Sabbath

"So God rested on the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work he had done in creation."

--Genesis 2:3

God didn't need to rest, I am sure. So what is the Sabbath all about? After each work of God's creation, He reflected on it, and declared it "good." God took the time to step back from this holy work, to consider it, ponder it, and revel in its beauty and goodness. God did that.

Maybe God does need to rest, what do I know? I doubt it still. But what God does definitely need--or perhaps what God simply likes to do--is appreciate the wonder of the creative process, of being itself. God is an artist who is not simply content to create, but takes joy and even awe in the act of creating, and in the breathtaking nature of what is created, of what is.

We humans observe Sabbath for multiple reasons. Certainly we do in fact need rest, just as the earth needs to rest from our labors upon it, and the tools of our labor need rest, maintenance, restoration. The creative process of living is dependent on regular periods of rejuvenation.

But, just as we are made in God's image, perhaps we need Sabbath to also revel in the wonders of creation, both God's and our own. To ponder, contemplate, and allow ourselves moments of joy and awe. To look upon what we and God have accomplished, and to know that it is "good."

The pace and connectedness of modern life make it so that an actual Sabbath day is rare for most of us. For contemplatives, though, Sabbath is more than a day, it is an attitude toward life, a continual turning inward, to a place of rest, reflection, restoration, and revelation, allowing ourselves to be amazed at what we and God have wrought.