Sabbath More Fully?

I remember talking to a Seventh day Sabbatarian once about some of the emerging literature on the Sabbath. This Sabbatarian didn’t see the relevance of Sabbath beyond Seventh Day Sabbath Apologetics. By that I mean defense and teaching of the seventh day as the Bible Sabbath. She asked me, “what else do we need to know but that the Seventh day is the Sabbath?”

The question betrays an attitude that will on the one hand promote ecclesial chauvinism and on the other hand promotes a lack of theological sophistication in matters surrounding the Sabbath. First it promotes ecclesial chauvinism as we sit back proud of the fact that we keep the Seventh day while others do not. We “know the day” and they “do not.” But our celebration of that day is not enriched by an understanding of what role Sabbath plays or should play in our daily lives.

Which leads to our next issue of turning the Sabbath into simply a day in which we “go to church and sleep” rather than a day we more fully embrace and live in God’s coming Basilea.

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