“Ahh.  An hour of contentment.  A precious moment of peace.  A few minutes of relaxation.  Each of us has a setting in which contentment pays a visit.”  Max Lucado begins his, “Parable of a Sandwich Sign”, with this delightful scene. Can you see that setting?  Is it in the stillness of the morning with a cup of coffee and quiet?  Is it on a lake watching a cork bob up and down, waiting for that two and one-half pound crappie?  Is it flying an airplane or sailing a boat?  Where do you find that hour of contentment?  When you answer that question, you are a step closer to answering the question, “Just when does the Sabbath start?”

In this seven sermon series on Sabbath, we’ve been spelling out Sabbath, what it means.  The S, we’ve said, stands for Set Aside.  Set aside the Sabbath for God.  The A is for Always Observe Sabbath.  Maintain a sanctuary of time each week.  The first B is for Be Still, Sabbath starts with being still, and that’s not as easy as it sounds.  Lucado writes, “In our world, contentment is a strange street vendor, roaming, looking for a home, but seldom finding an open door. This old salesman moves slowly from house to house, tapping windows, knocking on doors, offering his wares: an hour of peace, a smile of acceptance, a sigh of relief. But his goods are seldom taken. We are too busy to be content. (Which is crazy, since the reason we kill ourselves today is because we think it will make us content tomorrow.)” He went on to write from the Vendor’s perspective, “You’d think I’d have more buyers…but people seem strangely proud of their ulcers and headaches.”

It has been that way for centuries. Listen to the troubles encountered by the Israelites as they wrestled with what Sabbath means.  Their story is found in Exodus 16:21-30.  Hear the word of the Lord:

²¹Morning by morning they gathered it (manna), as much as each needed; but when the sun grew hot, it melted. ²²On the sixth day they gathered twice as much food, two omers apiece. When all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, ²³he said to them, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy sabbath to the Lord; bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil, and all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning.’“ ²⁴So they put it aside until morning, as Moses commanded them; and it did not become foul, and there were no worms in it. ²⁵Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. ²⁶Six days you shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is a sabbath, there will be none.” ²⁷On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, and they found none. ²⁸The Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and instructions? ²⁹See! The Lord has given you the sabbath, therefore on the sixth day he gives you food for two days; each of you stay where you are; do not leave your place on the seventh day.” ³⁰So the people rested on the seventh day. 

In this passage the author of Exodus reminded his readers that Sabbath knows no exceptions.  Even as nomads in the desert, fleeing slavery in Egypt, the Israelites were to set aside the Sabbath, always observing the day made holy by God and they were to be still.  As I’ve said already, Sabbath is not a removable appendage to the week.  It is essential.  In fact, through the eyes of Sabbath, the rest of the week may even make more sense. So I encourage you: Be Still – Let the Sabbath begin. 

Be Still and See What God Is Doing - Daily

Every morning, the Israelites went out of their tents into the open spaces and found manna.  The literal translation of the word manna is, “what is it?”  Perhaps that best describes this divine provision.  Some scholars believe it was a sweet, pasty substance.  Others describe it as being as flavorful as rice cakes.  Whatever it was, it prevented the Israelites not only from starvation, but also from hunger.  It could be baked.  It could be boiled, and it was always made fresh daily - except on the Sabbath.  On that day they could eat leftovers.

This six day a week provision of manna provided lessons for the people of Israel and for us.  God will take care of you daily, but seldom with a lump-sum distribution.  If the people got greedy and tried to hoard their manna, worms and rot would infest their supply.  They had to trust God daily.  Perhaps that’s why 1,200 years later, when asked by the disciples to teach them to pray, Jesus said, “Give us this day our daily bread.”  Be still and see what God is doing daily.  It’s not as easy as it sounds.

I mean, I get nervous when I can see the bottom of my orange marmalade jar.  I started eating orange marmalade on Tuesday mornings about sixteen years ago.  I’d meet with some retired men at the church.  They’d eat breakfast and then do some maintenance and repairs around the church.  A couple of the guys loved orange marmalade.  I acquired a taste for it as well, but not just any orange marmalade.  The kind I buy is found only at The Old Strand Emporium in Galveston.  I don’t get to Galveston all that much, so when I see the bottom of the orange marmalade jar I feel somewhat anxious.  “What am I going to do?!  If I don’t get to Galveston soon, I’ll be eating Grape Jelly!” I even commissioned Jon and Sandie Bennett to purchase some for me a couple of months ago when I heard they were going to Galveston.

“Give us this day our daily bread” is a bold prayer.  It’s manna talk and to most of us it’s one of those “what is it?” moments.  Daily discipline is difficult.  It means trusting that every day a fresh supply of manna will be there.  It means instead of growing anxious about when we’ll get the next jar of orange marmalade, or how the Dow Jones Industrial average performed or what is going on with our 401k, we trust God for our daily needs.  It’s not as easy as it sounds.  “Give us this day our daily bread?!”  The next day the manna was there.  Let’s give it a shot.  Be Still – Let the Sabbath begin. Be still and see what God is doing daily.  But be careful. 

