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Thursday, April 14, 2011

Preparing for the Sabbath

"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
"Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
"But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God. ...
"...Wherefore, the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it."
~Exodus 20:8-11

If He rested on the seventh day, and hallowed it, and made the Sabbath for man, should we not consider this the pinnacle of our week?

A time to come before Him in worship, for as Elder L. Tom Perry states so beautifully:

"The pattern of Sabbath day observance must always include worship." 

And we worship first and foremost by coming to the Sacrament table to partake of the sacred emblems.

The bread to remind us of His broken body which was bruised and torn for us, but now lives again triumphantly resurrected.
Teaching us that we too may become whole and healed in body and spirit through Him.

The water to signify his blood, which was shed in the garden "for the remission of [our] sins."


They who lived long ago would bring a sacrifice to the altar, to give away, pointing to the great and last atoning sacrifice of our Lord, Jesus Christ, who gave us His very life.
And while the burnt offering was fulfilled in Christ, we still can and must bring to the altar a sacrifice.
A sacrifice of sin, a desire to give them all away in order to know Him.


So might we begin anew? 
To come to the Sabbath with outstretched arms and cupped hands, ready to receive His divine grace.  Ready to receive His sacrament, ready to sacrifice our sins, ready to rest from all the cares of the world.  
For in Him, they are all swallowed up,
and only peace and joy and love left in return.

Indeed, the Sabbath is a hallowed and holy day.

{This post is also linked up with A Holy Experience and Women Living Well}




4 comments

  1. I love the way you write, so eloquently. I actually study a Conference Talk every Monday and I studied Elder Perry's talk this week. He spoke about so much in such a sort amount of time, but I found just what I needed. I love that! I have been struggling for some time to decide whether or not I should do homework on the Sabbath. For the most part I didn't do any but I felt like I hadn't made a firm decision and that really bothered me. One of the references is to Exodus 20:10 and it says "thou shalt not do any work." That really hit me and the decision suddenly seemed so simple and so obvious.
    This comment is crazy long and I guess I should have just linked up. :)

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  2. Thank you for helping us to prepare our hearts for Him. :) God bless you and all the ways He is using you for His glory.

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  3. I didn’t come from Ann’s link – I just wanted to come read you. And I was blessed as usual. Your heart - God's heart through you - it shines. The sabbath is a holy day - and I guess every day should be holy. No? Every day "Sabbath". Every day "resting" even while working. But amen too - one day for him. I'm not LDS, you may remember, I do heart how you guys to the Sabbath day - have partaken a few times. Anyway, today is “in between” Saturday – Tomorrow I wish a Happy Easter to you. God bless and keep you and all of yours.

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  4. Oh, how precious to belong!
    God bless me & His Property out there.

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