Rhythm

“So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.” – Hebrews 4:9

One way that Sabbaths differ from vacations is that they occur not as a bolus, but as a regular part of our lives. Wayne Muller writes, “When we live without listening to the timing of things, when we live and work in twenty-four-hour shifts without rest—we are on war time, mobilized for battle. Yes, we are strong and capable people, we can work without stopping, faster and faster, electric lights making artificial day so the whole machine can labor without ceasing. But remember: No living thing lives like this. There are greater rhythms, seasons and hormonal cycles and sunsets and moonrises and great movements of seas and stars. We are part of the creation story, subject to all its laws and rhythms.” 

Seeds are dormant before sprouting; animals hibernate; music consists as much of patterns of silence as of notes. There is a rhythm that our culture has lost, and Sabbath is the regaining of that “continually recurring interruption,” as Karl Barth puts it. Just as we tithe as regularly as we earn, we must tithe our time as regularly as we receive it, rest as regularly as we work. We have to regularly remember, because we continually forget. It is this rhythm that allows Sabbath to bleed through to the rest of our week. “Judaism tries to foster the vision of life as a pilgrimage to the seventh day; the longing for the Sabbath all days of the week which is a form of longing for the eternal Sabbath all the days of our lives,” writes Heschel. 

As we’re home more these days, there are more chances for refreshing rests throughout the day. There are more spontaneous conversation, board games, meals eaten together. Are these Sabbaths? They can be, but the question to ask is, do they occur in a perceivable pattern? Do they recur with some level of regularity or predictability? Are they something you can look forward to?