Ice Cream Supper: What I'm Learning about Sabbath

Backstory - I grew up in a family that spent the bulk of our Sundays at church. We would often ask on the way home from the evening service, “What’s for supper?” Usually it was answered by my mom with, “It’s every man for himself,” but occasionally, she would let us have “ice cream supper”. I’m not sure how often this actually happened, but enough that it had a name. Everybody would fix bowls of ice cream and popcorn (my mom’s two favorite snacks) and sit down at the table with a section of the newspaper (we were only allowed to read at the table on Sundays). It remains a very pleasant memory.

Present day – Ben and I have been married for two and half months.  February was a whirlwind month for BigHouse, and building momentum with Mosaics, the college group we’re leading from our church. We scheduled a breakfast date to discuss how we would intentionally observe the Sabbath. We listened to an insightful sermon prior to the date and were prepared to discuss the flow of our year – busy seasons and times for rest – and we wanted to pinpoint some ways in which we would make a day of rest in our week.

We anticipate that in the future Ben will be engaged in full-time church ministry (exciting! And daunting…), and we know that Sundays will not always be a day of rest, but for now, since we are both working weekday jobs, it seems to make the most sense to set aside Sundays. Up until two weeks ago, we were doing work related things during the week, and family/house related things on the weekends, but never seemed rested. We learned some great truths about the Sabbath that we want to put into practice in our lives:

1) God created man on the 6^th day, and then rested on the 7^th. God didn’t need Adam’s help with any of His work. The Sabbath reminds us to enter God’s rest prior to entering into His work.

2) Observing God’s holy day reminds us that He is holy, and He has called us to holiness also. This is a day when we come apart with Him and see Him for who He is.

3) The Sabbath is for our benefit, but it’s not about us. Isaiah 58:13-14

As I’ve been thinking about it, and now practicing it for two weeks, I realized how much my family’s lifestyle growing up instilled Sabbath rest. We rarely went anywhere on Sunday besides church – even out to eat. We all took at least a 1.5 hour nap. We didn’t do homework or a bunch of chores. We ate simple meals that didn’t make a mess in the kitchen (hello – ice cream supper!). And after we went to bed at 8pm, my parents faithfully sat down together and took communion. We were never invited to participate in that, but it really gave me a sense of security to know that my parents were praying and worshipping together in our home.

So this is what our Sabbath looks like in the newly formed Steele household:

•  Have household duties completed prior to Sunday.
• Get enough sleep on Saturday night that you can fully participate in worship on Sunday.
• Spend individual quiet times with the Lord in the morning.
•  Everyone fixes his/her own breakfast.
• Listen to a sermon podcast while getting ready for church.
• Attend Sunday School and worship service.
• Eat a simple lunch (prepared in advance or quickly put together).
• Use paper plates (we don’t have a dishwasher).
• Watch a sermon or other teaching video together (we are total sermon nerds).
• Take a 1-2 hour nap.
• Attend choir practice and evening worship.
• Eat a simple supper.
• Have a family planning meeting to discuss the upcoming week.
• Take communion together.
• Encourage a culture of Sabbath rest among God’s people by not shopping, going out to eat, or planning meetings or parties.

It has been such a blessing to us in the past two weeks. We feel so productive during our work week, and then blissfully at ease on Sundays, not rushing into a new week with unfinished business. I would encourage you all to spend some time studying God’s Word concerning the Sabbath and finding ways to make it more restful and God-centered.