Worship Feasting Rest Mercy: The Christian Sabbath

by Daniel Howe

“One day a week, we lay aside our tools, wash off the sweat, stop pursuing our agendas, and feast and sing in honor of God.”

The world tells us that work is our identity. Career, income, and the toys they let us buy determine our success or failure. But God says otherwise. The Sabbath is his weekly message that the good things we have are his gift. Once a week he invites us to set aside our labor, trust him to provide, and celebrate his faithfulness.

In this book, Daniel Howe makes the case that the Christian Sabbath is not about what we’re forbidden from doing. It’s about what we get to honor and enjoy God’s gift of rest, and share it with others.

ENDORSEMENT
“A timely wake-up call for sleeping Sabbath breakers (and keepers!).” —GORDON J. KEDDIE, author of Prayers of the Bible

Author Bio
Daniel Howe is the pastor of Christ Reformed Presbyterian Church in Riverside, Rhode Island. He and his wife Esther have five children and live in an old farmhouse on Rhode Island’s East Bay.

Genres: Theology

213 pages, Paperback

Published May 30, 2023

Reviews

[Jack W. · Rating 5 out of 5]

What does it look like to be a Christian in an age when nobody else is? How do you go on the offensive and bring your faith to bear when you're a small minority?

Ministering in Rhode Island and being raised as a rare homeschool kid in upstate New York, Reformed Presbyterian Daniel Howe has wrestled for a long time with how to live in what his old parishioner, Aaron Renn, calls the "Negative World."

Howe's book is not a theological case for the Sabbath, though it does assume basic biblical priors, such as the continuing validity of the Ten Commandments, the inerrancy of Scripture, and the reality of human sin--things most American Christians should be more or less alright with.

Howe outlines the biblical precedent for keeping the Sabbath, and then outlines the different emphases of sabbath keeping: worshipping God, feasting, resting, and doing acts of mercy. Each example is full of practical how-to's in the normal Christian life.

Though he writes as a Presbyterian, there was almost nothing an Anglican could not--indeed, should not--subscribe to. He is just as gentle and pastoral as King James' Book of Sports and Lancelot Andrewes, and probably more lax than 19th century Bishops William Meade of Virginia and J.C. Ryle of Liverpool.

This is a must-read resource for all those attempting a Benedict Option, and could easily become a cornerstone of it: what is a godly, sober, and righteous keeping of the fourth commandment?

[Andrew Silva · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s important in reviewing this book to consider its target audience and it’s purpose. The publisher’s website notes, “Grassmarket Press…aims to provide readable resources on Reformed and Presbyterian theology and practice—for regular people.” While I do consider myself a “regular” person, I am also not new to Reformed Theology, Presbyterianism, or Sabbath-keeping, so in that sense I am NOT the books target audience. With that said, I benefited and enjoyed this book. The strengths of the book are it’s direct focus and, in places, explicit statements that God has given the Christian sabbath to His people as a day to worship Him. Howe focuses on the purpose of the Sabbath under the four primary headings in the book’s title - Worship, Feasting, Rest, and Mercy. Howe certainly uses Scriptural support and argues biblically for why we are to worship, feast, rest, and be merciful on the Christian Sabbath and the greatest strength of the book is the way Howe writes practically, explaining to readers why it is to their benefit to obey and delight in God’s 4th commandment. As one who considers themselves a “strict sabbatarian” I appreciated Howe’s direct counsel to even leave jobs if employers refuse to give the Lord’s Day off work as well as direct counsel to avoid youth sports on the Lord’s Day.
The areas I would contend against (and they are small areas compared to what I appreciated about the book) is that there are points the book seems to overly focus on feasting on the Lord’s Day presently, with Howe going so far as to encourage that the Lord’s Day is the day to eat the best food and “If you drink…this is a day to imbibe”. While the Lord’s Day is certainly a foretaste of heaven, we must guard against the temptation to long for heaven for the chief purposes of literal feasting. Our hearts should be drawn heavenward to gaze upon our beloved One, King Jesus. Heaven will be glorious because we will be in the eternal presence of our blessed Savior. I do not necessarily think Howe particularly espoused heaven’s (or even earth’s) blessings over the Blessed One, but I’d like to see more emphasis on the imperative of worship and it’s priority on the Lord’s Day. The chapter on feasting is also where Howe is critical of the Westminster Confession of Faith’s section on the Sabbath. Not to say the WCF is above criticism but when Howe extols thoughts from Questlove on what the Sabbath should look like to the criticism of the Westminster Divines, I admit my Reformed sensibilities naturally take offense. :) But again, I acknowledge this is a book with a target audience likely more familiar with Questlove than with the Westminster Divines and that’s okay.
Overall, I confess to have enjoyed and appreciated the book more than I anticipated. Howe acknowledged this book isn’t a deep-dive or thorough biblical exposition of the Sabbath so keeping that in context, the book is quite strong as an introduction to and witness to Sabbath keeping as taught in God’s word. This book would be an excellent gift to family or friends who perhaps know you hold convictions on Sabbath-keeping but don’t know why you hold them. This book would also benefit those coming into Reformed and Presbyterian Churches with non-reformed or even non-Christian backgrounds and it will lay an excellent foundation to build upon and strengthen, by God’s grace, over many years of delighting in the Christian Sabbath.

