PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
“THIS IS GOING TO BE A BUSY MONTH!” The month of June is a special month for all school-going children (primary and secondary). It’s the school holidays! Time to rest and play and go on a vacation. This would be a typical Singaporean parent’s plan for the family for holidays.
The newspapers are filled with advertisements for cheap and good holidays. Parents surf the net for hours looking for the best deals. Then we have the churches that have plans for the church camps and retreats. “Spiritual holidays’’, we may call them. Why just spend your money and time visiting places, why not come and be renewed and revived at the church retreat?
Whether we are taking a vacation or attending a church retreat or just staying at home, what we are really looking for is rest. Perhaps, we have been looking at the wrong places where we could find rest.
The Lord knew this from the beginning and that is why He had Sabbath planned for us right there every week. It is unfortunate that we have missed His plan for us and we go on working, bringing stress to ourselves and then forcing ourselves to rest when we are suffering in pain (physically and mentally worn-out). Sabbath-Rest is one of the great gifts from God for us.
“... seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates.” (Exodus 20: 10).
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy” – this is one of the commandments given to us by God. God had ordained rest just as much as the other nine commandments. However, have you ever felt guilty of breaking this commandment? Have you ever felt that you sinned because you have not kept the “Sabbath”?
Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” – Mark 2:27.
Just as in all the other commandments Jesus gives the fulfilment of this law as He lived it out in His own life. Rest – Holy Sabbath – would do us good for now and the future as we come and find our rest in Him each week taking a break from the “rat race”. There is a need to rethink our thoughts on rest and Sabbath.
Here are some quotes to ponder:
“Tell me what the young men of England are doing on Sunday and I will tell you what the future of England will be.” – William Ewart Gladstone.
“Sunday is a divine and priceless institution, the necessary pause in the national life. It is the birthright of every British subject, our responsibility, privilege and duty to hand on to posterity.” - Sir Winston Churchill.
The Rev James Nagulan is the President of Emmanuel Tamil Annual Conference.