This past Saturday was the first time that Deborah and I celebrated the Sabbath. We began it at 6 Saturday night and ended it at 6 Sunday night.
On Saturday before 6, we prepared for the Sabbath. First, Deborah looked up recipes online, recipes that could be cooked in a skillet. When she found a recipe, we went to the store to pick up the required ingredients and then returned home. The store is in a very convenient location. It is just across the parking lot of our building. After getting the groceries inside I went to buy fruit from the street vendors. I purposed to avoid the grapes because Deborah said she didn't like them, but I bought three bunches of them. Luckily, perhaps because it was the Sabbath, Deborah grew to like them. Now, we both love them. Anyway, I also bought two large peaches and three mesh sacks of mandarins.
Deborah aimed to be ready by 6, but no bother we ate a bit later than that. For the meal, we each had a delicious piece of chicken, marinated in a honeymustard sauce and rolled in bread crumbs, on a bed of lettuce, a mandarin along with mandarin juice and baked potato from a convection oven. In a surprise, though Deborah peeled the potatoes, when baked in the oven they got a new skin. And they were delicious! I wonder whether a similar skin would appear if they were baked in a conventional oven. At any rate, we finished the meal with a dainty apple dumpling.
We began the meal with a liturgy, which I borrowed from somewhere else. First, I said, "This is the day that the Lord has made," and Deborah responded, "Let us rejoice and be glad in it." Then I blessed Deborah and gave thanks for the food, mentioning that this excellent meal is a symbol of the glorious gifts of the gospel with which the Lord is pleased to make our souls fat. After the meal, we studied from the catechism (I really need to learn how to teach), played Uno and drank hot chocolate using Pepero's as stir sticks. Needless to say, the next day our hearts were well prepared to worship the Lord with his people.
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8 comments:
Hey Scott and Deborah!
Great blog - some quality reading material here! What's with the sabbath celebration though? Have you guys become Jews or Seventh Day Adventists??
What would Calvin say??
(Inst. II.8; paragraphs 28-34)
-Andrew
"The whole may be thus summed up: As the truth was delivered typically to the Jews, so it is imparted to us without figure; first, that during our whole lives we may aim at a constant rest from our own works, in order that the Lord may work in us by his Spirit; secondly that every individual, as he has opportunity, may diligently exercise himself in private, in pious meditation on the works of God, and, at the same time, that all may observe the legitimate order appointed by the Church, for the hearing of the word, the administration of the sacraments, and public prayer: And, thirdly, that we may avoid oppressing those who are subject to us." - Calvin, Inst. II.8.34
As far as I can see, Calvin condemns the idea that Sunday is more sacred than other days. We, however, do not regard Sunday as intrinsically sacred, more sacred than (say) Monday. We celebrate the Lord's day because that is how the Church works; the church has set this day apart. Through our Sabbath celebration, we endeavour to prepare our hearts for the Lord's day, and we "duly avail ourselves of those external aids which tend to promote the worship of God" (Inst. II.8.34), which includes, as the Baptists say, food, fun and fellowship.
Also, we will try to focus our minds on God's truths by reading and meditating. Calvin mentions a specific truth, i.e., ceasing from work and letting God work through one all the time: "Not me, but Christ who lives in me."
I think that God still commands a day of rest. Sunday is not sacred, but it is the day the Church has chosen and so we choose it. After all, the Church is the pillar and ground of truth.
(Questions or Comments? Please post here. I'll take you all on.)
Hey again!
You have no idea of the smile it put on my face to read your reply! Now that you are on the other side of the world, who do I have to discuss these matters with? You provided a compelling answer to my challenge but I think you have misrepresented poor Calvin to the good people of cyberspace.
You are quite right in stating that Sunday is not somehow sacred. Sunday was an arbitrary choice as the day which the church would meet to worship and study together. In fact Calvin argues that, ideally the church should meet daily, but “owing to the weakness of many” the church meets on a weekly basis (Inst. II.8.32). Sunday definitely does not replace the Sabbath; not because the Sabbath is still in effect, but because the Sabbath has been abrogated and no longer needs to function as a weekly observance.
The point Calvin is trying to make here is that Christ’s resurrection is the fulfillment of those things which the Jewish Sabbath represented. In the passage preceding the quote which you began your post with, Calvin writes: “The resurrection of our Lord being the end and accomplishment of that true rest which the ancient Sabbath typified, this day, by which types were abolished serves to warn Christians against adhering to a shadowy ceremony.” (Inst. II.8.34)
Look closely at the language in the quote you provided: “As the truth was delivered TYPICALLY TO THE JEWS, so it is imparted TO US WITHOUT FIGURE; first, that DURING OUR WHOLE LIVES we may aim at a CONSTANT REST from our own works…” The Jewish Sabbath was a prefiguring (or “type”) of the perpetual spiritual rest which Christ’s death and resurrection provided for Christians. We no longer need a DAY for spiritual rest, because Christ’s resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit mean that we can rest in Him CONTINUALLY.
