In Pursuit of a Jewish Worldview

Lately I've been occasionally seeing /hearing¹ /reading² /thinking about how the pre-Jesus Jews understood their world. I think they had it down much better than we do with our Hellenized Christianity. Take for instance God's involvement in our world: Hellenistic Christianity tends toward Gnosticism (a complete division of that which is spiritual and thereby inherently good from that which is physical and thereby inherently evil). The Hebraic view says that God is active and involved in every detail of this world and our lives.

If we are to be a truly biblical people then we must affirm that God is here with us and has always been. He's not afraid to get his hands dirty in the horrors of human freedom that is called history.³

Or notice their insatiable love for life (L'chaim--"to life!") and ability to endure innumerable and indescribable hardships and still thrive.

The real trigger--what really got me thinking today--is that I think I finally experienced something I thought I understood.

Sabbath.
Yesterday.

A true day of rest. A day where I truly enjoyed God, people, and myself. Time to worship; time to pray; time to read and study and discuss; time to be still, silent, meditative; time to exist in a way I never have before--in a way I'm certain God wants me to experience regularly.

God spoke to Moses: "Tell the Israelites, 'Above all, keep my Sabbaths, the sign between me and you, generation after generation, to keep the knowledge alive that I am the God who makes you holy. Keep the Sabbath; it's holy to you. Whoever profanes it will most certainly be put to death. Whoever works on it will be excommunicated from the people. There are six days for work but the seventh day is Sabbath, pure rest, holy to God. Anyone who works on the Sabbath will most certainly be put to death. The Israelites will keep the Sabbath, observe Sabbath-keeping down through the generations, as a standing covenant. It's a fixed sign between me and the Israelites. Yes, because in six days God made the Heavens and the Earth and on the seventh day he stopped and took a long, deep breath.'"⁴

It seems that perhaps God is more serious about us taking a break than we are. It also seems logical to me that we should do what He says. If for no other reason than He created us and knows what we need to do to truly thrive. It's no wonder the Pharisees took Shabbat extremely seriously--"Whoever profanes it will most certainly be put to death" is strong language.

I suppose that begs the question, "what, exactly, profanes the Sabbath?" Would not attending a church service on Sunday do that? I hope not--we didn't attend one.

We actually stayed home, slept in, cleaned up, had breakfast, played nerts, read and discussed God Is Closer Thank You Think⁵ together, ate lunch together, spent some time in worship then alone with God. Afterword we went up to Medford to the Oasis house church to enjoy their company and discuss spiritual gifts and personality (DiSC) profiles (if you know me, then you know I enjoyed that). We then went on to the Plott's (if you don't know them then you're missing out--fun people!) for some good conversation, bagels, and Pride and Prejudice. Home and bed rounded out the day.

Now I don't intend to frequently tell you every detail of my day (how boring would that get?), but this once I think it's appropriate. In a way that I can't describe I feel more energized and able to engage the world around me. I feel fully present in each moment. I feel like God is actually walking beside me and nudging me this way or that. I want more of this.

Perhaps I even experienced a little bit more of what church--true church--is.


_____________________
1. I had the privilege of attending Rob Bell's Everything Is Spiritual tour a few weeks ago. I do appreciate the way Rob interprets and discusses ancient and not-so-ancient thoughts. He's hit on how to connect with this postmodern generation.
2. The Shaping of Things to Come by by Michael Frost, Alan Hirsch (specifically chapter 7); Velvet Elvis & NOOMA by Rob Bell; and Jesus and the Gospels by Craig Blomberg have all played a part in this . They are also all resources I highly recommend. You'll find I will probably highly recommend quite a few books in this blog.
3. The Shaping of Things to Come. p. 123
4. God telling Moses one more way for his people to be culturally distinct from the surrounding nations. Exodus 31:12-17 MSG
5. Another excellent book. This one by John Ortberg. "Read anything of his you can get your hands on," I was once told by my mentor at the time.