A Non-Adventist Look at the Sabbath
“That’s what I need,” my classmate typed in response to an essay I'd written about the Sabbath, “a Sabbath rest.” I could sense her exhaustion in her statement. My classmate wasn’t Adventist, but she was feeling a longing to experience God's gift of rest.
This same longing is reflected in Martin Doblemeir’s latest PBS documentary, “Sabbath,” which opens with a montage reflecting the exhaustion of modern American life, including a notation from Norman Wirzba, professor of theology at Duke Divinity School, that the post-World War II era is sometimes referred to as “the great acceleration.”
For the rest of the documentary, the Sabbath is presented as a solution for what Randy Roberts, pastor of the Loma Linda University Church, describes as a “profoundly burned out” society.
Despite Roberts and several other Adventists being interviewed for this documentary, it’s not a denominationally produced film. Martin Doblemeir, president and founder of Journey Films, is not an Adventist. He is, however, quite familiar with our church, having produced the PBS films, “The Adventists” and “The Blueprint: The story of Adventist Education.”
In fact, it was during the production of these films that Doblemeir became interested in the concept of Sabbath. “One of the surprises that came up for me is this idea of Sabbath,” Doblemeir mentioned in an interview with “3ABN Today.” “Everywhere I’ve gone now ... I’ve been talking about the value of the Sabbath, really as a gem that’s been lost, and Adventists continue to honor that, and I think that’s so important.”
Now Doblemeir is bringing this gem to the forefront, not just from an Adventist perspective, but from the perspective of other Christians, Jews, Muslims and even secular people.
One comment from the documentary that really got me thinking was from Judith Schulevitz, author of The Sabbath World: “There’s a lot of talk about unplugging, and there’s an unplugging movement,” she says. “We need to be able to not answer emails. We need to be able to turn off our computers, and have time together, which I think is true. The thing that the unplugging movement misses is that we have to do this at the same time because if we don’t, we’re never really going to be able to relax, because we don’t trust that our co-worker is unplugging too.”
Watching this film gave me a renewed appreciation for how blessed we are to be part of a faith group that has continued to emphasize Sabbath rest. It also helped me understand how other faith groups view the Sabbath and see how well-intentioned people could make a push for the Sunday laws so that, as Schulevitz says, we can all unplug at the same time.
“Sabbath” can be viewed on the Journey Films YouTube channel.
By Lori Futcher. Futcher is the managing editor of the Record magazine.
