Man in a Hurry, Sunday slowdown

"There remains a sabbath rest for the people of God" (Hebrews 4:9).

My favorite Andy Griffith episode is called Man in a Hurry. It's from Season 3, episode 16. A businessman from the city is traveling through and his car breaks down at the edge of Mayberry. It's a Sunday, though, and nothing is stirring, even a mouse. Not until church lets out, and even then, the hard-working citizens of Mayberry are committed to and enjoy their Sabbath rest. The man's frustration with the towns' seeming unwillingness to help him fix his car grows until he eventually succumbs to the slow-down sweetness of friendship, rest, and communion.

When people reflect on the old TV show they usually mention their most enjoyable scenes are when one or more characters are sitting on the front porch, not doin' anything much. In the scene below, it's Sunday, it's after church and Sunday dinner, Andy and Barney simply sit, listen to the crickets, or softly sing hymns.

Here is Sinclair Ferguson on "Sabbath Rest". What IS Sabbath rest, anyway?

In creation, man was made as God’s image—intended "naturally" as God’s child to reflect his Father. Since his Father worked creatively for six days and rested on the seventh, Adam, like a son, was to copy Him. Together, on the seventh day, they were to walk in the garden. That day was a time to listen to all the Father had to show and tell about the wonders of His creating work.
Thus the Sabbath Day was meant to be "Father’s Day" every week. It was "made" for Adam. It also had a hint of the future in it. The Father had finished His work, but Adam had not.

Ferguson continues explaining the Sabbath rest and then turns to what the Sabbath should mean to us Christians now that Jesus has come. It's a good read.

Saturdays are a pile-up day. I picture Saturdays for most people as a day when the litter along the side of the road has blown up against a fence. All the chores, tasks, things you'd planned to do have blown up against Saturday and it's a busy day attending to them all. Children's birthday parties, sports games, visiting Mom and Dad, grocery shopping, laundry, school projects....the list is endless. With all the hurry-hurry on Saturdays, it's sometimes hard to stop that momentum on Sunday.

But we're supposed to.

But one may ask: "How does this impact my Sundays as a Christian?" This view of the Sabbath should help us regulate our weeks. Sunday is "Father’s Day," and we have an appointment to meet Him. The child who asks "How short can the meeting be?" has a dysfunctional relationship problem—not an intellectual, theological problem—something is amiss in his fellowship with God.
This view of the Sabbath helps us deal with the question "Is it ok to do … on Sunday?—because I don’t have any time to do it in the rest of the week?" If this is our question, the problem is not how we use Sunday, it is how we are misusing the rest of the week.

As you conclude your day today, if you are reading this on a Saturday (or any other day for that matter), are you in a hurry? Are you cramming in things to do in and around church services? Are you distracted, frazzled, hurried? Slow down. Reflect on how you're using the week, and how your rest on the Sabbath is to be used as a refreshment to your soul and a reflection of all that God has done and is doing.

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Further reading


12 ways your phone is changing you, Tony Reinke article

What does it mean that Jesus is our Sabbath rest?, Robin Schumacher at Compelling Truth