Sean Lesko lives in Clarksville, Tennessee, with his wife, Jamie, and their three amazing teenage children. He has served in various church callings including Sunbeam teacher, Sunday School teacher, and elders quorum president, and he currently serves as a bishop. He served a full-time mission in New York City, Spanish-speaking, and cherishes the experiences he had there. Professionally, he organizes running events, a career that has allowed him to experience the beauty of nature, push his physical limits, and find deep spiritual insights while running. In his free time he enjoys running, watching college football, and embracing his love for all things Star Wars.
Enter Sean…
How do you make Sunday a day of rest with an intense and busy calling? A great question probably wrestled with among many church leaders over the years! I’ve had my fair share of pondering this question, especially in the first few months of serving as a bishop. I would routinely take high-dose caffeine supplements just to get through my Sundays! Fortunately, now, the occasional Dr Pepper simply brings a smile to my face on a busy Sunday and isn’t required to keep me going.
In order to answer this question, I pose two main points to consider: What is it that we’re resting FROM on the Sabbath? And, the role of covenants in finding divine rest.
What Are We Resting From? To make this point, come with me on a journey through the creation narrative we have both in scripture and in our temple worship. If you’ve never read any of John H. Walton’s books from his “Lost World” series, I highly recommend them, especially for understanding our modern-day temple worship. John Walton (a Protestant Evangelical) would do well to become a Latter-day Saint, and I find myself screaming that when reading his books! But I digress.
In his book The Lost World of Genesis One he posits that creation was never meant to be understood by the ancients as the material origins of the earth. They weren’t concerned about that part as our modern minds are. The whole purpose of creation was to implement function into the cosmos for the purpose of advancing God’s children. For example: days one and four are the creation of TIME and its functionaries. Something that Israel (God’s children) would need to measure existence and aid in remembering when their festivals and feasts occurred to honor and glorify God. Days two and five were the creation of WEATHER and its functionaries which would sustain and give life in conjunction with days one and four. We are dependent upon it for our sustenance and well-being. Days three and six were the creation of FOOD and its functionaries, and for humans to subdue, take care of, and rule over it.
Ok, so why share all of this? What does the creation account have anything to do with our question about rest on the Sabbath?
Day Seven – Divine Rest
I contend that it has everything to do with it! It’s all about getting to day seven! I’ll let John Walton explain it himself in his words:
“In the traditional view that Genesis 1 is an account of material origins, day seven is mystifying. It appears to be nothing more than an afterthought with theological concerns about Israelites observing the sabbath—an appendix, a postscript, a tack on. In contrast, a reader from the ancient world would know immediately what was going on and recognize the role of day seven. Without hesitation the ancient reader would conclude that this is a temple text and that day seven is the most important of the seven days. In a material account day seven would have little role, but in a functional account, as we will see, it is the true climax without which nothing else would make any sense or have any meaning. How could reactions be so different? The difference is the piece of information that everyone knew in the ancient world and to which most modern readers are totally oblivious: deity rests in a temple, and only in a temple. This is what temples were built for. We might even say that this is what a temple is—a place for divine rest. Perhaps even more significant, in some texts the construction of a temple is associated with cosmic creation. What does divine rest entail? Most of us think of rest as disengagement from the cares, worries and tasks of life. What comes to mind is sleeping in or taking an afternoon nap. But in the ancient world rest is what results when a crisis has been resolved or when stability has been achieved, when things have ‘settled down.’ Consequently, normal routines can be established and enjoyed. For deity this means that the normal operations of the cosmos can be undertaken. This is more a matter of engagement without obstacles rather than disengagement without responsibilities.”
Engagement Without Obstacles
With this context, that last line nails it on the head for me. The Sabbath “is more a matter of engagement without obstacles rather than disengagement without responsibilities.” All these functions and functionaries were put in place with the sole purpose of getting us to day seven, where we can engage in God’s purpose: to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. It’s like a new university campus was built and organized. All the buildings, classrooms, desks, and facilities are in place. But it’s not a university until the functionaries are there! The professors, the students, and the curriculum need to be put in place. Then it becomes a university because its purpose is now being fulfilled.
