Embracing Rhythms of Work and Rest: From Sabbath to Sabbatical and Back Again

This insightful volume by Barton (Invitation to Retreat)—founder of the Transforming Center, a Christian leadership ministry—extols the observance of sabbath. She suggests that sabbath-keeping “helps us arrange our lives to honor the rhythm of things—work and rest, fruitfulness and dormancy.” The author felt “too busy” to rest on the sabbath until a severe biking accident forced her to consider that “God was trying to tell me” to slow down. Freedom lies at the root of sabbath, she contends, detailing sabbath’s origins in Exodus when God tells the Israelites to observe a weekly day of rest as a sign that they had escaped Pharaoh’s “system of endless production.” Barton posits that the sabbath cultivates trust in God; as the Israelites had to learn that God would provide for them if they stopped working, modern Christians must trust God to “keep running the world without them.” Barton’s enlightening perspectives on Exodus ground the exegesis, and her criticism of church leaders for busying Sundays with “youth group activities, committee meetings, [and] choir practices” offers a thoughtful take on how contemporary demands of church have superseded a commitment to sabbath. Weary Christians will find this a balm. (Oct.)