We continue our 3-week mini-series on the theme of ‘Sabbath’. This is a topic which concentrates our hearts and minds on benefitting from quality rest and quality time with God. It’s a lovely and appropriate theme for these early weeks of the new year. Last Sunday Caroline introduced us to the thought that we are supposed to stop. This week I shall be considering how our Almighty God exemplifies true Sabbath by showing us the importance of deep spiritual time out. As you know well, Scripture tells us that on the seventh day God rested. Our theological friend and guide, Walter Brueggemann writes that Sabbath is Resistance: He says:- ‘The divine rest on the seventh day of creation has made clear a) that YHWH is not a workaholic, b) that YHWH is not concerned about the full functioning of creation and c) that the wellbeing of creation does not depend on endless work’. I love that last point! Well worth absorbing. As we slowly come through this Pandemic, an understanding of the God of Sabbath rest can remind weary doctors, nurses and all keyworkers including tired teachers and indeed harried parents, that abiding in God in Christ can raise Godly Hope and Godly Joy to the surface of hearts and spirits. If God stops – then, with spiritual discipline, let us try and believe that we can do the same. Major Richard Mingay