The Simple Life at Home

"One of the great misconceptions about the Sabbath is that church membership exhausts our Sabbath responsibilities, that regular church attendance suffices to establish us as Sabbath people. Actually we often, sometimes unwittingly, carry into church life the anti-Sabbath expectations and dispositions - entertainment, anonymity, consumption, appearance and self-exhibition - that now govern mainstream cultural life. Church, like everyplace else, can become a site of performance, exhaustion, and anxiety as we frantically perform all the tasks, ranging form numerous committee meetings to special programs, that don't fit anywhere else in our schedule. Not surprisingly, we then often do not enter the work week properly humbled, refreshed and inspired by God's life-building ways. We have not shared in God's rest, love, and delight, because we have not really worshipped."

Living the Sabbath

Norman Wirzba