[Shannon McGarvey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book on the Sabbath. With great examples of letters you could give your employer to get the Christian Sabbath off.

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do we ever get to rest? In Worship, Feasting, Rest, Mercy: The Christian Sabbath, Daniel Howe explains how God gives us a gift every Lord’s Day.

Why and How

This small but packed book is split into two parts. Part 1: Sabbath Why, gives the background of the Sabbath in the Old Testament and shows the important part it played in the history of the God’s people. Part 2: Sabbath How, gets practical about how we experience the Sabbath today, and how we can employ it as an act of worship.

I was most challenged to see how we can make our work into idols. Interestingly, Howe points out that we often want to rest at work, and how we want to work when we’re supposed to be resting! Howe says that working is a kind of sacrifice when we do it to the glory of God. I learned that it is possible to have a heart that serves God, no matter your situation.

God’s Gift of Rest

I was most inspired to save our Sundays for days of feasting. Feasting means enjoying the fruit of your labor, and enjoying God’s blessings. “Rest and feast cannot be separated.” And it is still connected to our Sunday worship, as “feasting flows from worship because rest flows from worship.” We can feast well by making it restful for those who cook our physical food, while still including elements of thanksgiving and worship.

This book will help you see that God grants us the gift of rest in this restless world. Christian rest is grounded in biblical history, and continues to be a blessing for the church.

I received a media copy of Worship, Feasting, Rest, Mercy: The Christian Sabbath and this is my honest review.

[Logan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was excellent for what it was: a very conversational and personal look on what the Christian Sabbath looks like. Sometimes it's helpful to have something like this as a conversation starter rather than immediately doing a deep dive into exegesis and systematic/biblical theology.

I found Howe's comments on worship and feasting particularly helpful. The Sabbath is to be a delight (it was after all, made for man) and it is good for us to re-think what we really need. We think we need more recreation and leisure but God knows what we need best.

We should be engaged in mercy on the Sabbath and part of that includes hospitality. It's not a day for lethargy or for pure solemnity, but for rejoicing. I appreciated that.

[Laurie Hetherington · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easy read Book to challenge one’s perspective on keeping the sabbath as a Christian.

“The point of the Sabbath, is to enjoy God’s rest.”

“It’s better for you to risk failure in business than to disobey and distrust the Lord. “

“ rest means ceasing from labor and enjoying God‘s blessing along with others. Rest and feast cannot be separated. “

[Len Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book fun to read, and it spurred me to give thought to the authors propositions. He does a good job of painting sabbath-keeping as something to be desired and savored rather than labored over.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book.

[Cara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read with my community group! Wonderful book to think through the why, what, and how of the sabbath

[Colin Fast · Rating 3 out of 5]

Least favourite in the Bedrock series so far. Too long and some thoughts seemed a bit disconnected.

[Benjamin Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

Idiosyncratic but pastoral in a very warm and practically helpful kind of way. A refreshing call to keep and enjoy the Sabbath and an intriguing reminder of why we do so. (Our world of total work is more like Ancient Egypt that you might think… the book gets very close to developing a full humane, almost Catholic social teaching theology of work.