Leave it to a group of Jewish hipsters to remind us Christians how important it is to observe the Sabbath for what it is: a day set apart for the Lord.

Shabbat--the Hebrew for Sabbath--is big with Jews, some would say the biggest Jewish holiday of them all. For Jews, Shabbat begins on Friday evening at sunset and ends on Saturday night "when three stars are visible in the sky." On Shabbat, Jews "remember that God created the world and then rested from His labors" (Genesis 2:2). Shabbat is considered a festive day to pray, read, eat, drink wine, spend time with family and friends, and basically rest.

But Shabbat is Jewish, right? So what's that to the rest of us? As it turns out, plenty. And it took a bunch of Jewish artists, thought-leaders and tastemakers operating under the banner Reboot to tell us Gentiles what we're missing. In their search for "a modern way to observe a weekly day of rest," the folks at Reboot created the "Sabbath Manifesto" as "a creative project designed to slow down our lives in an increasingly hectic world." 

The Sabbath Manifesto has Ten Principles:

1.   Avoid technology
2.   Connect with loved ones
3.   Nurture your health
4.   Get outside
5.   Avoid commerce
6.   Light candles
7.   Drink wine
8.   Eat bread
9.   Find silence
10. Give back

I discovered Reboot because the first principle of the Sabbath Manifesto--avoid technology--got the attention of the New York Times and Fast Company, mainly because Reboot called for a "National Day of Unplugging" during Shabbat to bring attention to the Sabbath Manifesto. Unplugging means no Facebook, no Twitter, no email, no cell phones, no electrontic devices of any kind. Just conversation and food with family and friends, personal reflection, resting and restoring.

Gee that sounds nice right about now (and it isn't even the Sabbath).

Our lives are increasingly hectic and stressful, and trying to stay connected with hundreds of people--few of whom we care all that much about--just intensifies everything. The notion of unplugging from everything and everyone for one day a week suddenly is very appealing, especially when you think about what you could do with all of that extra time.

Certainly connecting with family and friends during Shabbot--face to face, not on Facebook--is a good way to fill the time. But what about connecting with God? John Parsons at Hebrew for Christians (a very nice website, by the way) makes that point when he writes, "We are called by Scripture to both remember (zakhor) and to guard (shamor) the Sabbath Day, in order to consecrate it as a day devoted to the things that matter most in our spiritual lives before the LORD."

Remember and guard the Sabbath? Heck, most Christians I know (and these are the active ones) think it's a big deal to spend an hour or two at church each week, working it into their busy schedules when they can. They're grateful for a variety of worship service times--Saturday night, Sunday morning, small group during the week--because it's just difficult to commit to the same time each week.

I'm all for options and choices in life, but haven't we gone a bit overboard by offering a such a big menu of options for spending a little time with God on the weekend? It's almost like the church is saying, "Hey, give us an hour, and we'll give you great worship music, clever stage banter, creative videos, and a motivational message that will give you the spiritual jolt you need to make it through the week. And we'll do it at a time most convenient for you!"

And so we get our weekly church fix and then run off to do all those things we didn't have time to do during the week, barely giving God another thought. From that point on the Sabbath becomes just another day.

Call me kooky, but I don't think that's what Jesus, who called himself "Lord of the Sabbath," had in mind when he told his disciples, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27). Bottom line: God made the Sabbath for our benefit, and it's in our best interest to take full advantage of all the Sabbath has to offer. And let me tell you, it's quite an offer.

In the process of nosing around Hebrew for Christians, I found this passage of Scripture, and quite frankly I was stunned. You don't find very many offers like this in the Bible, and this one is all about the Sabbath:

If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD's holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the LORD, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob (Isaiah 58:13-14).

See what I mean? Those Jewish hipsters at Reboot are really on to something, and I for one am glad I found their Sabbath Manifesto. Even more, I'm glad I found God's Sabbath Manifesto.

Shabbat Shalom.