A Sabbath Walk

There's a limit on how far an Orthodox Jew can walk on the Sabbath. One walk that I haven't reached the end of yet is the Christian understanding of this day. Because of a certain situation in my life since moving to Georgia, I wrestle with the meaning of the Sabbath frequently.

In childhood the Sabbath meant the blue-laws of the South and my father's prohibition against the local pop radio station. After my conversion, I came to see the Sabbath in terms of works of necessity and works of mercy. Later I discovered joy, realizing that Christ is our Sabbath-rest. He made peace with God for us; things are as they ought to be.

I've thought of the Sabbath in these redemptive terms for some time, while also wrestling with its creational meaning. New light was shed on this subject while reading Vos' Biblical Theology. If asked what the world to come would be like, he would answer that it should resemble the Sabbath. To him the Sabbath is to be an expression of our eschatology. We are to learn from the weekly Sabbath that life is not an aimless existence, that a goal lies beyond. Some day all things will be as they ought to be.

This sounds great! But now the task is to figure out how a young family is to enjoy the Sabbath in this way.