Sabbath: The Ancient Practices
What would you do for twenty-four hours if the only criteria were to pursue your deepest joy?
Dan Allender’s lyrical book about the Sabbath expels the myriad myths about this “day of rest,” starting with the one that paints the Sabbath as a day of forced quiet, spiritual exercises, and religious devotion and attendance. This, he says, is at odds with the ancient tradition of Sabbath as a day of delight for both body and soul. Instead, the only way we can make use of the Sabbath is to see God’s original intent for the day with new eyes. In Sabbath, Allender builds a case for delight by looking at this day as a festival that celebrates God’s re-creative, redemptive love using four components:
- Sensual glory and beauty
- Ritual
- Communal feasting
- Playfulness
Now you can experience the delight of the Sabbath as you never have before—a day in which you receive and extend reconciliation, peace, abundance, and joy.
The Ancient Practices
There is a hunger in every human heart for connection, primitive and raw, to God. To satisfy it, many are beginning to explore traditional spiritual disciplines used for centuries . . . everything from fixed-hour prayer to fasting to sincere observance of the Sabbath. Compelling and readable, the Ancient Practices series is for every spiritual sojourner, for every Christian seeker who wants more.
Top Highlights
“The way to make use of this book from the beginning is to ask the simplest question: what would I do for a twenty-four-hour period of time if the only criteria was to pursue my deepest joy?” (source)
“It is the queen of all days, the day in which division, destitution, and death are put aside to celebrate our union with God, the abundance of his love, and the wild hope of the coming kingdom. It is a day of holy fiction, a day when the promise of God is fulfilled on a stage where we write the script and take the roles we most want to act for his glory.” (source)
“Not a day off, but a day of celebration and delight. The Sabbath is a day when the kingdom to come has come and is celebrated now rather than anticipated tomorrow.” (source)
“The Sabbath is far more than a diversion; it is meant to be an encounter with God’s delight.” (source)
“Many modern-day ‘vacations’ have the allure of cotton candy—a brightly colored candy puff on a paper stick that promises a feast of fullness and is nearly impossible to eat without sticky compromise. Once we tear into the sugary diversion, it disappears in a flash and offers no substance. It is not enough, and it doesn’t satisfy, even for a minute. The end only increases the desire for more—it doesn’t bring awe or gratitude. This is the energy of consumerism, the heartbeat of a self-serving capitalism. The powers and principalities of consumerism demand we taste diversionary breaks that intensify our hunger for more goods rather than a Sabbath rest that brings us a taste of genuine good.” (source)
Product Details
- Title : Sabbath: The Ancient Practices
- Authors:
- Allender, PLLC, Dan B.
- Tickle, Phyllis
- Publisher: Thomas Nelson
- Publication Date: 2010
- ISBN: 9781418576325