Sabbath: A Gift and a Challenge
Recently, I was tromping in snowy footprints left behind by the comings and goings of Chattanooga’s working folks, children, unhoused, and students as I made my way to the grocery, work, and church. As I walked in these tracks, I also meditated on what it means to follow in the way of Jesus, specifically embracing the discipline of the Sabbath—a practice I’ve struggled to truly surrender to this year. Doing nothing is hard work.
In Practicing the Way by John Mark Comer, he argues that following Jesus is less of a religion and more of an apprenticeship – taking on a new way of life. The Chattanooga Fellows has let this way spark discussions on spiritual practices, particularly the Sabbath. In a world that values productivity and constant activity, taking time to pause and rest feels counterintuitive. Yet, it’s in this space of rest that I’ve learned so much about what it means to follow Christ. The Fellows program itself hosts an avalanche of people and wisdom, but true apprenticeship isn’t simply about accumulating knowledge or making connections. It’s about learning a way of being—an identity given by Christ.
Paul encourages us to imitate him as he imitates Christ, and Jesus says we must “keep” His commandments (1 Cor. 11:1 & John 14:15) . But these aren’t just tasks to check off. Christ is pointing us to a way of life—one marked by rest, reflection, and relationship, not just doing. The fourth commandment is to “remember the Sabbath and keep it holy”. The Westminster Larger Catechism tells us that keeping the commandments is about embodying them, not just ticking them off (WLC, 115-121).
In the remembrance of the Sabbath, we orient our week around it, separating it and making it distinct from our “normal life.” In doing so, we recognize the beautiful restriction of ourselves to keep the Sabbath. We remember that the first fruits of our very embodiment are the Lord’s, and he returns them to us so that we may profit in our embodied souls by resting in His goodness.
The Sabbath has become more than a day off; it’s become a way of experiencing a taste of who I will one day be in Christ. My identity isn’t shaped by what I do, but by the rest and peace Christ offers me in the quiet moments of surrender on His Sabbath.
Fellows has illuminated that practicing a life with a consistent Sabbath is the path of Christ: fully truthful, fully surrendered, and fully loved. Following Christ is a transformation of identity, understanding who you are in the truth of his love that we feel in the gift of the Lord’s Day. The God of all purity and holiness repeatedly and readily welcomes us into it, cleanses us for it, and sanctifies us towards a more pure vision of it. Amen.