Sabbath--Work

The balance of work and rest... Peterson says that they are not in opposition. Sabbath and work are two parts of a whole. In our work, God continues his work through us. This is a hard concept to teach/pass down to our church members who often compartmentalize work from family time, play, worship, etc. Rather, we need to move people toward understanding that keeping the Sabbath shapes all those other areas, including work. "When we work, we are most god-like, which means that it is in our work that it is easiest to develop god-pretentions" (p. 117). Isn't that so true? And not just of those who work for a paycheck, but think of stay-at-home moms who work hard at being parents. Even they need to learn to keep Sabbath.

Peterson challenges us to keep worship on the Lord's Day simple. How do we engage in corporate ways to "do nothing, say nothing"? Cultivating silence in worship? Again, I'm afraid that our culture has conditioned our people into thinking that doing nothing equals unproductivity or boredom. Churches today are tempted to entertain people, to keep the worship service "alive" and upbeat and constantly going so that folks won't tune out. In our worship service, we do have space for quiet--during silent confession, and often during the pastoral prayer Ron will keep a time of silence. Some people feel that this is "dead space" and makes the service boring or drag on. Sad that they can't see this space for silence as a time to stand in adoration/awe of God, but rather, as "dead time" to be filled with noise and activity.

Sabbath--Worship

This is obvious to us who are in ministry--that the best way to keep Sabbath is through corporate worship. But why is this not so obvious to our church members? Peterson writes: "When we walk out of the place of worship we walk with fresh, recognizing eyes and a re-created, obedient heart into the world in which we are God's image participating in God's creation work" (p.113). I don't know about your church and your worship service, but that just does not seem to happen very often (if at all) where I go to church. Most people put in their hour at church and seem to walk out the doors totally unchanged, thinking only of where they're going to go out for lunch.

Peterson also addresses the golden calf "incident" and how the Israelites were looking for worship that they "could get something out of." So TRUE of how people in our consumeristic culture view church/worship. I get tired of people telling me they got nothing out of church. What I thought was most interesting about this section is Peterson's discussion of the space for worship--he emphasizes that Moses and Bezalel built a place, a building, where worship could take place. Although a church is not merely a building, it is a gathering of people, it raises the question, "How important is the space/building in which they gather to worship?"

Sabbath--The Commands

I had never really thought about the differences between the two places where we find the command to keep the Sabbath. The Exodus reason...keep Sabbath to emulate God and therefore get in on what God does. The Deuteronomy reason...keep Sabbath as a simple act of justice. Good food for thought, that Sabbath helps us NOT to reduce the gift of time to money or what we can get out of it. It also helps us NOT breed oppression through "lethargic procrastination" because we are attentive to God's creation.

Cultivating Fear-of-the-Lord in Creation: Sabbath

I thought Peterson's comment about Sabbath-keeping being a "focal practice" (p. 109) was interesting. He says "a focal practice enables us to stay personally engaged and socially reponsible in a culture that is increasingly depersonalized and alarmingly fragmented." I agree about our culture being depersonalized and fragmented. Do you think that Sabbath-keeping helps us truly be more engaged with life?

What would it mean for us to stop work and to notice, to attend, to listen, to assimilate this comprehensive and majestic work of God? (p. 110)

The Glory

I have to be honest...I had a little difficulty digesting this section. I get that Peterson is pointing to Jesus as the person in whom we see the fullness of God's glory. But what is "glory"? On p. 103, he writes: "When we look up the glory of Jesus we find--are we ever ready for this?--obscurity, rejection and humiliation, incomprehension and misapprehension, a sacrificial life and an obedient death: the bright presence of God backlighting what the world despises or ignores." So when we are looking for signs of God's glory among us, are we looking for that which is obscure, sacrificial, rejected? Where do you and I see God's glory in our lives?

Then the summary of the section of John (p. 106-108), he says that Jesus is our access to creation as the time and place to believe and love. What does he mean when he says that Jesus is our access to creation?? Any thoughts/insights?