The grip of technology may keep us from experiencing the deeper delights of the Sabbath.
Busyness is not easy to give up, especially if you were born into the digital world. Nathan Brown writes in the Avondale News about finding creative and practical ways to offer the unique Sabbath experience to people in our communities. After reading about a woman who was longing for an "off-switch" or a "safety overload-switch" to her perpetually busy life, Nathan provides suggestions on how Sabbath can be the day of delight spoken of in Isaiah 58:13.
Brown suggests that the devices and gadgets we carry around can keep us perpetually busy. We are so accustomed to being interrupted with our smartphones that we can feel a void without them. He suggests that when we attend church on Sabbath, we might consider “checking in” our phones in order to be more focused on the spiritual discipline of truly keeping Sabbath free to hear God’s voice.
Letting go of our phones and other mobile devices, for even an hour on Sabbath morning, can allow us to experience Sabbath with a more human and personal interaction and pace, a deeper kind of “delight.” He says, “When we loosen our grip on them, we might realize the grip they have on us and begin to break that grasp.”
Learn more about how to keep the Sabbath holy by clicking here: “Sabbath—A Family Day”
Also in Sabbath news…
Sabbath Observance. The Norwalk Reflector publishes short clips from 112 years ago. On April 4, 1903, the Ohio newspaper encouraged: “All ministers of the gospel are kindly invited to preach sermons on the Sabbath Observance Question these days. The Sabbath law are (sic) being violated more each year and unless there is a reformation we shall soon cease to be a law abiding and Sabbath observing nation.” How prophetic!
Keeping Sabbath Remains Important. On April 2, 2016, Pastor Monica Ouellette at St. John’s United Church of Christ in Pennsylvania rightly urges that for “time-starved people, the faith practice of keeping Sabbath may be the answer.” She correctly points to Jesus’ example—but wrongly defines the Sabbath as “Jewish.” Jesus said the seventh day Sabbath was made for all humanity (see Mark 2:27). Read "Isn't the Sabbath Only for the Jews?"