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From The Pastor

August 30, 2019 by Rev. John Hartman

From the Pastor

In his book, “The Rest of God: Restoring Your Soul by Restoring Sabbath,” author and Pastor Mark Buchanan begins with the obvious question: “How does one define Sabbath?” Answers usually gravitate toward our calendar. Is it the first or seventh day of the week? Is it Saturday or Sunday. I know my day of rest is not Sunday. Given the complexities of modern culture, it has become increasingly difficult to find a definitive answer from the calendar when it comes to the Sabbath. At a much deeper level, beneath which is the correct Sabbath day, is the more critical matter of Sabbath keeping. And Mark Buchanan maintains that regardless of the day, Sabbath keeping is about an inner posture, a disposition of spirit, and that, without a Sabbath heart we will never keep the Sabbath day, no matter what day that is.

A Sabbath heart means that we have a free heart. We are free from the drive to prove something to the world. We are free from the fear that things will fall apart without our constant attention. We are free from the need to be indispensable to everyone with regard to everything. A Sabbath heart also means that we have a filled heart. We are filled with peace. We are filled with confidence in the power of God to govern the world. And finally, we are filled with trust that this powerful God can handle all the things that life throws at us. I am one who happens to believe that God cares less about your calendar than he does about your heart. So, designating one day out of seven as the Sabbath day is indeed important. But, cultivating a Sabbath heart is absolutely necessary for our faith, life, and sanity.

This Sunday, September 1, is Labor Day weekend, and we finally wrap up our summer long worship in the Family Life Center. I will be preaching a sermon on the subject of “rest.” So, please join us at 10:00 A.M. If I don’t see you, I will just assume you are resting.

Pastor John

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Quote of the Week

“He who cannot rest, cannot work; he who cannot let go, cannot hold on; he who cannot find footing, cannot go forward.”

Harry Emerson Fosdick

Harry Emerson Fosdick was an American pastor. Fosdick became a central figure in the Fundamentalist–Modernist controversy within American Protestantism in the 1920s and 1930s and was one of the most prominent liberal ministers of the early 20th century. Although a Baptist, he was called to serve as pastor, in New York City, at First Presbyterian Church in Manhattan's West Village, and then at the historic, inter-denominational Riverside Church in Morningside Heights, Manhattan.