Diligent Hands: Proverbs 10:1-12 - 11th Sunday after Pentecost

They call it a “French Sunday.”

And no, it’s not a fancy ice cream dessert. The French Sunday is a Godless Sabbath day.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

French law prohibits working more than six consecutive days, and Sunday is the default day of rest for most people. The idea of a French Sunday is simple: don’t pack your day with projects or chores. Instead, sleep in, spend time with friends or family, or engage in other activities you enjoy. 

The mental health professionals interviewed for the article in Real Simple magazine argue that “The human brain is not designed to be ‘on’ all the time.” “When rest is not prioritized, people remain in a low-grade state of stress even when they’re technically off the clock.” The nervous system never has time to “downshift.” 

Observing a French Sunday, on the other hand, builds “psychological flexibility,” because “you become better at tolerating uncertainty and making choices based on what you need rather than what your anxiety is telling you to do.” 

This way, you can “return to work with more energy, better focus, and greater patience.”

Even though religious observance is conspicuously absent from the article, it captures why the Sabbath Day is important to your overall well-being. The Sabbath Day was established in creation in the same manner as the night and day. God commands it because you need it. “Remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your children, your slaves, your livestock, or the foreigner in your towns” (Exo. 20:9-10). 

The commandment echoes the demand Moses spoke to Pharaoh on God’s behalf: “let his people go so that they may worship me in the desert” (Exo 7:16). 

Pharoah squeezed every ounce of productivity he could get from God’s people. In fact, he deliberately made their labors more difficult all the while accusing them of being lazy (Exo 5:8). He worked God’s people to death. All the while, God was a stranger to his people, because there was no time for worship, prayer, or instruction. Their bodies, minds, and souls were firmly in Pharaoh’s control, and after 430 years, God had enough.

Have you had enough? The up and coming generation has been labeled “the anxious generation,” and not just for the existential threats of economic calamity, war, and pollution. They are enslaved to devices that feed information which preys upon their anxieties. They are being told that it is not enough to be your best. You must be the best.

In this chaotic world, Sabbath anchors your life in the rhythms of God’s Faithfulness. Your stewardship of the Sabbath will set the tone for how you live the other six days. 

Take it away, and what do you get? People being worked to death. Lives ruled by guilt and anxiety. Isolation, loneliness, depression, insomnia, addiction, premature death. Distribution centers and data centers instead of greenspaces. A society ruled by greed. A civilization that doesn’t know how to be civilized. The world we are living in. 

Time, like life itself, is finite. You only have so much of it. So what will you do with yours? 

The number one reason people give for not participating in church is the lack of time. People say, “I don’t need to go to church to be a Christian.” But how did you come to know God in the first place? Who introduced the faith to you? Probably someone who went to church on Sunday!

Sure, you can believe in God and pray to God anytime and anywhere. But if your time is not anchored in God, the Pharaohs of the world and the Pharaohs of your anxieties and ambitions will be quick to claim it. Both work and play can take Sabbath away. So can exhaustion—and the trials every believer goes through. 

Still, don’t come to church because you should. Don’t put off work and weekly chores because you should. Don’t choose church over fun and recreation because you should. 

The Sabbath Day is a gift before it is an obligation. Don’t say, “I should come to church.” You are free to come to church. You are free for God to care for your mind, body, and spirit. You are free to put God first, and God will provide the ways and the means for all else that is important. Sabbath disciplines your faith. It teaches you to trust God.

Right now, you may not be free because of your tremendous responsibilities to your work or your family. That’s not your fault. But you can’t serve others from an empty vessel. Sabbath is not a luxury. It is as necessary to you as food and water. If Sabbath has been unattainable, ask God to provide it for you. There is freedom from all the Pharaohs that enslave your minds, bodies, and souls. Remember: God parted the Red Sea to give his people Sabbath. Your God is a jealous God who will lose you to the pressures and stressors of this life. 

Sabbath is God’s gift for all who seek it. One of the most beautiful gifts the Church has to share with the world is Sabbath: a real alternative to the hurried hellscapes of modern life. Amid all the chaos and noise is the still and gentle voice of Jesus, calling you all to bring your burdens to him. 

This holy rest and renewal comes with no price tag other than stopping what you’re doing and showing up. Not because you should but because you can. Not because it’s required of you but because you need it. Because Jesus loves you. 

Exodus 20:3-11 (NRSVue)

³ you shall have no other gods before me.

⁴ “You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. ⁵ You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me ⁶ but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.

⁷ “You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

⁸ “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. ⁹ Six days you shall labor and do all your work. ¹⁰ But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. ¹¹ For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and consecrated it.