S is for Sabbath

In my church, we treat Sunday as a Sabbath Day.  What does this mean?

The purpose of the Sabbath is to draw closer to God.  It is a time for worship. It's a time for quiet, pondering, dwelling in God's word through scripture study and prayer.  It is also a time for church, for family, and for rest from worldly cares.

Washington Road Chapel, Evening
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Magna Utah

A lot of people think it stands for all the "don'ts".  Don't work, don't shop, don't eat out, don't go to basketball games or play sports or have friends over, don't exercise (I like that one!) ...the list of "don'ts" varies from family to family.

The reason for all the don'ts is simply to keep us away from the worldly cares so we can center our lives by centering our focus on the Lord.  In the Bible, our Heavenly Father tells us to do our labors in six days, and rest on the seventh.  Maybe it's resting to eat out, but then someone else is required to work on our behalf, and the Bible does say:  But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates.  (Exodus 20:10)   

 It's a personal decision how to keep the Sabbath.  I prefer to keep meals simple, keeping work at a minimum for all of us.  On a side note, we do have people and animals to feed, so that must be done, but we don't have to "work" them that day.  Even horses and dogs and donkeys will benefit from a day to rest now and then. 

I once heard a speaker talk about Sabbath Mondays.  She said that if they treated Sunday as a true Sabbath, Monday always went better.  She said things ran more smoothly, the children were more cooperative, and she had more energy than any other day of the week. 

By that logic, perhaps we should have a Sabbath every other day.  I think that would be going overboard, disobeying "six days shalt thou labor."  However, it's something to think about.  On the six other days of the week, part of that labor should still be maintaining our scripture study, and laboring in prayer for ourselves and our loved ones.  We should always work at our relationships, serving others, and getting closer to God, not just be "Sunday Saints."  

Some things are everyday things, but Sundays are special. If we make keeping the Sabbath a regular part of our routine, it makes Sunday a day to look forward to, a day to enjoy, rather than just another weekend "get everything done" day.