Hey Glen Mar,

This coming Monday is Labor Day, a day when we pause to recognize and celebrate the work of laborers and their contributions to our country.

And it is a day off for many of us.

We need days off. We were commanded to rest.

All the way back in the book of Exodus, we can read that one of the Ten Commandments, one of the core laws of the people of God, is to “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.” To rest and honor God by setting apart that time for God.

This wasn’t one of God’s suggestions, but a command.

But really, how many of us do that? How many of us honor the weekly day of rest? Whether that is from Friday evening to Saturday evening, on Sunday, or any day, how often do we intentionally stop and rest?

No, I suspect that many of us run around more than we rest. We call it being “productive.”

And yet, the command persists.

“Okay,” you say, “But what about the New Testament? That command is from the Old…do we really need rest? Sabbath?”

Well, sure. Sure. Good question. I would simply answer you with what Jesus says in Mark 2:27, “Then he said to [the Pharisees], ‘The Sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the Sabbath; so the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.” Jesus helps us see Sabbath in a new light. No, it’s not a law for us; it is a grace. To be given rest is to be shown grace!

So, when we remember the Sabbath, and when we take time to rest, we are living into the grace of God. This is not a prescription for laziness, but a remedy for exhaustion. We can work ourselves too hard, but God has given us the gift of Sabbath to help us recover.

We rest because God has called us to rest. We pause because even God paused on the seventh day. We stop because we also need to know that the world will keep moving even when we are still.

So, this Labor Day, take time to rest. If you must work that day for whatever reason, do take the gift of a Sabbath on a different day seriously this week because, after all, it is a gift from God to humankind.

And let us all rejoice and be glad for the work of laborers and those who help make our country and our world what it is, and honor the God who created us all in God’s own image.

Yours in Christ,

Pastor Chris