05/21/2025
"Spiritual pragmatism views the weekly worship service as just one tool in our toolbox of meeting our spiritual meeting. Sure, we could go to church, unless we're too tired and need to sleep in, or our kids have a soccer game, or we had a long week and just need some "me" time. After a long week of self-actualizing, going to church feels too much like work, not rest. We might even quote Jesus's teaching that "the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27) to justify seeking spiritual refreshment with a weekend in the mountains.... But self-care isn't Sabbath rest. Jesus invites us into more than rest from work; Sabbath is also a rest "๐ต๐ฐ the Lord your God" (Exodus 22:10, emphasis added). Sabbath is rest in and through God's worship among God's people. Weekly Sabbath (rest-through-worship) will, like binoculars, magnify God in our lives and fill our vision with his glory. Conversely, spiritual pragmatism looks at worship through binoculars backward: it minimizes God by making our good, rather than his glory, our lens for weekly worship. A self-actualizing worship won't feel restful at all, and Sabbath without worship is just R&R. Neither are the life-giving gift that God intended Sabbath to be."
โ Brad Edwards, ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐๐ฉ๐ถ๐ณ๐ค๐ฉ: ๐๐ฉ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต ๐๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฏ๐น๐ช๐ฆ๐ต๐บ, ๐๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฅ๐ถ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ฎ
H/T, Rev. Curran Bishop