The End is the Beginning

It began with Wednesday Bible study as we wend our way through Leviticus. Then it was faculty devotions on Monday last when the subject resurfaced. Thursday last it was the Pastors' Roundtable discussion on the 3rd commandment on Issues, Etc.

The first day is the eighth day. It is the first day of the week, as well as the last. It is the beginning of eternity. It is the connecting link between weeks. The start of the week when God gives us His gifts; it was the start of all our weeks with our first Sunday in baptism.

We move through our week, living out our vocation. Then we return to it at the end of our week, as we repent of our sins, and find that it is the beginning of our week as we receive forgiveness through Word and Sacrament.

It is not only the day which ties together the loose ends of temporal life which would surely unravel without God's grace; it is the day which is transcendent, linking us to angels and archangels and the whole company of heaven.

On the first Sabbath God rested, setting the pattern for our lives. God works so that we can rest. We as humans rebel against renewing rest. Laziness doesn't count. We strain to show how good we are through our own works.
In the divine service, we rest. This rest is not taken, but in Jesus' salvation, rest is given.
In him is the Sabbath in completion, in fulfillment.