Tag: Shabbat

Come Together

On By Bp. Justin ElwellIn Applied Theology, InspirationLeave a comment

The Torah portion of Vayakhel, “and he assembled,” begins:

וַיַּקְהֵל מֹשֶׁה אֶת־כָּל־עֲדַת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיֹּאמֶר אֲלֵהֶם אֵלֶּה הַדְּבָרִים אֲשֶׁר־צִוָּה יְהוָה לַעֲשֹׂת אֹתָם

“And Moses gather together all the congregation of the children of Israel, and said to them, “These are the words that the Lord has commanded, that you do them.”

Moses, in the midst of the assembling of the components of the Tabernacle, קָהַל, calls together the assembly of Israel. Why?

Simple: TOGETHER.

The people of Israel, the individuals of the covenant community, were busy. Can you relate to busy? Scurrying about making, connecting, realizing the vision Moses revealed to them beginning in Exodus 25. They were on a mission.

Yet here, Moses “calls together,” in the same way that ἐκκλησία/ekklēsia (called out ones) is used in the Apostolic Scriptures, the people: “come here, together.”

In the midst of the hustle and bustle of this industrious camp, Moses assembles them and slows them down. He begins: “These are the words that the Lord has commanded, that you do them.” Hasn’t he already said these words time and again? One way or another, yes. Yet, he then turns to a completely new subject concerning what God has commanded:

שֵׁשֶׁת יָמִים תֵּעָשֶׂה מְלָאכָה וּבַיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי יִהְיֶה לָכֶם קֹדֶשׁ שַׁבַּת שַׁבָּתוֹן לַיהוָה

“Six days work is done, but the seventh day will be holy, a sabbath of rest unto the Lord.”

Busy. We are busy, running hither and yon, busy about our business, even that which may be called, holy work. Moses says, we are to do what the Lord has commanded, but we must also rest, an act of holy temporal worship resting our bodies. When we are consumed and distracted with “busy,” rest becomes a revelation.

Shabbat, or sabbath, is a break in time when we cease from doing, and experience life, family and community as the gift from the Lord that it is. The spiritual brakes applied, we rest, even from the holy labor of constructing the Tabernacle, in order to be His tabernacle, not alone but together.

Obviously, the command for Shabbat/Sabbath is not a new command in Exodus 35:2. It is, rather, a reminder. Even in the busyness of life, as important as the work is, we must pause, hear the call of our shepherd, and come together.

Sabbath, as revealed in Scripture, reminds us that even in our absence from the assembly that we are still part of the family. Our people, whether near or far, as still gathering, praying, singing, rejoicing, and fellowshipping together. This thought stayed the feeling of homesickness when on the mission field in different places in the world. Even alone, I was part of a together community connected by the Spirit of God.

As I walked across the empty, quiet parking lot at our congregational building this past Shabbat, the holy praise, testimonies, and joyous fellowship was still vivid in my mind. A building full of saints, young and old, stepping out of the busy flow of life to share the precious commodity of time. Even those not present, were present, as His Spirit is not limited by space, place or time. The silence was a sharp contrast to the sound present only moments before; yet both the sound of human presence and absence is necessary, as one anticipates the other.

In the Gospels, we find scenes of Messiah Yeshua/Jesus sitting at the mount to teach, seating the masses to receive food, sitting with His disciples to sing, dip, and recline. Yeshua knew that He was heading toward the holiest work of redemption, but as He made His way there over the weeks, months and years, He still stopped, rested and enjoyed the company of those He loved, even those He challenged. He even went off to the quiet, lonely places to pray.

Dear reader, you may think you have been caught up in the busyness of life for too long to answer the call of the shepherd to assembly, nevertheless, He is still calling. You are still welcome, and there remains a place that He has set just for you. The command of Shabbat in Exodus 35:2 is that invitation in the midst of the busy assembly, it is the shepherds call to you and me to assemble with those we love, and those who challenge us. It is a call to the presence of the Living God Himself.

