Before I even knew this plan was going to become a group adventure - when God first led me to draw up a plan for myself to go through the Gospels in a year - He was very clear that I should not include Sundays. At the time there were some reasons that I was aware of, but as I have continued with my own readings this year, more have emerged…
Firstly, REST. The Sabbath is something that God has spoken a lot to me about in recent years. In our Western culture we no longer recognise its importance as it was originally intended. Workaholics sneer at the concept of rest, but it isn’t just a physical necessity (though it is that, and we neglect it to our own detriment). When God rested on the seventh day of Creation, He wasn’t tired. He was establishing a day of saying “Look what I have done. Let’s enjoy it together.” Even before the fall, it was a foreshadowing of Jesus’ words in the cross restoring us to God’s completed work: “It is finished”. It was, and is, an invitation for us to dwell with Him in His perfect kingdom, for ever. So every Sabbath - whether we observe it on Sundays, or Friday-Saturday evenings as the Jews, or any other day for those who work on Sundays (pastors etc) - we are called to a day specifically remembering to rest physically AND spiritually; a picture of ‘labouring to enter His rest’ (Heb 4:11); to celebrate what God has done for every day, not just Sundays. We do not have to strive any more, but can rejoice that God has done it all on our behalf: what a faithful God!
So when He led me to leave Sundays out of the Reading Plan, I knew it was a reminder of that. Because the daily readings are one of the two steps He gave me to ascend the mountain (see previous post on God’s mountain here), that is a kind of work - it requires effort. And He wanted me to have Sundays without a “task”, just to dwell in His goodness and to remember that even though He has called me to ascend His mountain through daily discipline, the parallel truth is I have already “arrived” - I am already fully saved, righteousness, holy, and accepted in Him. So Sundays are my day of resting from the “two-step plan” - a day to simply sit on the mountain with Him and enjoy the views together, in His presence, to REJOICE in what HE has achieved in bringing me here.
Also, it gives chance to RESET. (I’m not sure if I feel smug or irritated that all the key words start with the same letter!) On a very practical level, in any reading plan there are always days when the busy-ness of life unavoidably gets in the way. Whether through illness, emergencies, or other circumstances beyond our control, there may be days when we can’t fit in our daily reading. So having one day out of seven without a given reading makes space for us to catch up. I think that demonstrates the grace of God beautifully: it is very easy for me to fall into driven-ness, to feel that I must keep going or else I will fall behind. But He is not demanding the kind of “perfect attendance” that we so often set ourselves. He sees our human frailty and the issues that can beset us, and offers grace: a reminder that time with Him is not a task to fail or succeed at, but an invitation to come, be with our Dad. He cares less about our success at the task than about us coming to be with Him. The reading plan - as the Sabbath - is intended to help us, not as a stick to beat us with. (Mk 2:27)
And that brings us to the purpose of it all: RELATIONSHIP, in all its free and unstructured glory. The Gospels reading plan is a resource to help us draw closer to God: a way to focus on His Word and discern Him speaking through it. But relationship is organic: the Bible is not the only way we hear from Him. As I have continued through this year there have been times when I became a bit dependant on the reading plan, and panicked slightly on the days without a set passage of Scripture: what do I do now? How will I hear from God? He reminded me on my ‘free’ days that He was still inviting me to be with Him; He still wanted to speak to me; He still wanted me to come into His presence. My Sundays were simply less formal. So sometimes I prayed; sometimes I put on a worship list; sometimes I thanked Him for all His completed work, and for His invitation to simply come and enjoy the Sabbath together; sometimes I simply quieted my heart and asked Him what He wanted to say. It was an important reminder that there is more than one way to be with Him - but being with Him is what matters most.
So it is my prayer that as we embark on the reading plan in January (and even beforehand), that we will discover a new appreciation of the Sabbath, a growing ability to meet with God through different ways, and most of all, the ability to REST, RESET and REJOICE in Him and in all HE has done to secure our RELATIONSHIP with Him. Amen.