Welcoming The Sabbath

During the season of Lent, we are clearing out space in our busy lives by engaging in the practice of Sabbath. Each week, we will explore a practical way to create margin and find rest in the rhythm of our days.

Also, each Sunday we are praying together through the “Prayer to Welcome the Sabbath,” a beautiful prayer written by Shane Claiborne, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove and Enuma Okoro in their book Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals. The full prayer is included below. Try using this as a helpful tool throughout your week. Whenever you feel the grip of busyness begin to tighten, speak these simple words and seek out rest in the “unforced rhythms of grace.”

Lord of Creation,

create in us a new rhythm of life

composed of hours that sustain rather than stress,

of days that deliver rather than destroy,

of time that trickles rather than tackles.

 

Lord of Liberation

By the rhythm of your truth,

set us free from the bondage and baggage that break us,

from the Pharaohs and fellows who fail us,

from the plans and pursuits that prey upon us.

 

Lord of Resurrection,

May we be raised into the rhythm of your new life,

dead to deceitful calendars,

dead to fleeting friend requests,

dead to the empty peace of our accomplishments.

 

To our packed-full planners, we bid, “Peace!”

To our over-caffeinated consciences, we say, “Cease!”

To our suffocating selves, Lord grant release.

 

Drowning in a sea of deadlines and death chimes,

we rest in you our lifeline.

 

By your ever-restful grace,

allow us to enter your Sabbath rest

as your Sabbath rest enters into us.

 

In the name of our Creator,

our Liberator

our Resurrection and Life,

we pray.

Amen.

– From Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals by Shane Claiborne, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, and Enuma Okoro