In his opening paragraph dealing with the Sabbath, Calvin lists the three purposes for the Jewish Sabbath: “First, under the rest of the seventh days the divine Lawgiver meant to furnish the people of Israel with a TYPE (emphasis mine) of the spiritual rest by which believers were to cease from their own works, and allow God to work in them. Secondly he meant that there should be a stated day on which they should assemble to hear the Law, and perform religious rites, or which, at least, they should specially employ in meditating on his works, and be thereby trained to piety. Thirdly, he meant that servants, and those who lived under the authority of others, should be indulged with a day of rest, and thus have some intermission from labour.” (Inst. II.8.28). The second two purposes for the Sabbath are essentially physical, practical, and continue to this day; but they are no longer tied to the Jewish Sabbath. As Christians we continue in the Sabbath’s second purpose by gathering once a week on the Lord’s Day (arbitrarily chosen as Sunday) for hearing the Scriptures and performing religious rites. We also have continued –in principle- the idea of a weekly day of rest from our physical labours. This day of physical rest often coincides with our observance of the Lord’s Day, but there is no reason that they must be coincidental.
The true essence of the Jewish Sabbath, however, is to be found in its first purpose, as stated by Calvin: spiritual rest. In this purpose the Jewish Sabbath was merely a foreshadowing, and typical of a coming reality which Christ has now provided for us by his death and resurrection. As Christians we now live in a state of perpetual Sabbath rest, through which God can work directly in our lives by his Holy Spirit.
You are quite right to set aside time to prepare your hearts and minds for hearing the Word of God and worshipping Him, however that is no longer a weekly Sabbath observance but something that we should strive to do continually. The Sabbath was the type; we now have the reality. The Sabbath provided a shadow of things to come; Christ is now the true light.
-Andrew
I think Calvin and Hobbes are great... though I don't know for sure if I would want to go to church with Hobbes.
LOL! Thanks for putting it all into perspective for us, Jon!!
Calvin and Hobbes, both in their human and cartoon forms, can provide us with hours of thought-provoking amusement!
Hello again. It's been almost a week since I've posted to this. There is one main reason, namely, that I've not much to say.
First, a confession and repentance. I did slant Calvin. In particular, I didn't explicitly mention that, according to Calvin, the Sabbath was a shadow of the reality we now have. It was, however, implicit in my comment, both in the quote from Calvin and when I stated that Calvin said that we should have a perpetual spiritual rest in Christ, who works through us.
Andrew, you mentioned the two continuing purposes: to set aside a day to perform religious rites and for meditation; and to rest from our physical labour. You also said that "there is no reason that they must be coincidental." I think there is a reason that they should be coincidental. I think that there is a reason, though. We cannot spend the day in meditation on God's truths and in "private worship," (Westminster Confession) if we are busy doing our other labours. On the sabbath we are supposed to cease doing all the things we normally do on other days, even if they are lawful (Isa 58:13).
I also hesitated to reply because I've neither thought nor read much about this subject. I tried to read more before I replied. I didn't get much reading done on the Sabbath, though, and a reply was due. At any rate, here, after a little introduction, is one argument I did read.
Some say the sabbath was merely ceremonial and disappeared with the Levitical institutions. Others say that the command to observe the sabbath was "moral and perpetual," that is, we are under the command to keep the sabbath day holy as much as were the Jews. The argument is for the latter position. Here goes: if the Sabbath was in effect before the Levitical institutions were established, then the abrogation of the Levitical institutions could not have also abrogated the Sabbath, for the Sabbath is not part of them. When the ceremonies were done away with the Sabbath was not also done away with, for it was not one of the ceremonies. It is a command akin to "Thou shalt not murder." So, what evidence is there that the Sabbath was in effect before the Levitical institutions? I will give one bit, because I want to go to bed. When Israel was in the desert, before they got to Sinai, God was feeding them with manna. God commanded them, through Moses, to take just enough manna for one day. But God also commanded that on the sixth day, to prepare for the sabbath, they should take twice the amount of manna so that they would have enough for the sabbath. Remember, this is before they got to Sinai! Moreover, the sabbath is spoken of as something with which the Israelites are familiar. This indicates that the Israelites were in the general habit of observing the sabbath. So, since the sabbath was in effect before Sinai and before any Levitical institutions, the abrogation of said institutions cannot have abrogated our duty to "remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy."
