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The Rest of God: Restoring Your Soul by Restoring Sabbath

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I can't think of too many books I've enjoyed reading as much as The Rest of God. I am not even talking about the content but just the book. I know nothing about the author, Mark Buchanan, beyond what he reveals within the book. I haven't Googled his name and did not read the fancy little printout the publisher sent along with the book. What I do know is that this guy can write. Publishers Weekly says "His prose is fresh and immediate, earnest and self-effacing at the same time." I couldn't agree more. His prose is poetic. It is a joy to read.

But of course the actual writing is only one component of a book and, to be honest, a component that is of lesser importance. Of far more importance is the content. I'm glad to say that, on the whole, I found this a compelling and challenging book. Buchanan argues that as Christians we have lost "the rest of God--the rest God bestows." "In a culture where busyness is a fetish and stillness is laziness, rest is sloth." Our culture expects us to work constantly. But God provides us rest in the Sabbath. "Sabbath is both a day and an attitude to nurture such stillness. It is both a time on the calendar and a disposition of the heart. It is a day we enter, but just as much a way we see. Sabbath imparts the rest of God--the things of God's nature and presence we miss in our busyness." The purpose of this book is "to convince you, in part, that setting apart an entire day, one our of seven, for feasting and resting and worship and play is a gift and not a burden, and neglecting the gift too long will make your soul, like soil never left fallow, hard and dry and spent." He seeks to help Christians understand the importance of developing not just the desire to maintain a Sabbath day but also develop a Sabbath heart.

So how do we do this? Well, that is the subject of the book's fourteen chapters. Each chapter concludes with a brief "liturgy," a chance for the reader to practically apply what he has learned. Buchanan begins by setting out a theology of work. He teaches that, because of the fall, some level of discontent with our jobs is inevitable. God made it that way. "In order to keep the Sabbath well--to embrace the rest of God--we need a right view of work. Without a rich theology of labor, we'll have an impoverished theology of rest. We'll find that both are hectic, sporadic, chaotic. We'll find no joy in either."

Sabbath is not a day for mere leisure, which is what Sabbath becomes when we no longer know how to santify time. "Leisure is Sabbath bereft of the sacred." Buchanan teaches that there are two Greek words which we translate as "time" in English. The first refers to the time of clock and calendar. This is time in a profane, cold sense. It is the endless, inevitable march of seconds, minutes, hours, days. The second refers to time as an opportunity, as a gift. This is time in the sacred sense, time which has been entrusted to us by God. It is time that must be sanctified on the Sabbath. Sabbath-keeping requires two orientations. One of these is Godward and the other timeward. "To keep Sabbath well--as both a day and an attitude--we have to think clearly about God and freshly about time. We likely, at some level, need to change our minds about both. Unless we trust God's sovereignty, we won't dare risk Sabbath. And unless we receive time as abundance and gift, not as ration and burden, we'll never develop a capacity to savor Sabbath." Our trust in God's sovereignty allows us to take a day in which we cease from all that we need to do and instead focus on feasting, resting, worship and play--those things we rarely make time for on the other six days.

So what does Sabbath look like? What can we do on the Sabbath? Buchanan points out that, while God spared no detail in describing Old Testament dietary laws, laws regarding hygiene and laws regarding sacrifices, He provided only a bare outline of Sabbath-keeping. Buchanan does the same. He warns against legalism which, despite its complexity, is mindless, requiring little or no personal engagement. Legalism is "sheer mechanics, simple arithmetic, no more difficult than cranking a hoist or measuring a length of board. You just follow orders." "Sabbath-keeping is grounded in a stark refusal we make to ourselves. We stand ourselves down. We resist that which six days of coming and going, pushing and pulling, dodging and weaving, fighting and defending have bred into us. What we deny ourselves is our well-trained impulses to get and to spend and to make and to master. This day, we go in a direction we're unaccustomed to, unfamiliar with, that the other six days have made seem unnatural to us." If the grass needs to be cut because you did not have a chance to do it on Saturday and you have a busy week approaching, leave the grass. But if the grass needs to be cut and this is one of your favorite, most relaxing chores, than by all means, cut the grass on the Sabbath.

The book isn't all good. Buchanan quotes a few of the usual suspects we might expect in a book dealing with this type of subject matter: Henri Nouwen and Brother Lawrence among them. He has a chapter on listening to God which should have been left out as it contributes very little to the book and introduces the flawed concept of prayer as communication from God rather than prayer as communication to God. Some of his biblical interpretation is a mite suspect and I wasn't quite able to figure out his theology of Eucharist or Lord's Supper. But I still found this a tremendously enjoyable book and one that dealt a fresh perspective on an old, old issue. Buchanan paid scant attention to the standard arguments for and against Sabbath, opting instead to show that it is a human necessity and that Sabbath can become a time of unparalleled joy, beauty and rest if only we will slow down long enough to enjoy it. It challenged me and has given me much food for further research and meditation.

I still don't know who this Buchanan guy is, but I am going to have to track down his other books. If they are anything like The Rest of God I'm sure I will enjoy reading them, even if only for the experience.