We work by the sweat of our brow all week long (days one through six) on the functions of existence, not for the purpose of sitting back on our butts on day seven, but for just the opposite. To get to work for the whole purpose or measure of its creation! God’s work! This is what Divine Rest is. It’s God opening the university for business after the physical campus was organized and put in place. Now, the people can come streaming in to engage in the work of its purpose. The word Sabbath means to cease. Cease from the labors of days one through six for the sole purpose of engaging in Divine Rest, or God’s work.
The Role of Covenants in Finding Divine Rest
I find it beautifully poetic that reaching day seven in the creation is all about engaging in God’s work which is centered around covenant-making with God. Days seven, eight, nine, and onward (metaphorically) are all about creating covenant relationships with God and his children. The centerpiece of our Sabbath Day worship (“day seven”) as Latter-day Saints is the partaking of the sacrament and making anew our covenant relationship with the Lord. Jesus sums up a perfect definition of what a covenant relationship is when he said:
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; … and ye shall find rest unto your souls. (Matthew 11:29)
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:30)”
Binding ourselves to the Lord through covenants yokes us to his infinitely powerful shoulders that are able to carry our burdens and make them light. President Russell M. Nelson has said:
“I grieve for those who leave the Church because they feel membership requires too much of them. They have not yet discovered that making and keeping covenants actually makes life easier! Each person who makes covenants in baptismal fonts and in temples—and keeps them—has increased access to the power of Jesus Christ. Please ponder that stunning truth!”
He continues by saying:
“The reward for keeping covenants with God is heavenly power—power that strengthens us to withstand our trials, temptations, and heartaches better. This power eases our way. Those who live the higher laws of Jesus Christ have access to his higher power. Thus, covenant keepers are entitled to a special kind of rest that comes to them through their covenantal relationship with God.”
Instruments in His Hands
We toil and labor among all kind of thorns, thistles, and noxious weeds on days one through six throughout our week. Some of this work definitely afflicts and torments, and some of it can bring joy and satisfaction as we strive to till and take care of our livelihoods. But the whole point of life is not to get caught up in the labors of days one through six, but to continually look forward to the glorious divine rest that is central to day seven! A day that is offered to us as an opportunity to dedicate ourselves fully to the Lord. To engage as instruments in his hands as we strive to receive covenant confidence with the Lord and partake in communal connection with our fellow sisters and brothers. This is where happiness is found! Yes, even among the hustle and bustle of busy Sundays engaged in magnifying whatever calling you may currently have. It may feel like exhausting work, but, in that same talk, President Nelson has said:
“The truth is that it is much more exhausting to seek happiness where you can never find it!”
Days one through six in the world offer very little when it comes to enduring joy and happiness. But the amazing thing about the God we worship is that he desires for us to have this divine rest sprinkled all throughout the week as we live out our covenant relationship with Him. President Ezra Taft Benson said:
“Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, … lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their souls, raise up friends, and pour out peace.”
That sounds like the kind of rest I would love to continually have!
Anxiously Engaging
This foundational understanding of the creation, and the power of our covenantal relationship with the Lord, is what personally helps me not feel upset that certain callings are demanding of us on Sundays. It’s the whole point!
It’s engaging without obstacles rather than disengagement without responsibilities. Don’t get me wrong, I love a Sunday afternoon nap just like anyone else, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But maybe we should feel honored to have the privilege of being anxiously engaged in these more demanding callings for the season we have them.
Engaging in God’s work to bring about the immortality and eternal life of His children through nurturing a covenant relationship with his beloved son Jesus Christ, and helping others receive the same, energizes me (most of the time) on those long and demanding Sundays.
