We continue with Walter Brueggemann's five accent points we can consider when we think about the future of the church. Today we move on to #5 and more of what is required of those who were once considered outsiders but are now welcome among God's people.
For both the eunuch and the foreigner is was necessary that they would keep the sabbath as a part of their life in the community.
I suggest that the reason for this particular accent is that sabbath in that society, as in our own acquisitive society, was the most radical discipline that could be practiced, made more radical in the provisions of the year of release and the jubilee, procedures that are sabbath writ large.
The reason that sabbath is a radical discipline is that it is a regular, disciplined, highly visible withdrawal from the acuisitive society of production and consumption that is shape only by commodity. Work stoppage and rest are public statements that one's existence and the existence of one's society are not defined by the pursuit of commodity, and that human well-being is not evoked by commodity but precisely by the intentional refusal of commodity.
This is an invitation into what is at the very heart of this community of Jews - sabbath. Think of Jewish communities where you live. Sabbath is a visible sign - a public sign. These outsiders are not only welcome into the community, they are expected to take on the life of the community. This has always been one of the most essential aspects of how I view inclusion in the church. Those who come are expected to take on the life we call essential. Therefore, not only is there the utter "freedom" in the gospel, there is the life that is called forth from that gift. Too often, we can focus so much on what people must stop doing and we forget about the life we are asking them to enter. It is not a conditional gathering, it is an expectation for life that will grow like fruit within communities of grace and hope. This invitation to sabbath is an invitation to take part in a relationship of promise. It is not so much a requirement with penalties as it is a gift that carries daily expectations that are contrary to the expectations of the dominant culture. Such life within this gathered community build character that becomes known. It has a face to it. Recently I find this to be at the center of how I think we must face the church when we gather in those among us who are GLBT saints. Together we have a character. Together we love our God and our neighbor. Together we up hold the dignity of one another and seek after the welfare of all. Together we live as though we honor life and pursue justice.
In some ways you can say that is sabbath living. By that, I simply mean that we deliberately "take a break" from the values of our society and allow ourselves to be refreshed by a vision that causes us to turn our lives completely to our God whose love for us continues to become our love. I would think such "breaks" would provide us with a living memory of such a gift so that we would follow its ethic even on the rest of the days of our lives.
Connection: Keep in mind that Jesus, Christ, has died for you, and is risen from the dead. That is the beginning of our rest and the beginning of how we can follow our Lord into this day.
You bring us rest, O God, and too often we run away from it. Our running so often takes place as we attempt to find another way that we think will make the day for us. Keep us steadfast in the promise of your Reign that, even now, is shaping our character. Amen.
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