Well written, very insightful and worth every moment of time you invest in reading this exceptional book. I and two other men as an accountability group, just finished this book and we all felt this was an exceptional book that caused us to rethink how we spend our time not only in our private devotions but also with our family and community. It also caused us to look at our work, our families, our life from a totally different perspective.

I'm a huge Mark Buchanan fan.

His writing style is both lucid and lyrical. When it comes to presenting a fresh approach to the time honored and at times time worn practice of sabbath rest -- he gets is mostly right. Most of the insights he shares on reinventing Sabbath are helpful and encouraging -- especially for those of us who take life at too fast a pace too much of the time. Admittedly there are places where Buchanan's stories and illustrations seem disconnected from the truths they are meant to elucidate. But even then -- they have a memorable quality all their own.

Like I said -- I'm a huge Mark Buchanan fan and 'The Rest of God' didn't change that.

This book appears at a time when few people know how to really rest. There are many ways of approaching that problem, but Buchannan's book seeks to reimagine how the biblical Sabbath can lead us to a truer understanding of rest. I read the book to say more about "the rest of God" (the title) than "restoring your soul by restoring Sabbath" (the subtitle), though of course Buchannan combines them skillfully. I enjoyed the many personal anecdotes drawn from the author's years as a pastor, and I equally appreciated the way in which he weaved those stories into more profound themes. The one that struck me most appears in the third chapter, where Buchannan writes that it is simply "our attention" that "God requires most from us." The challenge, of course, is to live out these ideas once the book is returned to the shelf, but Buchannan's imagery and ideas should help in the process of remembering what rest and the Sabbath are all about.

This is more than a book - it's a study guide and wake up call on how to live our lives. It's a whole new way of keeping Sabath and using Sabath to become the people God wants us to be and to find the peace we long for.

Mark Buchanan's The Rest of God is an amazing book. I have never written an Amazon.com review for a book before, but was so moved by this one, I just had to. On one or two occasions it seemed like Buchanan stretched just a little in his poetic and metaphorical language, but for the most part this book is one of the best written and most influential books I have read in some time (and I read quite a few books.)
Buchanan's writing style is so engaging, transparent, authentic... I often found myself feeling very exposed, realizing that as he shared his own feelings and weaknesses and shortcomings, he had just painted a picture of me as well. Not only is the writing style excellent, the content is rich as well. The material in the book is powerful and, my wife and I are beginning to quickly discover, life-changing.
I highly recommend The Rest of God, (along with Baab's Sabbath Keeping). Enjoy this book, and enjoy the rest and balance that it will help lead you to.

Author and pastor Mark Buchanan tells readers why he became a Sabbath keeper rather than a Sabbath breaker --- and it wasn't for any gloriously pious reason. In fact, Buchanan writes that after working for forty straight days and feeling obsessed (driven even), he grew increasingly slothful. Yes, Buchanan was busy. He was also irritable, paranoid, bitter, self-righteous and gloomy. He slowly came to realize that Sabbath-keeping is more than simply a day off; it must morph into an "orientation --- a way of seeing and knowing." States Buchanan, "...it is both time on a calendar and a disposition of the heart." Further, learning to keep the Sabbath well must start with how people think, which, in turn, will lead to a dramatically different direction offered without apology, and invite and embrace a fresh way of living, working and seeing.

Buchanan, whose prose is always lyrical, has done a superb job at approaching this oft-worn topic from a singularly unique angle. At first glance, readers may presume that the author's topics are timeworn and tired; these assumptions could not be more erroneous. Every chapter is deliciously ripe with meaning and overflowing with delightful insights on living, working and playing in this world of demands, deadlines and soul-destroying detours. Buchanan redeems every aspect of life by offering a Sabbath-keeping perspective that provides hope, resurrection and renewal to believers who are willing to put off faulty archetypes and, through imaginative faith, walk toward a life unfettered by former societal chains.

The author even brings up liturgy --- a term (and practice) many evangelicals may be tempted to squelch --- and explains the term's original meaning, its "other-orderedness" that he shares at the close of each chapter. In so doing, he invites readers to some self-examination and then provides what he terms are "hints and prompts and invitations" to incorporate into one's own particular Sabbath-keeping dance.

Some of the subjects necessary to genuine Sabbath-keeping include understanding the blessing and curse of work from a biblically historical standpoint. Also, Buchanan details practical ways to change one's habit of thinking while learning to rest trustingly in God. There are also chapters devoted to numbering one's days aright, ceasing with legalism, removing taskmasters, taking time to simply play (or waste time), tasting the kingdom with a ready palate, listening for God (and hearing Him), pausing to pick up the puzzling pieces of life, and acclimating one's focus on eternity.

Readers will especially resonate with Buchanan's poignant and telling chapter on making a hard and fast determination to loosen the chains set in place by internal and external taskmasters. This is most clearly evidenced by their guilt-inducing, fretful, compulsive-laced voices that offer nothing more than half-truths designed to hold prisoner every Christian whose heart and mind are beginning to reach for the freedom Christ offers via Sabbath-keeping.