I'm tired so I won't read that last bit over. I leave any contradictions or logical entailments for you, dear reader, to figure out, and so bye for now.
Hello again Scott (and Deborah!),
A confession of my own:
With the benefit of yet another reading of your original post –obviously one with more comprehension- I now understand that you did not observe the Sabbath IN ADDITION to your Sunday (“The Lord’s Day”) worship. It seems that you are still setting aside Sunday as your day for worship and rest, but using the Jewish calendar system (whereby a day begins at 6pm instead of midnight) and calling it the Sabbath.
I think it is great that you are making an effort to set aside the ENTIRE day to be still and focus on God! I think more of us should follow your example. I wonder though, what is the advantage in going from 6pm-6pm and calling it the Sabbath? That just seems to open the door up to unnecessary theological confusion – especially to those who, like me, have poor reading comprehension skills!
I’ll leave you with a couple of statements that seem relevant to our discussion.
“As it is the law of nature, that, in general, a due proportion of time be set apart for the worship of God; so, in His Word, by a positive, moral, and perpetual commandment binding all men in all ages, He has particularly appointed one day in seven, for a Sabbath, to be kept holy unto him: which, from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, was the last day of the week: and, from the resurrection of Christ, was changed into the first day of the week, which, in Scripture, is called the Lord's Day, and is to be continued to the end of the world, as the Christian Sabbath.” -Westminster Confession XXI, 7.
“[The first day of the week] symbolizes the new creation ushered in by Christ’s Resurrection. For Christians it has become the first of all days, the first of all feasts, the Lord’s Day – Sunday. Sunday is expressly distinguished from the Sabbath which it follows chronologically every week; for Christians its ceremonial observances replaces that of the Sabbath. In Christ’s Passover, Sunday fulfills the spiritual truth of the Jewish Sabbath and announces man’s eternal rest in God.” -Catechism of the Catholic Church (see items 2174 and onward).
“Those who lived according to the old order of things have come to a new hope, no longer keeping the Sabbath, but the Lord’s Day, in which our life is blessed by him and by his death” -St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Magn. 9, 1:SCh 10, 88.
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...now as a general rule I’m not at all opposed to arguing against Catholic doctrine, Protestant doctrine, or the doctrine of the early church fathers; but when they all appear to agree in their interpretations of Scripture, that’s when I become wary of divergence.
-Andrew
PS. I’ve quite enjoyed our little discussion here. We should try to discuss various topics as time allows. It’s fun; and the thinking, reading, and writing are almost as valuable as television.
I chose to begin the our celebration on Saturday evening because it allows us time to prepare our hearts for worship on Sunday morning. Usually, both Deborah and I would wake Sunday morning and spend all our time preparing our clothes, hair, stomachs and everything but our hearts. And I know that the same thing happens to other people as well. Also, Saturday evening is well suited for sitting still and studying a bit together. I think that when Deborah and I get back to Canada we should all celebrate the Sabbath together, first with the meal, then with singing of psalms and study of scripture. That is, if everyone is still around.
The idea for preparing our hearts on Saturday night a paper by J.I.Packer entitled, "The Puritan Approach to Worship." It's a pretty good article: you can find it here if you're interested: http://www.reformed.org/webfiles/antithesis/index.html
Anyway, here is a quote from it, which is actually a quote from George Swinnock, a Puritan:
Prepare to meet thy God, O Christian! Betake thyself to thy chamber on the Saturday night, confess and bewail thine unfaithfulness under the ordinances of God; ashamed and condemn thyself for thy sins, entreat God to prepare they heart for, and assist it in, thy religious performances; spend some time in consideration of the infinite majesty, holiness, jealously, and goodness, of that God, with whom thouart to have to do in sacred duties; ponder the weight and importance of his holy ordinances...; meditate on the shortness of the time thou hast to enjoy Sabbaths in; and continue musing...till the fire burneth; thou canst not think the good thou mayest gain by such forethoughts, how pleasant and profitable a Lord's day would be to thee after such a preparation. The oven of thine heart thus baked in, as it were overnight, would be easily heated the next morning; the fire so well raked up when thou wentest to bed, would be the sooner kindled when thou shouldst rise. If thou wouldst thus leave thy heart with God on the Saturday night, thou shouldst find it with him in the Lord's Day morning.
P.S. I've also enjoyed this discussion, and we should have more. But I say no reading until we've watched enough TV, say three hours of TV for every hour of trying to read and falling asleep.
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