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 By Rob Des Cotes
[other pieces By Rob Des Cotes]
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. Genesis 2:2-3
From day one of creation, God's method has been one of separating, in order to define making distinctions between darkness and light, the waters above and waters below, the land and the sea, etc. Here too, on the seventh day, God creates an important distinction, this time between work and rest.
In so doing He makes a clear separation between Himself and His work. He distinguishes action from being. Imagine if, on the seventh day, God would have just continued adding more and more amazing feats of creation to His accolades. Imagine if the Genesis story was simply a story about God's work.
It would still be pretty impressive to create a whole universe and set man and history into motion. We would still marvel at God, the Creator. The problem with this story however is that we would naturally identify God in only one mode -- that of 'Worker-Creator.' We would see Him as an active God who is forever busy creating.
Instead, Scripture makes an important distinction. On the seventh day the Lord rested from His work. In other words, He returned to His first identity who He is, independent of His work.
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Taking rest from work is one of the most affirming statements we can make about the work we do. It is finished. It is good. It has its life and I have mine. It is also one of the most affirming statements that we can make about ourselves.
I am not my work.
We stand apart, in wonderful relationship to it, but not exclusively defined by what we do.
It is good. In his famous Practice Resurrection lectures, Eugene Peterson speaks of the Sabbath as the place from which we get to practice and cultivate such wonder. In order to do so we need to maintain a healthy sense of objectivity in relation to our work-life. If we focus too closely on what we do, on mastery and competence in our environment as the foundation of our being, we can easily lose our sense of objective wonder.
'It is good' can mistakenly start to imply that 'I am good.' Sabbath, then, is a time for cultivating restful objectivity in our relationship to work. It is a God-given opportunity to get rid of the idols we might have created during the week, our inordinate attachments to what we do. Both God's exhortation and His example call us to practice times of detachment -- to intentionally rest from our work, just as He did from His.
Rob Des Cotes is a spiritual director and pastor of Fairview Baptist Church in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He teaches Contemplative Traditions at Trinity Western University, as well as courses on spirituality and the arts at Carey Theological College and Columbia Bible College. Rob also directs Imago Dei (www.imagodeicommunity.ca) a network of faith communities that encourages the practice of prayer and a transforming relationship with God. Rob is a regular contributor to canadianchristianity.com. To obtain 'Higher than I' go to: www.clementspublishing.com
June 19/2008
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