Learning To Sabbath - Liturgy

I recently started a new series on the blog  called Learning to Sabbath. It's really a study in slowing down our busy lives and learning how to connect with God on a more intimate level, on a more regular basis. Thank you for joining me on this journey.

Part of how I am studying about the Sabbath (in addition, of course, to reading my Bible) is that I am reading a book by Mark Buchanan called The Rest of God -- Restoring Your Soul by Restoring the Sabbath. In the prologue to the book, Buchanan talks about having a Liturgy for your Sabbath time. What the heck does that mean?? LOL He goes on to explain that it is sort of your how-to-guide. If your Sabbath were a research paper, then your liturgy would be your outline. Dictionary.com defines liturgy as

1. a form of public worship; ritual.

2. a collection of formularies for public worship.

So, it is your ritual, your pattern. Buchanan warns us not to get sidetracked by legalism here. Sabbath looses it's purpose when we are caught up in following the rules. He says rather that we should view our liturgy as a loosely choreographed dance. (Doesn't that sound nice?) You and I may follow the same steps in the dance but we might do them in a different order. Or the order of them may change from time to time. And of course, we would each add our own unique style to our own dances. 

At the end of each chapter in the book he gives a specific 'liturgy' or dance step, if you will, that you can do right away. I will share each of these with you as I go through the book but first I just wanted to introduce you to the idea of having a liturgy. 

It's a very unusual idea, isn't it, to 'choreograph' your 'day of rest'? 

Stay tuned for more as I continue to learn and share and thank you for joining me :)