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.