Friday 16 January 2009

Background

The letter to the Hebrews is written to a community underpersecution and tempted to give up on its new Christian faith. Thewriter uses strong language and imagery to emphasise that if theygive up or become unfaithful, they, just like the Israelites ofold, stand a good chance of wandering around in the wilderness formany years and not entering the "rest" (verse 1) of God. In thecase of the Israelites this was the Promised Land flowing with milkand honey, and for the recipients of the letter to the Hebrews,this will be the kingdom of heaven.

The image of God's rest resonates with the Sabbath day, when Godrested and saw and savoured the goodness and rich abundance ofcreation. Through Jesus, whose resurrection we celebrate on theSabbath day, Christians are invited into the rest of God.

'Rest' is also therefore an image of the kingdom and the invitationto participation in the fullness and goodness of creation, afterthe days of labour. If the Hebrews remain faithful in their labourthey will also be sure of entering the coming rest, and will thenbe able to cease their labours.

The Israelites in the Old Testament, like the Hebrews, heard thegood news of God's rest but it did not benefit them because theydid not bond together into a community of believers. It is acontrast to the closely bonded early Church communities who shareda life in common, passionately sharing their faith with one another(Acts2:44-47).

Embedded in Methodist spirituality is the idea of 'social holiness'- that we deeply need each other to become formed in Christianspirituality and strengthened to live it out. Alone, we can becomedistracted by lesser calls on our time, forget what is important,and become snared by the wiles of evil and less than Godlyways.

To Ponder

What are the things that tempt us to forget ourfaith?

Do you have companions who you can work out yourfaith with? Who are they?

How does the association of God's rest, Sabbath,and the kingdom of God affect the value that you put on'Sunday'?