Be well. Shalom.

A Cathedral in Time

On By Bp. Justin ElwellIn Applied Theology, Inspiration1 Comment

Today as I worked at the Messiah Congregation building, I was struck by how much has changed in that space over the years. Not only the space itself, but the people. The building may not be a stadium or a gothic cathedral, but the people who grow there, together, are tabernacles of incomparable beauty to the structures of man’s imagination.

I am not so concerned with building a cathedral in space, as I am in time, in presence, in sanctity, and eternity, together.

Rabbi Dr Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote, “The sabbath is to time what the temple and tabernacle are to space. The sabbath is a cathedral in time. On the seventh day we experience in time what the tabernacle and temple represented as spaces which is eternal life, God in the complete creation.”

This cathedral in time, the Shabbat, is a raptured experience of stepping out of our hurried time, into the holiness of His time. The physical worship of the Living God in rest, refreshment, and communion. Leaving behind the restrictions of the harried schedule, and stepping into the cathedral in time where He and we are present.

Voices lifted, arms raised, hearts open, and adoration of the Risen Lord mirrored in the face of the other. Who sits enthroned in this cathedral in time? But the Lord of the Sabbath Himself: Messiah Yeshua/ Jesus. As He taught, “For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath” (Matt. 12:18).

It matters not, the opulence of the space, but the presence of the Sabbath Lord. He reigns in His majestic cathedral fabricated not by brick and mortar, but heart and soul knit together by the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:16).

Step out, and step in, and in Him you will find rest for your soul (Matt. 11:28-30). You are a renewed body in space, experiencing a timeless, abiding rest in King Messiah.

Shabbat Sholom.

Rest, a Betrothal

On By Bp. Justin ElwellIn Applied Theology, InspirationLeave a comment

Beautifully, Shabbat in rabbinic tradition is sometimes pictured as a bride, or an approaching bride. The idea that we learn from this is that rest with the bridegroom is to be the condition of the bride – leading to the use of white tablecloths, and fine dinnerware on Shabbat.

In Exodus and Deuteronomy, two different words introduce the commandment regarding shabbat: remember and observe, respectively.

What does it mean to זָכוֹר, “remember” the Sabbath or to שָׁמוֹר, “guard” the Sabbath? What does it mean that “Sabbath was made for man (the betrothed), not man for the Sabbath?” Or, “the Son of Man is Lord (the Bridegroom), even of the Sabbath?”

Shabbat is a memorial of things accomplished/done in the past (remember), and a resting from what we are attempting to get done for the future (observe). It is, at heart, a recognition of Lordship, even headship.

It is a blessed day of “shabbating,” of resting. We might understand it in this way: Shabbat is the spiritual worship of God by the temporal rest of man – it is an act of worship through rest. It is the day our bodies worship by saying “ah!” and our heart and minds say “Hallelujah!”

Yet, there is more.

In Leviticus 23:3 we read, וּבַיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי שַׁבַּת שַׁבָּתוֹן מִקְרָא-קֹדֶשׁ, “and the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, a holy gathering.” “Sabbath” and “rest” in this verse (שַׁבַּת שַׁבָּתוֹן) come from the same root שָׁבַת, meaning “to repose, desist, cease, rest, cessation or to sit down.” When we speak of Shabbat, we are really speaking of resting – specifically sitting/reclining. But what is it we are “rehearsing,” rendered “holy gathering” above?

The marriage feast of the Lamb.

Rest, then, becomes a sign – a betrothal sign (Matt. 11:28). It is a rehearsal of the Bride and the Bridegroom uniting as one. We now remember, anticipate, and set in right perspective the work He has set before us (Eph. 2:10). It is a living sign of the past redemption, and the future redemption, as a semi-eschatological redemptive rest – living out the now but not yet, as we await:

“And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God” (Rev. 19:9).

How blessed we are now, and how blessed we indeed yet to be!

Shabbat Shalom.