Sanctified Time
Sabbath Rest and the Liturgical Calendar
An Abstract by Michael Giuliani
Time is a precious commodity, one that governs life and, by how it is used, demonstrates what is most valued. In contrast to the secular world’s mundane view of time which lives only for the moment, the Christian views time as being centered in Christ, the “cosmic center of all history,”[1]and with the blessed hope of his return in which he will eradicate all evil and bring shalom. From the creation of the cosmos, God has chosen to relate to his creation through time, sanctifying it for the purpose of sanctifying his people. This is most obvious in the Sabbath, the telos of creation, which informs Israel’s liturgical calendar, and later that of the Christian church.
This paper will explore the concept of Sabbath rest as the telos of creation and its relationship to the liturgical calendar, primarily that of the Old Testament. It will give a brief overview of the Old Testament liturgical calendar, demonstrating how it is undergirded by a Sabbatical principle in which Israel both remembered the creative, redemptive, and sustaining acts of God, and anticipated Sabbath rest in the Promised Land. Furthermore, it will discuss how Israel’s neglect of this God-ordained liturgical life was one of the contributing factors of their expulsion from the land of Sabbath rest. It will then discuss the fulfillment of this liturgical calendar in the person of Jesus Christ, the Lord of the Sabbath, and how this fulfillment is reflected in the historic Christian liturgical calendar. Finally it will argue that, just as Israel did in the Old Testament with its liturgical calendar, the church likewise benefits from sanctifying its time through the use of the Christian liturgical calendar. In ordering its liturgical life in this way the church remembers the creative, redemptive, and sustaining acts of God as described throughout Holy Scripture, and anticipates its eschatological hope in Christ who is the telos of creation, the Sabbath rest.
The preceding was an abstract of a research paper written by Michael Giulini as a part of MUMIN 7513 Research in Worship History: Old Testament, a Ph.D. Seminar in Worship at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. If this topic interests you, feel free to click the author’s name above and request a copy of the research paper.
[1]Robert E. Webber, Worship Old & New: A Biblical, Historical, and Practical Introduction, Rev. ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 219.
