Sabbath Meditations

From New York Times bestselling author John Mark Comer and the team at Practicing the Way, these simple, beautiful meditations offer a way to enter into the beauty of the Sabbath day and keep it holy, integrating spiritual formation into your personal and communal faith practice.

God designed the Sabbath to be a day like no other. It is an aftertaste of Eden—a time when all was as it was meant to be. And it is a forestate of eternity, of the “new heavens and new earth”—a day in which we anticipate and act out our glorious future as the people of God fully set free from the curse and made new under his good rule.

This collection of readings and Bible passages serves as your invitation into an intentional Sabbath practice, helping you to pause, along with your family or faith community, and more fully experience a day set apart, with four sections designed to help you to
  • Stop
  • Rest
  • Delight 
  • Worship

Discover for yourself how Sabbath can be the best day of your week, and the anchor of your entire life with God, as you practice eternity by keeping this day holy.
The Sabbath is a day like no other.

In the Genesis account, we read that God “blessed the [Sabbath] day and made it holy” (2v3). The word “holy” is quodosh in Hebrew, and it means “unique, special, or uncommon.”

The Sabbath is a day of uncommon goodness. Of what the Hebrews called shalom. It is an aftertaste of Eden—a time when

all was as it was meant to be. And it is a foretaste of eternity, of

“a new heaven and a new earth” (Revelation 21v1)—a day in which we anticipate and act out our glorious future as the people of God, a new community, sitting around a table to feast with King Jesus, in a world set free from the curse and made new under his good rule.

It is a day set apart.

To stop.

To rest.

To delight.

And to worship.

Without fail it is the best day of the week; as Dan Allender expresses on page 86, it’s the day we look forward to on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and we remember on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. The anchor of our week, and of our entire life with God and with our community. That’s why it’s on day seven, not on day three or four. It’s not a “break” from our busy lives; it is the aim of our lives. On the Sabbath, we practice eternity in time.

It is holy.

But in the Ten Commandments we are commanded to “remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy” (Exodus 20v8).

So, it is holy, but we also have to keep it holy.

Living in the Sabbathless culture of the West, the temptation is always to profane it, to treat it like just another day, to let it become a secularized day off.

For this reason, the Hebrew people don’t talk about “practicing” Sabbath but “keeping” Sabbath. Keeping it holy, special. An entire day set apart just to rest, delight, and worship God.

May this book of meditations help you enter into the beauty of the Sabbath day and keep it holy.

—John Mark Comer, Founder of Practicing the Way
© Ryan Garber
John Mark Comer is the New York Times bestselling author of eight books, including Practicing the Way, which was named Christian Book of the Year by the ECPA, and The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, which has sold more than a million copies and been translated into over twenty languages. He is a pastor and the founder of Practicing the Way, an organization working to see the renewal of apprenticeship to Jesus in our time. The Comers live in the Santa Monica Mountains just outside Los Angeles. Stay in touch at johnmarkcomer.com. View titles by John Mark Comer
Practicing the Way helps churches form lifelong apprentices of Jesus. Our free resources are used by thousands of communities and pastors worldwide to help people be with Jesus, become like him, and do as he did. Our work is possible thanks to a group of monthly givers called The Circle and other generous givers. Learn more at practicingtheway.org. View titles by Practicing the Way

About

From New York Times bestselling author John Mark Comer and the team at Practicing the Way, these simple, beautiful meditations offer a way to enter into the beauty of the Sabbath day and keep it holy, integrating spiritual formation into your personal and communal faith practice.

God designed the Sabbath to be a day like no other. It is an aftertaste of Eden—a time when all was as it was meant to be. And it is a forestate of eternity, of the “new heavens and new earth”—a day in which we anticipate and act out our glorious future as the people of God fully set free from the curse and made new under his good rule.

This collection of readings and Bible passages serves as your invitation into an intentional Sabbath practice, helping you to pause, along with your family or faith community, and more fully experience a day set apart, with four sections designed to help you to
  • Stop
  • Rest
  • Delight 
  • Worship

Discover for yourself how Sabbath can be the best day of your week, and the anchor of your entire life with God, as you practice eternity by keeping this day holy.

Excerpt

The Sabbath is a day like no other.

In the Genesis account, we read that God “blessed the [Sabbath] day and made it holy” (2v3). The word “holy” is quodosh in Hebrew, and it means “unique, special, or uncommon.”

The Sabbath is a day of uncommon goodness. Of what the Hebrews called shalom. It is an aftertaste of Eden—a time when

all was as it was meant to be. And it is a foretaste of eternity, of

“a new heaven and a new earth” (Revelation 21v1)—a day in which we anticipate and act out our glorious future as the people of God, a new community, sitting around a table to feast with King Jesus, in a world set free from the curse and made new under his good rule.

It is a day set apart.

To stop.

To rest.

To delight.

And to worship.

Without fail it is the best day of the week; as Dan Allender expresses on page 86, it’s the day we look forward to on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and we remember on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. The anchor of our week, and of our entire life with God and with our community. That’s why it’s on day seven, not on day three or four. It’s not a “break” from our busy lives; it is the aim of our lives. On the Sabbath, we practice eternity in time.

It is holy.

But in the Ten Commandments we are commanded to “remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy” (Exodus 20v8).

So, it is holy, but we also have to keep it holy.

Living in the Sabbathless culture of the West, the temptation is always to profane it, to treat it like just another day, to let it become a secularized day off.

For this reason, the Hebrew people don’t talk about “practicing” Sabbath but “keeping” Sabbath. Keeping it holy, special. An entire day set apart just to rest, delight, and worship God.

May this book of meditations help you enter into the beauty of the Sabbath day and keep it holy.

—John Mark Comer, Founder of Practicing the Way

Author

© Ryan Garber
John Mark Comer is the New York Times bestselling author of eight books, including Practicing the Way, which was named Christian Book of the Year by the ECPA, and The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, which has sold more than a million copies and been translated into over twenty languages. He is a pastor and the founder of Practicing the Way, an organization working to see the renewal of apprenticeship to Jesus in our time. The Comers live in the Santa Monica Mountains just outside Los Angeles. Stay in touch at johnmarkcomer.com. View titles by John Mark Comer
Practicing the Way helps churches form lifelong apprentices of Jesus. Our free resources are used by thousands of communities and pastors worldwide to help people be with Jesus, become like him, and do as he did. Our work is possible thanks to a group of monthly givers called The Circle and other generous givers. Learn more at practicingtheway.org. View titles by Practicing the Way

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