Buchanan hits every American reader straight on with the truth that the Sabbath is indeed an issue of trust, as believers must turn over to God "all those things --- our money, our work, our status, our reputations, our plans, our projects..." Through this letting go, men and women of faith can rediscover that their identity is rooted in something far greater than achievements and material things. It is sealed by their position as children of God, who watches over them so they can rest.

--- Reviewed by Michele Howe

Pastor-writer Mark Buchanan has crafted a book that is at once delightful and challenging to read. Buchanan targets the American church-goer with these words: "The world is not dying for another book. Bit it is dying for the rest of God" (1) In so doing he pinpoints the biblical message which is even more urgent for front-line cross-cultural workers laboring under the "tyranny of the urgent" and the "reality of insufficient resources." So how is one to find a day with God in a spiritual war zone, with inadequate laborers, insufficient replacements, and inadequate prayer cover?

His journey from overwork, tiredness, little joy, and stunted joy rings true with countless missionaries laboring around the globe under similar circumstances. He confesses a well-kept secret: "for all my busyness, I was increasingly slothful...I was squandering time, not redeeming it...The inmost places suffered most" (2). I was reminded of conversations I've had with colleagues in Budapest and Boston, Jakarta and Johannesburg, who all said the same thing: "I was doing lasting damage...the pace and scale of my striving were paying diminishing returns. My drivenness was doing no one any favors..." (2). From that common ground with global Christian workers, Buchanan shared how he "learned to keep Sabbath in the crucible of breaking it."

Buchanan understands the missionary-ministry mindset. He rightly recognizes that most of us see Sabbath at something archaic and arcane. Many of us grew up legalistic about Sabbath, a day on which we couldn't do things that we really wanted to do. Instead, he seeks to convince us that "Sabbath, in the long run, is as essential to your well-being as food and water, and as good as a wood fire on a cold day" (3). His thesis is straightforward: "Sabbath imparts the rest of God--actual physical, mental and spiritual rest, but also the rest of God--the things of God's nature and presence we miss in our busyness" (3).

This book will change your mind about Sabbath.

Accordingly, "any deep change in how we live begins with a deep change in how we think" (4). Sound familiar? Any change in our conception of Sabbath begins with fresh eyes, an awakened imagination. "So God in Christ, and Christ through the Holy Spirit, is seeking to change our minds" (7). Yet like Zacchaeus, Jesus not only wants to change our minds, he wants to change our ways. Jesus invites us to embrace "a practice that embodies and rehearses his new way of seeing" (7).

Buchanan starts with a chapter on "Work: One Thing Before You Stop," and follows with 13 chapters that inform what stopping will do for your soul. He invites the reader to stop the legalism, stop to remove the taskmasters, stop to think anew, stop to find what's missing, stop to see God's bigness, stop to number our days, stop to find a center, stop to become whole, stop just to waste time, stop to taste the kingdom, stop to hear God, stop to pick up the pieces, and stop to glimpse forever.

Chapter Two: "A Beautiful Mind: Stopping to Think Anew" caught my time-oriented lifestyle off-guard. "Under God's economy, nothing really changes until our minds do. Transformation is the fruit of a changed outlook" (32-33). So far, so good. But Buchanan continues: "God is more interested in changing your thinking than in changing your circumstances..." All of this touches on the art of Sabbath-keeping. "What makes Sabbath time--whether a day or a year, an afternoon or a week, a month or a moment--different from all other time? Simple: A shift in our thinking, an altering of our attitudes" (33). Oooh! He had me. "Sabbath is time sanctified, time betrothed, time we perceive and receive and approach differently from all other time...We become ourselves in the presence of Sabbath: more vulnerable, less afraid. More ready to confess, to be silent, to be small, to be valiant" (33).

Since experiencing a transformative Sabbatical in my life for six months in 2001-2002, I have evangelistically encouraged hundreds of missionaries to take a Sabbatical. Typically, they laugh politely. Buchanan's words in Chapter 10, "Restore: Stopping to Become Whole," helped me understand the disappointing dismissal of many missionaries to the concept of taking extended time away to spend with God. "I don't think it's possible to benefit from a sabbatical if you've never learned to keep Sabbath. Sabbatical is Sabbath writ large. If we haven't been faithful in the small things, why do we expect to be entrusted with the greater ones?...Sabbatical is just doing dally, for several months of days, what you've already learned to do weekly, for many years of weeks" (147).

My complaint about this book is that it's so good I don't want to keep reading for fear of it ending. I'm half way through and absolutley love what Buchanan has to say and how he has to say it. He speaks from personal experience with mercy and humanity, but also from a place of with authority, and the mix is enticing indeed. I have begun adopting Sabbath into my life because of this book and have found his suggestions to be so helpful in learning to make this transition. Definitely buy this one for yourself and your friends that need to learn to slow down and enjoy!

As a Pastor of 20+ years, I am almost embarrased to find myself so ignorant of the truths Mark shares in this book. I wish I could get it in the hands of every Pastor in the world... This book has changed my life and my thinking about the Sabbath... This book is a must read for every person who desires to be made whole, and refreshed.