegiance to Christ occurs on the other six days as we got about our ordinary life
• “true rest is never at the cost of another’s exploitation or misery.” (p 51)

Chapter 4: The Practice of Delight – the central place of delight in God and life.Sabbath is centered on relishing God’s good gifts.

• God’s delight in creation. A pattern for us.(Hos 2:18-20, Prov 8:27-31) See through God’s eyes.
• “The most fundamental and important question here is, do we trust that the ways of God are shaped through and through by love? Without this affirmation we cannot pronounce the “amen” that signifies our willingness for things to be as God wishes.” (p 61)

Chapter 5: The Decline of Delight – considers consumer and entertainment culture, distraction etc.

• “The attraction of many forms of entertainment, however, is that they give us release or an escape from life, whereas the experience of delight follows from a deeper immersion in and affirmation of it.” (p 64)
• In commenting of fiction and fantasy he writes “The implication is that we find the reality we are normally in unworthy, dull, or perhaps even despicable” (p 64) I disagreed with him here. I noted that good fiction and fantasy can help us to explore what it means to be human in new and deeper ways. We may see ourselves and our world in a new way.
• “Consumerism, in short, turns us into ignorant and irresponsible people who are unable to appreciate and appropriately respond to the great variety and amount of gifts lavishly given to us every day.” (p 72)

Chapter 6: Pain and suffering – the reality of pain, suffering and the violence of the world. An impediment to delight. Dealing with it in ways that do not minimise or avoid, but enfold people in love.

• “What we are called to do, and in this calling we have the example of Christ to follow, is practice forms of compassion that do not avoid pain and suffering but bind them up within a community of care.” (p 84)
• Practice honest, patient attentiveness.

Part 2: The Sabbath in Practical Context – exploring how a greater understanding and practice of the Sabbath impacts across various spheres of life.

Chapter 7: Work and the Sabbath – considers why we work, the importance and proper ways of working.

• “And so human work, while it may not be a curse, must always live with the burden of presupposing death and dismemberment. We must acknowledge and understand this burden and not make light of it. Good work attempts, through various creative means and with the help of others, to honor and give thanks for the gifts we use and (too often wastefully) consume.” (p 95) – just to survive we need to kill and destroy.
• “We have lost our appreciation for the loveliness of others and have turned our faithlessness into widespread abuse and exploitation … We are unable to let creation be itself, or to receive the world as a gift. We have come to think that whatever value is in this world will be the direct result of our doing, thus forgetting that God’s doing goes before all of our own”(Page 103)

Chapter 8: Sabbath at home – what is a Home? Building a Sabbath home.

• Home as places of intimacy “where we learn the art and the discipline of fidelity to each other” (p 107)
• For Sabbath people, it will not be enough simply to resist cultural forms and expectations. We also need to develop positive practices that will draw us closer to each other. Albert Borgmann has wisely suggested that homes and communities recover what he calls “focal practices”: the set of personal and communal habits that bring people into regular and sympathetic face-to-face contact. (p 111)

Chapter 9 Sabbath Economics – what are the consequences of our economic activity?

• “In many instances we do not know the complete costs associated with our economic practices. As consumers we live in what Berry has called “the economy of the one-night stand” we enjoy the good time associated with our consumption but prefer not to know the many details or histories of our products for fear that we might be ashamed of what we are doing.” (p 124)

Chapter 10 Sabbath Education – I skipped through this chapter quickly because it was not really applicable to my stage in life.

Chapter 11 Sabbath Environmentalism – understanding creation, environmental principles and beginning considerations in response to various environmental challenges.

• “whole civilizations can come to ruin if they despise the environmental contexts upon which every culture is built” (p 147)
• “When we fail to be attentive-most often because we let economic ambition or cheap prices override the dictates of care-we will quickly render our lands and animals exhausted and sick. But as we exercise proper care and restraint, we will discover that we can live together in sustainable, even convivial relationships. The precondition, however, is that our stewardship take a posture of servant care and respect” (p 148)
• “This is a clear and practical statement of what servant stewardship looks like: forgoing one’s privilege so that the membership of which one is a part can be kept whole and healthy. To be a servant of creation is to seek to live according to its rhythms and in sympathetic alignment with its potential but also its limits.” (p 149)

Chapter 12 Sabbath Worship: Worship in daily life, communal worship and service.

• “One of the most serious, and finally destructive, habits we need to overcome is the near-natural propensity in us to worship an idol rather than God. Worship services may be constructed as grand (or not-so-grand) occasions in which we attempt to satisfy deep-seated fears and anxieties, needs and desires, by fabricating a god we can control or who will confirm (and be limited to) our expectations and wants. The problem with tame, comfortable gods of this sort is that they end up sanctioning precisely the frantic, vainglorious, and destructive priorities that lead to cultural and environmental ruin. “The search for God is not the search for comfort or tranquility, but for truth, for justice, faithfulness, integrity: these, as the prophets tirelessly reiterated, are the forms of God’s appearance in the world.”¹ (p 155)
• “Can we remove the clutter that does not serve a life-sustaining or life-promoting purpose? Can we calm the hurried pace that serves little more than to compensate for the insecurities we feel deep within us? One of the best sources of help would be to try to align our rhythm with a liturgical calendar, recognizing that there are seasons in life that include waiting, patience, confession, celebration, and hard work. Time is not an undifferentiated quantity. We need to perceive and engage it in more refined ways that honor it as a gift.” (p 160)