Sabbath Week

Monday, June 29th - Sunday, July 5th

Exodus 20:8-11

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God… For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day…”

Every year, we love to disrupt our typical rhythms of “Church Service” to engage God and community a bit differently. Many of our volunteer roles work every week of the year to make our services happen. The building itself is always in use with non-stop classes and programs. What if we were to invite these ‘activities’ of the church to cease for a week and to simply rest as a way of corporately enjoying God together? Could there be a community-wide benefit of having one week where ‘church’ didn’t look like a service in the Barn but instead looked like each person taking meaningful time to engage God separately, but together?

We’ve noticed a significant gift in this rhythm being a part of our year! As you consider this week, please do NOT consider it a ‘week off,’ but rather a week to be intentional with rest and delight with God (much like you would a sabbath day!) that you are participating in with the entire community of Discovery!

Inspired by Streams of Living Water, this week of Sabbath invites us to explore different ways Christians throughout history have learned to know God and live faithfully in the world. Richard Foster describes six streams of Christian spirituality—ways of following the example of Jesus through prayer, holiness, Spirit-empowered living, compassion, being rooted in God’s Word, and sacramental awareness. During this week, you can pick one or multiple of these to try out. Each of them have different ways for us to approach God.

Each of these streams will have a section to read and listen and a section to practice. For the Reading and Listening sections, the goal is to dig into the stream, and also to listen to what God might be saying to you. Each of the Spiritual Practice sections will have a tangible idea for how you can practice this stream. Rather than rush through these practices, take time and see what God is doing.

The Holiness Stream – The Virtuous Life

The Evangelical Stream – The Virtuous Life