“As we keep or break the Sabbath day, we nobly save or meanly lose the last best hope by which man rises.” -Abraham Lincoln
We will begin a new sermon series beginning on May 31st and running through the end of June at Asbury Memorial UMC on “Sabbath Living.” There is a wonderful book that Dr. Matthew Sleeth (a medical doctor) has written entitled 24/6 that is the inspiration for this series. In it, Dr. Sleeth argues that modern folks have lost something critical in our lives and that what we have lost is the essential desire to take time off and to cease working for one day each week as we are beckoned to do in the pages of the Old and New Testaments.
Abraham Lincoln (in the quote from his executive order dated Nov. 15, 1862) stated that no Union soldier should work, fight, or march on Sunday unless under direct attack. His rationale was that if we lost the Sabbath, it did not matter who won the war; we would all become slaves. I find it amazing to think that Lincoln spoke these words way back in the nineteenth century before the time of all the technological innovations of our day and age.
We need to start re-imagining the Sabbath not as a responsibility or a rule that we have to follow, but as an opportunity that we get to participate in! C.S. Lewis in his famous book The Screwtape Letters reminds us that Satan wants to keep noise in our lives so we are unable to hear the quiet voice of God. Remember that the Devil’s tool is trickery. He gives us ninety percent truth and ten percent lie. Being industrious is good. Thinking that we—not God—are the authors of our lives is foolishness. Getting rid of the Sabbath is the Devil’s cheap ticket to enslaving souls. I encourage you to join us for worship each of the next few Sundays. After all, if Jesus took time off and beckoned us to do the same–then give yourself permission to come to church and find rest for your weary soul! May the peace of Christ be with you. Curtis+