MAKING SABBATH SPECIAL
by Nancy Van Pelt
Do you need something to help teach newly baptized members
about what to do during Sabbath hours or make Sabbath Special?
Here’s the answer!
It’s Friday afternoon and Jan tries to get off work a little early. She picks up the kids after school, stops by the super market for some last-minute groceries while battling longer than usual lines, and snarled bumper-to-bumper traffic on the way home. In her exhausted state, she yells at the kids to unload the groceries, while she tries to put them away. The main traffic areas of the family room get a once over with the vacuum and she shifts the load of clean unfolded laundry to the guest room where it can’t be seen.
Back in the kitchen Jan starts a casserole for the Sabbath while trying to get something simple on the table for supper. Oops, she checks her watch. The sun went down 10 minutes ago. Frank just drove in the driveway. The TV is blasting, the kids are outside playing and nothing is ready for the Sabbath – again!
This scene is played over and over again on Friday nights in staunch Adventist homes, long-standing Adventists who are used to preparing for Sabbath routines.
But what about the newly baptized member? These people have just learned that God sanctified the Sabbath and asked us to keep it holy. They have seen the fourth commandment in a new light – that we are to keep Saturday holy and aren’t to do any work from sundown Friday night to sundown Saturday night.
What? No work? What do you do besides go to church on Saturday? What do you do the rest of the time?
Till now there has been no organized manner of instructing new members in how to make Sabbath special, let alone remind long-term Sabbath keepers. New members are convinced of the doctrine of the Sabbath, but they hardly have a clue about what to do with time on God’s holy day. Nancy Van Pelt has developed a powerful seminar among her long list of seminars that has become one of the most requested over her career – the Art of Making Sabbath Special.
This dynamic and visual DVD takes us back in time for a quick look at the Jewish Sabbath. Nancy reminds us that Friday, is named as the Preparation Day. She also gives a plan so that everything doesn’t have to be done on Thursday night or Friday afternoon. New members need to reorient their week so they are ready for Sabbath by sundown Friday night.
Then what? A host of recommendations and powerful ideas for making the approaching sacred hours special follow – music, the lighting of candles, a simple supper that everyone enjoys with a colorful table setting. A surprise for each child. After supper the family gathers for sundown worship, which should be an anticipated event and fun time for children. It is recommended that the children be put to bed early so they won’t be cranky on the Sabbath. This also gives Mom and Dad some time alone to study their Sabbath School lesson together, to communicate and even romance their marriage.
Ideas for ending Sabbath morning madness are given as well as how to handle children during the worship service. Some of Nancy’s best ideas revolve around what to do on Sabbath afternoons.
The Sabbath has been celebrated for thousands of years, but in today’s fast-paced and hectic living the sacred hours of communion with God and family are often sacrificed. Yet our weary hearts and bodies crave a day to rejuvenate our souls. Sabbath gives us permission, in fact, God commands us to stop and rest – all concepts important for the new Adventist to grasp. Peace and tranquility are one of the many benefits derived from observing the Sabbath in the manner in which God designed.