A Sermon delivered on June 2, 2024 by Rev. Dr. Patrick H. Wrisley.

In preparing for my move to Glens Falls last August, I was going through some old things sorting out what I wanted to keep and take with me and what items I needed to toss out. Sitting at my wife’s desk and going through papers that were left there, I came across an envelope that simply said, “Wris.” I turned the envelope around as I had not seen it before, and it was still unopened. Curiosity got the best of me and so I opened it up. “Happy birthday, Wris. I love you.” It was dated April 1, 2021; she died 11 months later. I sat there holding the very last birthday card she ever left me but for whatever reason, forgot to give me.

I looked at her handwriting and re-read her few brief words and simply wept. “How had I not seen this before?” I wondered. “Why had she forgotten to give it to me?” I asked. The answers didn’t really matter; what did matter was that I was holding a gift of great price I didn’t know I had. It was though she was writing me a love note from the grave when I needed it the most in my life.

This morning, we are going to look at a gift that has been lovingly given to us that I will venture to say most of us have not yet opened. The gift I am speaking of is opening the gift of the Sabbath. Turn in your bible to Deuteronomy 5. As you turn there, let me give you a little background.

This is not the first time Moses has spoken about the Sabbath. In the book of Exodus, Moses climbs the mountain of God and God reveals to him the Ten Commandments where Moses and the Hebrew people were told, “Remember the Sabbath day, keep it holy” (Ex 20:8).  This edict was given to Moses at a time the people were escaping from their Egyptian slave owners as God led them through the wilderness. In our text today, though the words are similar to what is written in Exodus, there is a subtle difference. First, Moses is thought to be writing to people who were about to cross over into the Promised Land and lay claim to it. In other words, today’s text is reminding the people they are about to start a brand-new life transitioning from being nomads wandering in the wilderness to become settlers in a new land. Second, Moses alters his word choice in stating the commandment. Listen to the Word of the Lord.

Deuteronomy 5:12-15

¹²Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. ¹³Six days you shall labor and do all your work. ¹⁴But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, or your son or your daughter, or your male or female slave, or your ox or your donkey, or any of your livestock, or the resident alien in your towns, so that your male and female slave may rest as well as you.¹⁵Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day. –NRSV

The first thing we notice from our reading this morning is that it is written subtlety different from the commandment in Exodus 20. In Exodus 20, Moses writes, “Remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy.” In our text this morning, he tells us, “Observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy.”  So, what’s the difference?

Well, one is a passive command whereas the other is direct and active. In the first instance, the people are to remember the sabbath, i.e. bring it to your mind, recollect it. In Deuteronomy 5, Moses tells the people to “observe” the Sabbath and keep it holy.  He uses a different word in the command. Moses is not just telling people to remember, to recollect, the Sabbath; he is telling them to actively observe it. The word he uses is the same word as “to set a guard around something,” “protect” and “watch over” the Sabbath. In our Deuteronomy passage, there is an intentional command given to us. It’s not enough to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy, but you must set a guard around it, protect it, and watch over it.

The second item I want us to make note of is that the command to observe, protect, watch over, and attend to the Sabbath is not meant to be yet another “Gotta’ do” from God. We are being asked to see the Sabbath for what it is – a gracious gift from God to us.^[1]

The great contemporary rabbi, the late Abraham Joshua Heschel, describes the Sabbath like this. He writes, “In the tempestuous ocean of time and toil there are islands of stillness where (a person) may enter a harbor and reclaim his (or her) dignity. The island is the seventh day, the Sabbath, a day of detachment from things, instruments and practical affairs as well as of attachment to the spirit.”^[2]

Did Heschel just remind us to detach from attachment to spirit? He sure did. Let me tell you why. You see, the Sabbath is not only for the soul, but also for our bodies as well. Comfort, rest, and pleasure in the presence of God is paramount on the Sabbath. It is a day given to each of us where we can mine our spirit’s precious metal, as Heschel says, and construct a palace in time, to create “A dimension in which the human is at home with the divine: a dimension in which (men and women) aspire to approach the likeness of the divine.”^[3]

The Sabbath is our way of putting stakes in the ground, creating a specific space, for giving rest to the world around us, for giving rest to those in whose lives we cohabit, and simply delight in the presence of the One Who is, Who was, and Who is yet to come. It’s a day of simply being with God. It’s about creating an atmosphere, a different climate in our lives that indeed something has changed. It’s a day we cease placing demands on our environment, on our neighbors, our family and friends, and enter into the rest that God enjoys. To actively participate in creating a palace in time means trusting the Lord enough that God’s got everything under control for one day so we don’t have to worry about it.

Heschel reminds us, “The Sabbath is not an occasion for diversion or frivolity; not a day to shoot fireworks or to turn somersaults, but an opportunity to mend our tattered lives; to collect rather than dissipate time.”^[4] Collecting time. I like that. The Sabbath is our intentional harvesting of time to restore our broken selves in the presence of God. It is a time to make and reclaim time in order to allow to focus on the crucial matters in our life.

Years ago, the demands of ministry wed to the workaholic tendencies I catered to caused marital drift in my marriage.  It led me to displace priorities and values I held so dear and become distracted to the point my marriage was in trouble. What became clear to me and Kelly was we both needed to work on recalibrating our orbit around what was important and life-giving to both of us in lieu of what my job and the culture was screaming at us. So, we made a pact. Together, we were going to honor the Sabbath with each other every week.

For us, Sunday was not the Sabbath because I worked, and she was busy with demands parishioners placed upon her being the pastor’s wife as soon as she stepped into the church building. We made the decision that for us, we would make Fridays our Sabbath. We created a palace in time on Fridays that belonged to God and to one another. In society’s eyes, we were lazy that day. We refused any Friday night invitations to go out to dinner with others as it was always reserved for just us. We had extended personal worship on those mornings and then slowly got ready for the day. Oftentimes, we would go out and have a late breakfast with each other. We would take walks in the woods. Take rides on my motorcycle. We would find a picnic table along A1A on the Atlantic Ocean and just sit watching and listening to the waves and seagulls. It was our way of intentionally creating space in our time for one another and for reveling in the goodness God showered us with each day.

My dear friends, my earnest prayer is that you will discover and unwrap this beautiful gift of Sabbath in whatever way works best for you. My prayer is that you will intentionally guard, watch over, and care for your own palace in time. Stake out, collect time, for you to simply be with God and with those you love for the simple and sole purpose of getting rest, discovering the peace and joy that God has within Godself, and discovering the tranquility that comes from realizing you are really not in control of things (and that quite honestly, that feels rather liberating!). Holy Spirit reveal Sabbath’s holy rhythms to you as you build your own palace in time.

Let us pray.

© 2024 Patrick H. Wrisley, Pastor, First Presbyterian Church of Glens Falls, NY 12801. Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of First Presbyterian Church of Glens Falls, New York, and may not be altered, re-purposed, published, or preached without permission. All rights reserved.

^[1] “The Sabbath is the most precious present mankind has received from the treasure house of God,” Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath (Boston: Shambhala Publications, Inc., 1979), p. 7.

^[2] Ibid., p 20.

^[3] Ibid., p 4. Words in parentheses were edited for rhetorical clarity.

^[4] Ibid., 7.