Be Still and Don’t Try to Cheat the Sabbath System

Apparently, some of the Israelites didn’t like left-overs.  They’d seen or heard about Monday’s left-overs, so instead of trusting what God said, they went out to the open spaces on the Sabbath looking for fresh manna, but instead of finding “what is it” they discovered “where is it?”.  There was none.  Once again they failed in Faith 101.  Once again they tried to cheat the system and verse 28 reveals the seriousness of the offense, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and instructions?”  It seemed like an innocent violation.  Perhaps they could have even said, “We weren’t looking for manna, we were just out for a walk.”  I mean, who were they hurting? What harm does Sabbath breaking do, anyway?  Why the big deal of spending seven weeks on something that seems so trivial in the grand scheme of things?

Every now and then the Lord seems to show up while I am watching television.  Years ago I was watching a show called Northern Exposure about a small town named Cicily, Alaska. This particular episode featured Shelley, the young, naïve, Canadian waitress, being tempted by an unassuming man in wire-rimmed glasses.  He was, of course, the devil.  He promised the young woman her heart’s desire if she would simply burn her husband’s favorite ratty old robe, which she didn’t like anyway.  She could then tell her husband that she gave it to Goodwill.  That’s all she had to do and whatever she wanted was hers.  She almost did it, but in the end she couldn’t.  She asked the devil in disguise why he chose her and why such a minor infraction for the test.  He said, “If I can get the pure of heart to bend the rules and veer across the line even a little, then I’ve really done something.”

My daughter Chelsea has been spending the week in hostels in Italy with her roommate from college.  Friday she reported that the hostel in Rome was not all that great. “Sketchy” is the word she used.  “We had to wake the guy up to pay him before we left.  We could have just walked out without paying.” Then I heard her ask her friend, “Why didn’t we just leave?” I interjected, “Perhaps there was the little thing called integrity.” 

“Oh yes”, she said softly, “Integrity.” I remembered, as we spoke, that little girl who more than fifteen years ago showed me a silk flower that she had walked out of the store with.  I remembered the humiliation she felt having to walk back in the store and hand the flower to the clerk, apologizing for taking what wasn’t hers. As I remembered, I smiled.  Integrity. 

I wonder how integrity is guiding my understanding of the Sabbath. I can’t help but think the devil must be smiling at our Sabbath habits.  For centuries we have veered over the line, cheated the system, dodged just a bit here and there until we can barely recognize the seventh day.  Be Still – Let the Sabbath begin. Be still and don’t cheat the Sabbath system. 

Be Still and Open Your Presents

In the midst of God’s fussing at God’s people for refusing to keep God’s commands, the word gift emerges once again.  Verse 29 begins, “See! The Lord has given you the sabbath.”  It’s not a burden.  It’s a gift.  It’s a present from God to you.

Last January in the midst of our 28 Homes in 28 Days, we had a 16^th birthday party for Zachary.  My schedule took me away for the pizza eating frenzy, but I got home in time for my favorite part - the presents.  It only took one call to quiet the crowd, “Be still.  It’s time to open presents.”  And for the next few minutes, organization reigned.  It doesn’t matter if it is a six-year-old’s birthday, a sixteen-year-old’s birthday or a sixty-year-old’s birthday.  Everyone looks like a kid, waiting for their present to be unwrapped, hoping that the unwrapper will like what they gave.  As Zachary opened his presents.  You could see it in their eyes, senior high schoolers and college students. All with the same expression.  “I hope he likes what I brought”.

I wonder if as the sun sets on the sixth day, God gets up on his knees and leans forward as we open the Sabbath Day.  I wonder if God has that expression in his divine eyes, the expression that says, “I hope you like what I got you.  It’s rest.  It’s peace.  It’s stillness.  It’s contentment.  Do you like it?”  Be still and open your presents. Be Still – Let the Sabbath begin.

It’s not as easy as it sounds.  I know that.  I have never been so challenged by a series of sermons as I have by the first few weeks of this series.  There’s always something to do.  There’s seldom a convenient time to stop, to rest.  Sometimes the hardest thing to do is nothing.  Sometimes the most difficult thing to be is to be still.  Yet we must.  Not only does it keep us focused on what God is doing and keep us honest with what God expects, it’s a matter of opening the present God has given to us.

Robert Fulghum tells a story of a lunch sack he’s had for over 14 years.  The same sack.  His daughter, Molly, gave it to him when she was in grade school.  She loved to pack her daddy’s lunch.  One day she gave him two paper sacks.  He took them in his rush to the office.  At lunch he ripped open the lunch sack and ate his sandwich first.  While eating it, he opened the other sack that had been stapled, taped and paper clipped.  In it he found two hair ribbons, three small strings, a plastic dinosaur, a marble, used lipstick and some other stuff generally found in the bottom of a drawer.  He smiled, finished his lunch and then cleaned off his desk, sweeping everything into the wastebasket.  That night the little girl asked about the second sack.  “Where is it?” 

“At the office” he said. 

“I forgot to put this in it,” the little girl said. It was a note that read, “I love you, Daddy.”

          She went on to tell him that those were her favorite things.  She thought her daddy might like to play with them on his lunch break.  After putting Molly to bed, Robert Fulghum returned to the office just beating the janitor.  He retrieved the treasures and returned them to their owner.  Several days later, the sack was given again and every now and then offered again.  It taught Fulghum about trust, treasures, and what’s really important.

Stillness may not look like much, but it’s great stuff when we realize how much it means to God. Be Still – Let the Sabbath begin.  It’s not that easy, but it’s worth the effort.  Shabbat Shalom. Amen.