Dear all, welcome to Week 11! This week, I am so excited to share something from Shumi Kupara. Shumi discipled me in 2022 and her insights were (and still are!) invaluable to me. In this piece, she writes about how the introduction of the Sabbath has impacted her Spiritual routine. Reflecting on this practice has also shown her new things about fasting, the Lent period, and the link between the temporal and the eternal. I am so grateful for Shumi's wisdom and I am sure you will be too!
In Shumi's words...
Since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
It’s that time of the year when we can finally have a more honest, realistic and sober conversation about our New Year’s resolutions. I like to think of it as my quarterly review. In the spirit of full transparency, as I look at my pristine gym card and my brand new, barely used trainers, I will be the first to admit that I may have been a bit too ambitious about going to the gym at 5am every day. All is not lost however, because this is not my first rodeo, and as part of my strategy for 2024, I decided to address daily routines instead of lofty end of year goals. Don’t judge me, I’m a millennial we love anything bite-sized in the name of progress!
One of the goals for my spiritual routine was to keep a Sabbath day, which I will admit on the surface seemed very old school and borderline pretentious. But let me explain, last year I experienced anxiety, frustration and exhaustion from having too much to do, with a limited amount of time and very little reward. Consequently, since time is an exact and finite resource, I knew I needed to do something different to address my conceptual understanding of time, and I knew that something had to do with God.
Having completely failed at being superwoman - yes, I know women can have it all, but frankly, not all at the same time. I found the concept of a Sabbath day rather appealing; one day a week, where I do nothing but rest in God’s omnipotence. So basically, no laundry, no deadlines, no meetings and no toiling? Sign me up! Today, I am very happy to report that unlike my gym membership, obeying the sixth commandment has the potential to be one of the best resolutions of my life.
Curiously however, during these 40 days of lent, I have been challenged by the relationship between fasting and sabbath. More specifically how keeping a Sabbath day is a form of fasting, and how the concept of fasting is more than just not eating for a certain amount of time, but more about using faith to understand the concept of time.
Are We Going Round in Circles?
The Israelites had 40 years doing the same thing, and during lent we have 40 days of not doing the same thing. The sabbath is inherently a time-based pattern of fasting that breaks the same routine. When you fast, you stop doing something you always do so that you open the door to spiritual possibilities that allow God to give you something you never had.
No, Not Circles, We Are Putting God at The Centre!
The sabbath is a day of worship, and fasting encourages a lifestyle of worship. Worship calls us to a posture of submission, where we amplify God's significance in our lives by resting in His sovereign provision, protection and plan. We also demonstrate the hope of our confidence by abstaining from what we attempt to do outside of God to sustain ourselves physically, emotionally or mentally.
The Spirit is Willing, but the Flesh is Weak
Keeping a Sabbath day, like fasting, puts the nature of your flesh (which wants to do something) under the authority of the Holy Spirit (which rests in God’s faithfulness). During the 40 days of lent we abstain from eating chocolate, watching Netflix, drinking coffee or whatever indulgence or comfort you chose to forfeit. This is a temporary postponement of the flesh that submits to the authority of the Holy Spirit and aligns our spirit with the eternal hope and joy of salvation.
A Leap of Faith
Imagine two realities coexisting at the same time, similar to the idea of parallel universes. One reality, lets call it Temporary Life, is time-bound and time-sanctioned. The other reality, named Eternity, is extratemporal (happening outside of time) and God-sanctioned. Eternity is where one experiences a complete understanding and expression of faith. Whereas, in Temporary Life, faith is often fleeting and struggles to survive. So, my big question was, ‘how does one move from the reality of Temporary Life so that they can experience the reality of Eternity at the same time?’. The answer ironically, is faith.
In theoretical physics, the movement between two realities is known as a quantum jump. This idea of moving between realities stayed with me and I consistently started comparing my experience of Sabbath fasting to a quantum jump of faith, doing something small in faith, in the temporary, to access something big in faith, in the eternal. I realised that fasting is a time restricted action in the temporary nature of our life, that allows us to access (or jump to) an extratemporal understanding of the eternal nature of our faith. I found that when I abstain from a pattern in the reality of my Temporary Life, like drinking coffee or doing the laundry, I am bringing my flesh and my spirit to consensus about the reality of my Eternal Life. Instead of doing, or not doing, I lean into whatever eternal reality I think that temporal comfort is substituting for my faith. So for example, I don’t need a cup of coffee because in Christ I have everything I need. Similarly, on my sabbath day rest means that even if I feel like I need to work, I postpone that and I focus on the provision and omnipotence of God in my life.
Faith is a Superpower
In quantum physics two or more realities that exist simultaneously are called a superposition, (I mean honestly, you just can’t make this stuff up! It’s brilliant!). SUPERPOSITION!?! So this means that I am in a ‘superposition’ when I can access two realities simultaneously? When I realised this, the nerd in me knew instinctively (or from an episode of the Umbrella Academy), that the logic follows that a superposition preceeds a SUPERPOWER!
Faith is a superpower that allows me to be a superwoman that can truly have it all and yes – all at the same time! This reality in Eternity allows me to experience the eternal blessings, promises and truths, God has for me. These eternal realities exist outside of time and are not time-sanctioned. In other words, regardless of the realities I am experiencing in my temporary life, (grief, depression, anxiety, rejection, abandonment or failure) the realities of my eternal life, (love, peace, joy, provision, protection, perserverence and courage) are simultaneously available to me.
So I now spend one day a week submiting the realities of my time-bound Temporary Life to the realities of my God-sanctioned Eternal Life. Postponing the temporary so that I can access the eternal with a quantum jump (or leap) of faith. I’m confident that this is a New Year’s resolution that will stick.
For whomsoever believes in Him shall not perish, but shall have ETERNAL LIFE.
Shumi is a theologian who wants to make a difference, and with a background in legal literacy, as a lawyer specialising in constitutional law, her passion for social justice is evident. She loves to travel and is passionate about going to new places and meeting people from different cultures around the world. She is currently completing her Master’s degree in African Theology. Her friendly and energetic personality translate effortlessly into her passionate pursuit of social justice. She lives in Oxford with her husband and two daughters, where she spends a lot of time writing and thinking about how God shows up in the most unexpected places.
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Until next week,
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