Hi, I’m Phil LaBelle, Bishop of the Diocese of Olympia, the Episcopal Church in western Washington.
Last month, I introduced the idea of Zimzum Discipleship to you with a call to make space in our busy lives for God, others, and the natural world. We can do this by intentionally embracing Zimzum. The idea that before God created the cosmos, God had to withdraw from a place within God’s very being in order for there to be room for the nothingness into which God could then create. And as those made in God’s image, I believe that we are called to make space too. And we’re now starting a three-year journey to explore how we might engage in Zimzum Discipleship.
I want to begin at the beginning and the creation account found in Genesis 1. God calls into being the entire universe through successive days that run for 24 hours from evening to morning. God calls forth light and land, vegetation and insects, fish and mammals. And then near the end of the sixth day, God calls forth humankind. For many of us, we heard that human beings were the culmination of God’s creative work. And this first story in Genesis is often described as the sixth-day creation account. And yet that’s not the end of the story.
In fact, we read in Genesis, “And on the seventh day, God finished the work that he had done and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. So God blessed that seventh day and hallowed it because on it, God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.” Notice the language of the text. It was on the seventh day that God finished God’s work. The work of creation wasn’t complete until that seventh day, and that’s when it was finally done.
Sometimes, I think, we imagine God needing a break after all of that work of creation. And so God kicks back in a recliner to take a nap. But it’s not as if God was exhausted. Rather, God wanted to delight in everything that had been created. And so God took a day to enjoy all of that creative work that God had done. And then God invites humankind to do that too. Notice that one really important detail. While God had been doing all of that work creating over those six days, human beings were given the Sabbath day of delight as the first full day that they experienced. They didn’t have to earn it through some sort of hard work. God gave it to them as a gift.
And in fact, taking a day of rest was so important to God that it got written into the 10 Commandments. Additionally, it gets the most airtime out of any of those commandments. Remember the Sabbath day, God commands, and keep it holy. And then there’s an explanation about how they are to work for six days. But then on that seventh day, which God blessed and consecrated, they’re ordered to take a break. Them and their families and any foreigners in their land and even all of their animals, all get a 24-hour work stoppage because God rested on that seventh day.
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and his masterpiece simply titled “The Sabbath” writes, “The Sabbath is not for the sake of the weekdays. The weekdays are for the sake of the Sabbath. It’s not an interlude, but the climax of living. The goal is creating the Sabbath as a foretaste of paradise.”
Theologian Wayne Mueller writes, “Sabbath is more than the absence of work. It is not just a day off when we catch up on television and errands. It is the presence of something that arises when we consecrate a period of time to listen to what is most deeply beautiful and nourishing and true.” It is a time consecrated with our attention, our mindfulness, honoring those quiet forces of grace or spirit that can sustain and heal us.
Dr. Dan Allender goes on to describe the Sabbath as a day of delight. He says, “Sabbath is the holy time when we feast, play, dance, have sex, sing, pray, laugh, tell stories, read, paint, walk, and watch creation in all of its fullness.” However, he says, “Few people choose to participate in the Sabbath because a full day of delight and joy is more than most people can bear in a lifetime, let alone once a week.”
Why do we so easily dismiss the command to remember and keep the Sabbath when we would never do so without those telling us not to commit murder or adultery – those other commandments? I think many consider the legalistic approach to Sabbath in the past as old-fashioned or just out of touch. And so they poo poo this commandment. And yet what God imagined for us was to find great joy in the beauty of life, not just every so often, but each and every week, making space to delight one day in every seven.
And so friends, this is our first spiritual practice together that can lead us to a Christ-centered life, to take an actual Sabbath, not as a day off to run errands, but as a day to experience rest and renewal, enjoyment and delight. Some might find the idea of 24 hours much too daunting. So perhaps, you might wanna begin with a block of six or eight hours, 25 or 30% of an actual Sabbath, and then work your way up. Others might want to jump right in, and I hope that you do, but be cautious about two things.
First, the many screens in our lives. Tiffany Shlain wrote a powerful book called “24/6: Giving Up Screens One Day a Week to Get More Time, Creativity, and connection.” She describes in it her family’s journey to give up all screens during a text Shabbat each and every week. She’s no Luddite, mind you, she works in the tech sector, and yet, she has experienced the true joy and benefit of taking a break from technology during a set time each week.
The other thing to be cautious about is consumerism. If you can only imagine delight by engaging in retail therapy, consider what you already own and how you might find delight with those things. Many advertisements out there actually present the beauty of Sabbath. You might see a photo of a couple sitting down and drinking a cup of coffee together for an ad, selling an espresso machine, but skip buying that new product. Go and make a cup of Joe for yourself using what you already have. We need to take a break from the rampant consumerism in our culture.
“When should we do this?” you might be asking, so here’s my suggestion. From Friday evening through Saturday evening, the Jewish Sabbath time. It’s also a time, I think, when most people head into weekend mode, and it could easily become a day of delight, following it then with worship on Sunday before turning your attention back to work on Sunday afternoon. As many of us gear up for the next week.
In fact, our collect for Saturday morning in our Book of Common Prayer hints at us doing just that. “We prayed Almighty God, who, after the creation of the world, rested from all your works and sanctified a day of rest for all of your creatures. Grant that we, putting away all earthly anxieties, may be duly prepared for the service of your sanctuary, and that our rest here upon earth may be a preparation for the eternal rest promised to your people in heaven through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.”
And so friends, let us begin this journey of Zimzum Discipleship by intentionally stepping back, making time for finding and experiencing delight in our relationships with God, with those that we love and with this amazing world of ours. In doing so, we’ll have a foretaste of paradise, of the very reign of Christ when all things will be redeemed by God. Until next time, may God’s spirit continue to lead and guide you as you seek your way in this world.
