Sabbath

Did you ever Wonder Whatever Happened to Sunday?

/ pastorpete51 / 6 Comments

In this busy angry confused world I sometimes wonder: whatever happened to Sunday.  I fondly remember walks I took with my Grandfather early on Sunday mornings. He would hold my small hand as we walked the two blocks from his house to pick up his paper at the drug store which in those times was the only establishment open on Sundays.

It was always such an amazingly quiet morning with hardly a car passing even on Main Street. Even though I was so small I felt a wonderful sense of awe in that quiet pause between Saturday and Monday. It felt strangely comforting to know that no one’s affairs were so urgent that they couldn’t be put on hold for a day. Usually after church my grandmother would make us a lunch of pancakes and sausage followed by a whole afternoon of doing nothing but playing in the back yard with my cousins. The Bible talks about the Sabbath but I am afraid that today even within the church we have forgotten it.

Keep the Sabbath day holy. Don’t pursue your own interests on that day, but enjoy the Sabbath and speak of it with delight as the Lord’s holy day. Isaiah 58:13

Today in most states in the U.S. there is a chain of convenience stores called 7/11. The store was so named because it used to be open from 7 AM to 11 PM. But, today those stores are open 24/7 and 365 days per year. The 23rd Psalm tells us why God gives us rest, “He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He restores my soul.” In the beginning God didn’t rest on the seventh day because He was tired. No! God rested to paint us a picture of His restoring grace!

It was as if when God finished creating the world He just took time to enjoy it and then He blessed the Sabbath and made it holy. God rested because He was finished and spending time resting with us was the most important thing He could do. But according to the world’s way of thinking all that matters is work – work – work. But God heart is all about quiet delight, and rest. We all need that moment when like the dove that Noah sent out from the ark, we also find a place to rest. Only then will we will be able to carry in our hearts the Olive branch of God’s  peace and find again what happened to Sunday!

Heaven’s Rest

/ pastorpete51 / 3 Comments

Heaven’s Rest

The Sabbath was a gift to man

Since creation we could hear

A sound that echoes down our paths

Of God’s footsteps drawing near

For in six mighty days God made

All fins and paws and wings

And His children in a garden there

And tulips for each spring

Then last God paused and gave one day

For us to see we’re blessed

And remember all His work in Christ

And in Christ find Heaven’s Rest!

Heaven’s Rest by Peter Caligiuri © 2020 All rights reserved

On Saturday He Rested

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised  Matthew 16:21 ESV

We all know what happened on that first day, that terrible and blessed day on the cross. On the third day it is very clear that Jesus rose from the dead. But in spite of many ideas and even elaborate tales no one truly knows just what occurred on Holy Saturday. So can we ask the question, “What if Jesus simply rested? What if when Jesus said, “It is finished!” and gave His spirit into his father’s hands He just rested – without sorrow, suffering or demands of any kind for that day. What if after three and a half years of ministry in which it was said that he had nowhere to lay his head and scarcely time to eat that Jesus chose to rest in His Father’s ability to do all that needed to be done for the day.

close up photo of sleeping baby

Photo by Gianni Orefice on Pexels.com

What if Jesus rested because it was the Sabbath? What if the same day on which the creation of the heavens was completed Jesus just paused to see everything that was good in the new creation now begun? What if there are times in our own lives when there is nothing more holy to do than nothing? What if on this Holy Saturday we could quietly reflect and rest in the completed work of Jesus Christ. What would our lives be like if for even one day we simply trusted God to do all?