My daughter Abigail was born eight weeks early and spent the first three weeks of her life in the neonatal intensive care unit.  During those weeks, while sitting among plastic-walled incubators listening to the loud alarms of babies’ heart monitors, I quieted my own heart by reading Sabbath Keeping, a new book by my former pastor Lynne Baab. 

The idea of weekly rest may not seem relevant to the NICU, where the rhythms of baby care correspond to an hourly schedule rather than a weekly one; but in those three weeks, as I suddenly found myself radically resting from all that had once been my life, I discovered an unexpected opportunity to reflect on what my life ought to look like in its next phase.  An eminently wise and peace-filled book, Sabbath Keeping became both a calming voice during those weeks of crisis, and a call to a new way of living in the new epoch of my life called motherhood.

No one can explain why I went into labor prematurely, as I had no obvious risk factors like infection or cocaine use, but as good an explanation as any is probably the fact that I was working too hard.  As an eighth grade English teacher, I spent six hours on my feet trying to inspire five classes full of thirteen and fourteen year olds, only to go home on evenings and weekends to keep up with the books they were reading, plan the upcoming lessons, and grade the essays they each produced weekly.  Sunday afternoons and evenings often eroded into last minute catch-up sessions, followed by six or seven hours of oft-interrupted sleep and then my alarm clock asking me to start all over again.  It’s no wonder, really, that my body decided it could no longer sustain my pregnancy through all that!

Enter the concept of rest.  Though it was scary and stressful to have a baby in the hospital, Abigail’s birth also forced me to slow down dramatically.  Suddenly, my baby was in the NICU and I had nothing to do but sit by her side.  No more papers to grade, lessons to plan, classes to teach…just a tiny bundle of baby to stare at and a calm book to focus my thoughts around. 

Baab’s full title is Sabbath Keeping: Finding Freedom in the Rhythms of Rest, and as I sat reading in the NICU I soon realized that rhythms of rest were precisely what had been lacking in my life.  For me, the consequences were nearly tragic: a baby born too soon because her mommy couldn’t slow down.  Abigail is now doing just fine, but I wonder what other consequences we suffer as a society of workaholics.  Relationships brushed aside, paths not taken, beauty unnoticed as we rush about the business of our lives.  Pop psychology and self-help books abound with tips on multitasking or taking time for ourselves, but we forget that God has anticipated our needs by ordaining the ancient practice of weekly rest.   In her book, Lynne Baab gently reminds us what a gracious, needed gift the sabbath is for our time.

I think I am not alone in my erstwhile confusion about sabbath.  I listen to Jesus rebuke the Pharisees for their legalistic sabbaths, and I think that I will be following him more closely if I do not observe the sabbath in any distinct way at all.   Baab answers my confusion by deftly walking through the Scripture passages which reveal that God’s ordained rhythm is still meant for me; not only that, it is overwhelmingly beneficial for me.   After all,

“the sabbath was made for humanity, and not humanity for the sabbath,”

and Lynne shows how obeying God enables us to use the sabbath fully to our advantage.  Keeping one day set apart each week is the best way to live peacefully in our hectic world, since it is the way prescribed for us by God Himself.  I don’t really know why I went into labor prematurely, but you can bet that the next time I am pregnant, I will pay much more attention to nurturing the rhythms of rest in my life. 

My favorite aspect of Sabbath Keeping is the inclusion of many practical ideas for how to keep sabbath today, culled from Baab’s interviews with seasoned Christians from all walks of life.  Baab organizes these ideas into things we can try to be free from on the sabbath—perhaps chores or television or shopping—and things we can finally be free to do—pray or sing or draw or sit.  Her emphasis is not on creating yet another “to do” list for Sundays, but on offering up many ideas that Christians can joyfully experiment with as we seek to dedicate one day to the rejuvenation of our bodies and souls. 

For myself, I am in the process of recreating all the rhythms of my life as I adjust to my new status as a stay-at-home mom, and it has been helpful to realize that even though none of my current work resembles my old work, I still need to find creative ways to rest.  My baby still needs to be fed and changed and bathed on sabbath days, but I can choose to set aside bill paying and grocery shopping for one day a week, and perhaps I can choose to take a long, prayerful walk on that day instead.  Baab encourages us to pick a new discipline or two and try it out for a few months of sabbath days, and I look forward to cultivating the concept of sabbath with my entire family as we grow together. 

As an English teacher I tried to show my students that the “voice” of their writing work was just as important as what they had to say, and Lynne Baab is an excellent example of an author whose style matches her message.  Reading Sabbath Keeping is a restful pastime in and of itself.  Baab’s words are measured and clear, and as she opens with the story of her own journey with the sabbath, you know she is someone you want to take time to listen to.  Hers is a book that would be as compelling in a train station or your living room as it was beside the bassinet of a four-pound, premature baby.   Whether you are at a crossroads or simply navigating the day-by-day decisions of everyday life, Lynne’s voice will gently guide you into a greater understanding of how to honor God with your rest.  

book
Sabbath Keeping (2005)

exerpt
Chapter One

reviews
A Gentle Antidote to Legalistic Lists
Susan O’Loughlin Ward

Reflections on Rest From the Neonatal Care Unit
Sarah Sanderson

Dine on This Sumptuous Feast Rev. Monica McDowell Elvig

A Day of Rest from the Should's and Ought's
Jeanette Krantz

articles

A Day Off From God Stuff? "Leadership Journal," Spring 2007

Gifts of Freedom: The Sabbath and Fasting to be published in "Conversations"

The Gift of Rest
Today's Christian Woman (Sept 2005)

Sabbath-Keeping—It's OK to Start Small Presbyterians Today (July/Aug 2005)

A Day Without a ‘Do’ List Discipleship Journal (July/Aug 2005)

Stopping: The Gift of the Sabbath Congregations (Summer 2003)

interviews
The Sabbath Doesn't Have To Be Perfect

Beyond a Sunday Nap

buy the book
(Amazon.com)
(ChristianBooks.com)